The Swedish are renowned for their keen fashion sense and trend awareness and the city of Stockholm has long been regarded as the country’s style capital and a hot contender on the European fashion scene.
This summer, Sweden’s capital city will be upping the fashion ante as it flings open its proverbial doors and welcomes French fashion’s enfant terrible, living legend and gay icon Jean Paul Gaultier to Stockholm.
From 15 June to 22 September, Stockholm’s Arkitekturmuseet will be transformed into ‘The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: from the Sidewalk to the Catwalk’. This is the first international exhibition devoted to the celebrated French couturier and a major retrospective of his work. According to Gaultier there are no rules in fashion and everything depends on the limits of imagination, so it seems fitting that this show makes a stop at Europe’s alternative style capital.
Holding up a mirror to the society that has marked his times, this exhibition, which Gaultier considers his “biggest show ever,” is punctuated by many excerpts from videos, some of them previously unreleased, as well as many never-before-exhibited prints from the greatest names in fashion and art photography, including Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Robert Doisneau, Richard Avedon, Herb Ritts, Pierre et Gilles, Mario Testino, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Ellen von Unwerth and Bettina Rheims, to name just a few.
To celebrate this momentous occasion The Stockholm Gay and Lesbian Network is running a competition with a money-can’t-buy prize to give away! You could be the lucky winner of a trip for two to Stockholm including flights, hotel accommodation and an invitation to the grand opening party of the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition!
For a chance to win, click HERE
*Terms and conditions apply. Entries close 28 April.
For more information on Stockholm as a LGBT destination visit gaylesbian.visitstockholm.com
SAS Scandinavian airlines flies times daily from London Heathrow and also from Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
She reigns supreme as the undisputed Queen of Soho’s Tranny Shack, but Dame Vesta Bules decided to take a break from the glitz and glamour of the scene and hit Europe. In the second of her travel series, The Dame offers her unique, irreverent look at the Danish capital, Copenhagen…
For those of you old enough to remember the novelty crooner Danny Kaye, I can confirm that Copenhagen is indeed ‘Wonderful, Wonderful’. To the whippersnappers who think he’s Peter’s older brother you really should get away from the One Direction aisle in HMV.
When Cher was a little girl, the Vikings invaded the shores of Great Britain, and after nearly a week in glorious Amsterdam and a horrid two days in Berlin, I had decided to pay our former occupiers a little visit.
You can, of course, fly to Copenhagen but where’s the romance in that? I decided to take a night train from Berlin to the Danish capital, a 10 hour overnight journey which has all the warmth and welcome of life behind the Iron Curtain.
“Surrounded by the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the beautiful island of Ibiza offers an unrivalled level of style, 18 kilometres of natural sandy beaches and breathtaking scenery. With an estimated 300 days of sunshine a year, not to mention only being a two and a half hour flight from London, the island of Ibiza is the perfect place to escape the UK’s dreary wet weather!”
In this series of exclusive photographs by Alexander Beer, he captures the essence of Ibiza and the luxury of the DITA Building brand. He seamlessly marries the magic of the White Isle with the exquisite architecture of villas in the DITA portfolio.
Photography: Alexander Beer
Words: Kristine Kilty
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She’s known as one of gay London’s finest entertainers, but Dame Vesta Bules decided to take a break from the glitz and glamour of the scene and hit Europe. In the first of a new travel series, The Dame offers her unique, irreverent look at gay Europe….
The leathery legend that is Judith Chalmers (is she a Dame yet?) was perhaps the Queen of travel. She wished we were there and so did we. Then we had the handsome Michael Palin visiting the ancient bellybutton tribe of Micronesia and our love affair with foreign travel began. And so it was that I set off on a European tour of sorts over the last month: Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Unlike Judith and Michael, I didn’t have a production team arranging my every move, but as sure as eggs are eggs, the gay traveller can bet his bottom euro that somewhere in the great cities of old there will be gay bars, hostels, saunas, cinemas and bookshops. Now contrary to popular belief, before I left I wasn’t much of a club queen. Our native scene can be intimidating and whilst I may seem to generalise and, whilst I bear in mind the immortal words of Petula Clark that the other man’s grass is always greener, it does seem that we’re missing something in London.
Not making the obvious grass pun, the first place to truly wow was Amsterdam. Put aside what you think you know of Amsterdam for a moment because the real city is the perfect weekend hotspot for the gay tourist for more reasons than space cake and the tulip market. I arrived on a Friday night, something of a nightmare when you haven’t pre booked a hotel, but making my way from Centraal Station between the bustling crowds of English teens desperate to fall into the first coffee shop along the Damrak, I found the hotel information office and tracked down a gorgeous hotel next to the Tropenmuseum (well worth a visit for you David Attenborough addicts).
The following morning I did the sights – Queen Beatrix’s palace, the Jordaan and, of course, the Anne Frank House. It’s impossible to sum up the experience of the Anne Frank House in a sentence or two and the truly inspirational tale of Anne and her family should be experienced first hand. A bit weepy, I made my way out of the house and came across the Homomonument. Opened in 1987, this is located on the Westermarkt and those making their way to the most famous house in Holland can’t miss it.
The mother of gay prides struts its stuff down the avenues of New York this June, before London hosts World Pride this July.
New York has long been a beacon for the fight for gay rights and always throws a Pride to be proud of! The week-long jolly kicks off on 16th June with ‘The Rally’ held at the East River Bandshell, culminating in ‘The March’ on 24th June.
Those planning a last minute jaunt Stateside to join in the festivities should check out Lords New York, the first ever pop-up hotel for NYC Pride, presented by the masterminds behind Lords South Beach, the first LGBT hotel brand in the US. (more…)
As a proud sponsor of WorldPride 2012 Hilton is giving two lucky people the chance to win 2 VIP tickets to WorldPride 2012 and two nights’ accommodation at The Waldorf London with Stay Hilton. Go Out. package benefits and breakfast!
The winners will get access to the VIP tents in Trafalgar Square during Parade Day on Saturday 7th July and a luxury double room on Friday 6th & Saturday 7th July at The Waldorf Hilton, a stone’s throw from the hub of activity during WorldPride 2012.
To enter the competition go to www.hilton.com/facebook. The competition is live now so click through to enter! Closing date for entries is 25th May.
Arosa ski week has become one of the biggest Gay and Lesbian winter events in Europe. The vibrant and colourful week takes place from 8 – 15 January 2012 and is supported by Arosa and Swiss Tourism.
Last January, the organizers welcomed just about 400 participants from over 30 countries, from Australia to America and many others! Countless new friendships were made and people spent many unforgettable evenings. From skiing and snowboarding amid the beautiful Arosa mountain scenery and sun tanning on the Tschuggen Hut to dancing at night – in short: it was a fantastic time and the most successful Arosa Gay Ski Week ever! (more…)
Martyn Andrews is a travel and food expert who spends most of his time between Moscow, London and Cyprus. He has presented over a hundred programmes on the Russian capital, with its glittering new shopping malls, towering skyscraper bars, and breathtaking restaurants. With a staggering history welcome to the most misunderstood city in the world – Moscow… where vodka can be cheaper than water! (more…)
Switzerland is synonymous as a winter-wonderland-lover’s dream. Recently I was advised that there are 6 reasons to fall in love with Switzerland; Cities, Mountains, Respect, Transportation, Water and Winter. All facets to this peace-loving country which make it an ideal travel destination, not only in winter but all year round, whether for a week-end city break or for a holiday in the great outdoors it really does have something to offer for everyone. (more…)
“I understand the artist to be someone who, amidst the silence of others, uses his voice to say something, and who has the obligation that this thing not be useless but something that offers a service to man. For the fact of being able to say something, when the majority of people do not have the option of expressing themselves, obliges this voice in some way to be prophetic. To be, in a certain sense, the voice of its community…” Joan Miro. (more…)
