Natasha Khan

Compared to Björk and Kate Bush, Bat for Lashes singer Natasha Khan is an indie rock darling. She's been nominated for the Mercury and Brit awards multiple times. Kanye West is a fan. So is Rolling Stone Magazine and style.com. Radiohead and Coldplay both handpicked her to open on their tours. Part hippie spirit, part storyteller, she weaves fantastical, dream-like tales while costumed in Indian headdresses, braids, face paint and caftans.

My favorite song by Natasha: "What's a Girl to Do," an epic, sweeping ballad about heartbreak. A bit short, but its haunting sound resonates.

Bat for Lashes official site

Natasha Kissell

“I felt the need to express my innermost thoughts and unable to do this through other means, the thing that came most naturally to me was scribbling with felt tips, crayons whatever I could get my hands on as a child. It all took off from there.”

At 25, Natasha Kissell took the art world by storm when the famed Saatchi Gallery purchased her entire Royal College of Art graduation show.

Natasha’s paintings are hyper realistic – you see the intimate details of a butterfly wing, individual tree branches, steel planks – but the juxtaposition of the objects are not – a modern house similar to her childhood home often sits in bucolic environs, or perched comfortably on the side of a snowy hill.

“You start off with your ideas, but then something completely different happens as the materials respond to your touch and you arrive at a completely different destination. This tactile quality leads to surprises which keep the whole process fresh and unlimited, taking me out of what I know and think to other thoughts and ideas.”

Her work is transcendental: they do not exist, but they are made of elements that do exist in their singularity. Put together, it is this unexpected, but deeply emotional, composition that she likes to describe as “Magical Realism.”

“Without ever introducing any human figures, Natasha Kissell’s works introduce very human feelings – romance, fear, excitement and wonder.” – Eleven Fine Art

But beyond just provoking a reaction, Natasha’s work is witty and intelligent. They show parallels between nature and civilization, the similarities of displacement in both modern and underdeveloped societies. And she does it with great beauty: vibrant colors and dreamlike optimism.

"Something magical happens with painting, it awakens your mental muscles. It's like a window and you leap into the world it represents. I love the lusciousness of brush marks."

Natasha is now a solid fixture in the London and New York art scenes, with past exhibitions at Gallery 10G (NY) and The Chambers Gallery (London). Deutsche Bank, HSBC, the Ovitz Family Collection and Knoxville Museum of Art are all collectors. Her imaginative depiction of utopia titled “Artificial Paradises” is currently showing at London’s Eleven Gallery through March 13.

Click for more information on Natasha Kissell.

Credits: Jill Fortunoff Gerstenblatt, Gallery 10G, Dafydd Jones, Natasha Kissell

Anna Laub

Girls with glasses have it bad. While male nerds were rebranded as tech billionaires, Girls + glasses = NERD, unshakeable, damanged reputations, scarred from the recesses of middle school.

"Everyone is looking for ways to differentiate themselves at the moment. As you wear glasses on your face, it's the first thing people see, so you want them to look exciting, don't you?"

So it takes someone with major fashion cred to make girls with glasses cool. Anna Laub is one of those girls: poised, naturally casual-chic, perfectly-symmetrical features, and blessed with long, glossy hair. She epitomizes style as a fashion journalist for New York Times' T blog and the Europe Editor of trend forecaster WGSN. So when, out of a spur-of-moment whim, she decided to replace her beat-up 8 year old glasses with something she created on her own, who else but the fashion elite stand in line, eager for the debut?

"My ultimate glasses-wearers are people like Johnny Depp and Yves Saint Laurent, whose glasses really add to their look rather than detract from it, as well as actresses like Sixties icon Jean Seberg or Charlotte Gainsbourg - and also Kelis who really wears them in a contemporary style."

"I was coming from a fashion angle rather than an optical angle and I wanted them to be like a fashion accessory, from the way you buy them to the way you enjoy them and wear them."

French Vogue's go-to blogger was one of the first fans for Anna's Prism unisex eyeglasses. "Allô ? Sexy secretary ? Oui ! C’est moi ! … I love ‘em!" Garance Dore exclaimed. Hip hop star Kanye West, art director Julia Restoin Roitfeld (daugher of French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld) wear theirs for photo ops. Insider favorites Polish music director Kinga Burza, i-D magazine fashion director Erika Kurihara, architect Rafael de Cardenas all lined up to model her line. Only the top fashion stores carry them: Colette, Browns, Dover Street Market, Opening Ceremony, Barneys, and net-a-porter.com. Glasses have had their fashion breakthrough, thanks to Anna Laub.

“I am obsessive about the combination of the functional and the aesthetic.”

Prism eyeglasses are artisian glasses made of hand-cut Italian acetate from an archive dating to 1849. As a trend forecaster, Anna traveled the world for fashion inspiration. From Mexico City's Bauhaus architecture to Tel Aviv flea markets to American 50s vintage frames, each pair embodies a slightly retro, yet classic style. Each pair is named after a different city: Rio "sexy and cury," New York "classically cool,"Rome "classic with a Mod-style twist," Paris "coquettish," and London "cool but a bit more edgy."

"These glasses are not supposed to take over your look but to add to it, and encourage whatever style or individuality you have already - it was really about taking people that had a great style story already and show how the glasses add to that."

Anna's je ne sais quoi took a dowdy concept and made it cool with all the tastemakers. A girl who can do that and still radiate such a genuine smile: tres irrésistible!

About Prism

Credits: Wendy Bevan, Prism blog, David Dunan, Garance Dore, Prism, Wonderland, O Magazine, Vogue UK, Ami Sioux for i-D, John Francis Peters for Fader, Elle

Jameela Jamil

"I've mastered the hand-on-hip-slightly-turned-to-the-side pose. Every picture looks the same"


In one year, Alexa Chung decamped to MTV USA, and English teacher Jameela Jamil became her successor for the UK variety talkshow "Freshly Squeezed." In many ways, both girls are similar: the same cat eyes (Jameela's accentuated with a thick stroke of liquid eyeliner); model-legginess; self-deprecating slouched posture. But Jameela stands her own. Her bombshell looks - long, glossy jet-black hair, red lipstick and hourglass figure - play a coy counter role to her retro glam 80s fashion choices. Who else could pull off a Spongebob dress or Mickey Mouse costume and not look ridiculous?


Jameela also hosts Bebo.com's "The Closet," an online fashion advice show. She is very much like her fans: excited about fashion, secure in her choices but looking for updates. She is surprised that she is making rounds on best dressed lists. She just wears what she loves: poufy 50s prom dresses to premieres and shorts with ankle boots for casual excursions. She is still learning, experimenting, and the gusto of creativity shows.


"Jameela Jamil is tall, infectiously funny, endearingly comfortable in her own skin and has a quirky, irreverent presence on screen." - Katie Mulloy, Nylon Magazine


On screen, the hostess is young, enthusiastic and a tad off-beat. She is slightly in her own world, a bit starstruck by all the big names she is interviewing. But she laughs the awkwardness off with her quick wit. Jameela is refreshingly real, despite being ridiculously gorgeous, and that puts everyone at ease.

Phoebe Philo

Celine spring 2010: "I wanted to clean it up, refocus, and present a strong, powerful woman."

Phoebe Philo knows exactly what you want. She did it for Chloé, bringing you stacked wooden heels, wide-legged jeans, and the infamous Paddington handbag.

"Established Chloé as a stylish baseline, the Chanel of her generation” - Cathy Horyn, New York Times

Now she is back, bringing faded French label Céline from the trenches with THAT sleeveless trench dress.

“Phoebe Philo always had an uncanny gift for defining exactly what cool women want to wear.” - Vicki Woods, Vogue

"She has absolute precision in terms of being able to seize the fashion moment. She knows exactly what women are going to want tomorrow." – Claudine Barnabé, owner of Parisian boutique Espionne

Phoebe Philo is that cool girl, always one step ahead. Rather than elusive, she is mysterious. But she is not a snob. She is charmed by the copycat designers. She designs, instinctually, for everygirl. And she gets it right: sportswear meant to be worn: comfortable, classic and chic. Clothes that are meant to be reinterpreted and represented by the wearer.

"I'm not interested in clothes that just convey a certain look, or fashion. Clothes for me have always been a form of self-expression."

An effortless “It Girl” crowned many times over.

Carey Mulligan

Some girls are under the radar, even despite a Golden Globe nomination and a feature in Vogue. You would probably never notice British actress Carey Mulligan if you passed her on the street. Demure and quirky-cute, it takes a prolonged glance to be won over by her.

“Gamine innocence of Audrey Hepburn with the warmth, intelligence and mischief of the young Judi Dench” – Chris Tookey

Of course an indie film would prove to be her breakthrough role. Although you sometimes grimaced at her character’s naiveté in “An Education,” it was impossible not to be transfixed by her giggly precociousness. Here was a girl learning about the real world for the first time, and the risks she took ultimately made her stronger.

“Natural born talent” – Oliver Stone

This is a girl who can, with the twitch of an eye or the faint upturn of her lips, hint upon how she feels. Carey’s veiled mysteriousness is what keeps us guessing: an enigma who does not reveal (all) of her secrets.