Tonight, at 23.30 my bud, the incredible Baloji will take the stage at Glastonbury. He was invited by Glasto headliner Damon Albarn to join his project Africa Express. He will be performing with Dizzee Rascal, Baaba Maal & Manu Dibango.

The above picture is of a KNOTORYUS styled shoot…

Which I am extremely proud of.

That’s right. Here at KNOTORYUS we mix the bizz with the pleash.

Or let me rephrase that. When you love the people you’re working with, it’s called a collab.

I asked the wonderful Kris Van Assche if we could pull some of his looks.

He said yes.

The fab -and now london based hair master- Marino Scissorhand Lambrix is responsible for this perfectly executed coiff. My over-the-phone instructions : “a mullet without the neckdrizzle. Think mini ski-slope. Allez-y!”

(btw : One of the five things I would love to be remembered by : “She who got to mess with Baloji’s signature do”)

Before all you chicks start yelling at me. I know he looked good in his corn rows too. But come on.

If you’re at Glasto do two things :

1. Go check out Africa Express : I’m currently pumping Baloji‘s unreleased remixes. Believe me, you’ll have a blast.

(those who can’t make it : let’s meet up in Paris August 5th.)

2. Try & spot @Dizzy Blazeberg. I’m guessing he’s the most fun to hang with this year. Take him to see Baloji. Show us what you learned in your African contemporary dance class.

Hey B, bring me a signed Damon Albarn shirt.

And a pic of you and the two Dizzee’s.

Baloji in Louis Vuitton here

Baloji in KNOTORYUS here

photographer : Jérome Bonnet here

styling : KNOTORYUS

Buy ‘Hotel Impala’ on iTunes

Including Beautiful artwork by Sozyone Gonzalez: buy here

More info on Baloji here

LGF and I were invited to Show 2009 : the annual show presenting the work from all the students of the fashion department of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts. You know, it’s that little school that spawned (a.o.) Walter Van Beirendonck, Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene and a lot of other incredibly talented designers…

Last show we shot with this little camera. We’ll be fully lensed in a couple of days.

Soundtracks we spotted : Sigur Ros (about 5 times), The Knife, Fever Ray, Emiliana Torrini, Justin Timberlake, La Roux, Aphex Twin (Rubber Johnny), Bob Dylan (Hurricane), The Kinks (All Day And All Of The Night) Joy Division (Still), Grace Jones (NightClubbing Remix), Eleanor Rigby (Beatles, Fake Soulwax Remix)

Above : Mysterious Wonderland by Emilie Pirlot. In our top 3.

Above :  Elise Gettliffe – great jumpsuits

Above : Our favourite collection : “It’s Four O’ Clock” by Karisia Paponi

Another one of our favourites was by “Metropolis” by Juan Hernandez Daels

(above image via Dazed Digital)

Beautiful evening in Antwerp.

After the show (which went amazingly smooth and those models had to workworkwork) we were allowed to take a look backstage. I love backstages when they’re all abandoned.

Representing in my Walter Van Beirendonck shirt.

That was fun. Thanks David & Walter!

There’s another show tonight and on Saturday.

More info here

… dresses slightly better than band.

On second thought: lose the hat, wayfarers & shoes, kid.

Keep the attitude.

Whatever happened to the Franzes anyway? They used to make good music & wear the sharpest stuff.

Now they’re like : “Today, we’ll mostly be wearing crap outfits that match our crap album..”

In case you were wondering. The shirt says: “George Harrison”.

We covered the don’ts.  Do’s you will find after the jump

M.I.A. is a do all the way.

Holy shit, Daisy Lowe.

Nerds all over the world: please stand up and applaud this young man and his legs.

He’s a successful male model too.

Somebody should give him an award.

Karen O on stage. Looking forward to seeing her next week @ Polsslag.

(pic: Anjelica Houston by Terry Richardson)

Nothing more exciting than hearing your heroes talk about their work…

Get highlights + the link to the entire interview after the jump

• ” Other possible names for the magazine were Sex, Fame and Heroine”
• “I felt quite cold about leaving POP. Strangely it was when I’d already started working on LOVE that it became much more difficult, I cried a lot and was rather over-emotional. It had been eight and a half years.”
  
• “My theory for long time has been “it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.”
• “I do like an underdog”

Read the entire interview here
LOVE is in stores now.

Buy online here

What? French slicksters “Atelier de Production et de Creation” team up with Nike to create the most awesome, beautiful, insane, quiet pair of understated sneakers.

Why? Because the Nike All Court has never looked so good.

Drive slow, homey: No release date yet, but should be dropping soon.

But I want it now! More images after the jump.

Mickey Factz made his first appearance on the KNOTORYUS site back in April, wowing D with 48 seconds of brilliance in a Cool Kids video. Since then, he’s cut several tracks that have been bobbing and weaving their way into my iTunes 25 most played list (‘Automatic’ especially: it’s on his MySpace). His series of internet-released nuggets called “The Leak” promises great things to come.

The Leak Vol. 3 “The Achivement” is coming soon, but for now you can’t miss out on Volumes 1 & 2, featuring the music of Lykke Li, Portishead, SebastiAn, Lauryn Hill, DJ Mehdi and Precize.

Download links to all the 5 Mickey Factz Mixtapes after the jump.

Go For The Leak Vol. 1 if this is the first time you’ve been schooled on Mickey.

The Inspiration: The Leak Vol. 2

18. Overdose feat. Drake & Travis McCoy (Prod By. Omen)
19. Jumanji feat. Nakim, Nymesys, Charlie Clips, Smoke DZA, Curtains (Prod By. H-Storm for Beatz Galaw Music Group)
20. Live Water feat. Lauryn Hill
21. Good Money (Prod By. 9th Wonder)
22. Naturally feat. Jade
23. Rockin N Rollin (Prod By. Precize)
24. 6 Letter Words (Prod By. Jet Audio)
25. Machine Gun
26. Rockin N Rollin Remix feat. The Cool Kids (ILLFONICS REMIX)
27. Incredible (Prod By. Sebastian)
28. Keep Moving feat. Fresh Daily
29. Africa feat. D’Anglelo
30. Keys Of Life
30. We Aint feat. Tanya Morgan (Prod By. AEON)
31. Sublime (Prod By. Precize)
32. Going Nowhere (Prod By. Precize)
33. The Rush feat. Smoke Dza (Prod By. Ibe)
34. The Inspiration (Prod By. Black Friday)
35. Swahililand feat Jesse Boykins & Cocoa Sarai
36. Pick Up The Bass Snippet (Prod By. Precize)

Download the Mickey Factz 2008 Mixtape HERE.

OR GO TO THE MICKEY FACTZ MYSPACE FOR ALL 5 MICKEY MIXTAPES, including :

The Leak Vol.1: The Understanding

1. Ayooo (Produced by The Knux)
2. Light (Produced by Black)
3. It’z Mickey (Produced by Precize)
4. Robot Rock [Extended Version]
5. Pumpin (Produced by Precize)
6. Heartbeat ft. Jesse Boykins III
7. Talk Yo Ish [Machine Drum Remix] (Produced by Machine Drum)
8. Up High
9. Super Duper Supra [Prince 85 Remix] (Produced by Prince 85)
10. Factz vs. Naledge ft. Naledge of Kidz in the Hall (Produced by K Scott)
11. Rest of Em ft. Theophilus London (Produced by Clyde & Harry)
12. Jimmy Choo ft. J.A.M.E.S. Watts
13. K-1 Attack ft. Nakim (Produced by DJ Medhi)
14. Don’t Be Light ft. N*E*R*D
15. Automatic ft. Curtis Santiago & Mikey Mike
16. The Understanding ft. Malcolm X (Produced by Precize)
17. Another Star ft. Peter Hadar
**BONUS** 18. Be Free (Produced by Don P)

Forget Tony Montana. This year, Jacques Mesrine takes over as cinema’s #1 Bad Guy you love to hate.

Vincent Cassel (La Haine, Irriversible, Ocean’s Eleven…), probably my favourite actor of recent years, plays the role of Jacques Mesrine, the notorious French gangster who started out with a Robin Hood image, robbing banks and capitalist fat cats, and lost control along the way, swaying to the dark side.

Eventually he was gunned down by a police squad (execution-style: in broad daylight) at the Porte de Clingancourt in Paris . His body had 19 bullets in it when they pulled him out.

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The life story of Jacques Mesrine is split up into two movies: “Public Enemy Number One (Parts 1&2)”.

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(Teaser)

The first movie is about Mesrine’s formative years and his affiliation with extremist right wing army organisations. The second film deals with his ascendancy to fame and notoriety as a modern day anti-establishment Robin Hood, escaping from prison and living in disguise (he sometimes wore three wigs at a time, just so he could change quicker). Method-actor Cassel put on 40 pounds for the second film so he could play the fatter, meaner Mesrine. A cold-hearted killer to some, a cult hero to others, these two movies will show all sides to the legend of Mesrine.

The French have already had their chance to see it, but an international release has been planned for 2009.

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This is a first in a massive series of things, people, releases, changes, trends and actions I’m looking forward to this year.

First up: The Esau Mwamwaya debut album.

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Above: the official video for “Khampopo”

Esau Mwamwaya is one of the most unlikely trendsetters for this coming year. He’s virtually unknown in the mainstream, has been working from garage spaces in Hackney and writes African songs you probably won’t understand. But the music genius of his late 2008 mixtape “The Very Best” is undeniable. The only mixtape to make into the Pitchfork best new music 2008 countdown, it was produced by Radioclit, a UK/Paris DJ/Producer duo loosely tied in with the Mad Decent crew. “The Very Best” is brimming with new musical ideas, fresh sounds and emotion. The debut album should be out in February.

This is what the music of the future should sound like.

Watch him sing a snippet live on the street, perform “Warm Heart Of Africa” for LastFM, dance with BLK JKS and work in the studio with Vampire Weekend and The Ruby Suns after the jump.

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This one is High Quality on so many levels. Hope you like ‘em dark & moody.

Created by Matthew Stone of !WOWOW!.

KNOTORYUS FAVOURITE  LOOKS OF THE PUGH COLLECTION S/S09.

Diane Pernet has the video.