{"id":3453,"date":"2013-06-28T17:39:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T17:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/climaterevolution.co.uk\/?p=3453"},"modified":"2016-09-09T15:20:32","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T14:20:32","slug":"viviennes-diary-8-may-16-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climaterevolution.co.uk\/wp\/2013\/06\/28\/viviennes-diary-8-may-16-june\/","title":{"rendered":"Vivienne\u2019s Diary: 8 May-30 June"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MAN<\/a>

MAN Spring\/Summer 2014 Milan catwalk<\/p><\/div>\n

Wednesday, 8 May: <\/b>Morning \u2013 arrived home from N.Y. Evening to \u201cThe Century Club\u201d where there was a panel discussion, Q & A and a video link to Julian Assange; the focus of the event was support for Bradley Manning.<\/p>\n

I met Emma who works for the club and intends to make it a political forum and Katya and Naomi who co-ordinated the event. Human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, spoke. As you know, Peter is active in gay rights and gays are building support for Brad. The panel was impressive \u2013 journalist Andy Worthington, author of \u201cThe Guantanamo Files\u201d, I was particularly interested that he helped get 25,000 people on the streets of Lewisham to protest the closure of the hospital as I\u2019m interested in protesting the evictions of people from their homes in Clapham where I live [so the council (Lambeth) can sell the houses as part of their economic squeeze (short term madness, storing up trouble for the future)]; Ben Griffin, ex-career soldier in the British Army, who publically countered British government claims that we had no part in the torture and rendition programme in Iraq then founded Veterans for Peace UK, http:\/\/veteransforpeace.org.uk\/<\/a>; and Chase Madar, author of \u201cThe Passion of Bradley Manning\u201d.<\/p>\n

I am going to pick up later in the diary on what we discussed and Julian’s contribution as the discussions were also the subject of later events. At these meetings you meet others protesting American legal outrage and their victims, e.g. I met the brother of Talha Ansam, an innocent who was recently extradited.<\/p>\n

At the moment I\u2019m not doing much preparation on Gold Label (though Andreas is doing some). I\u2019ve worked a bit on my other lines. The thing that always takes a lot of my time is dealing with requests and invitations and keeping in touch with people and keeping things moving and happening. There\u2019s always a backlog. This applies to anyone who works in any managerial job. I would say this takes two thirds of my working life. So if in future I mark my time as \u2018uneventful\u2019 or leave gaps you will know what I mean. I’m thinking of how I can answer your emails. Maybe I can get my son Ben to do it for me – He runs the Worlds End web site. In addition I have been doing Q v Q.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, 14 May: <\/b>Olivier from France who has \u2018Purple\u2019 magazine popped in for half an hour to interview me. He is so passionately against nuclear energy and upset that it continues. I don\u2019t know what to think \u2013 it is supposed to be the cleanest in comparison to fossil fuels; the greatest killer is carbon but there is a great body of anecdotal evidence for death from nuclear. The hope lies in solar and fusion. Dams cause untold destruction, which isn\u2019t great; we need efficient national grids.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Olivier left for N.Y. His travel bag was so small – not much bigger than a wash bag. He doesn\u2019t need clothes, just underwear because he\u2019s always in black leather – like Joe Rush. When Joe washes his shirt he\u2019s bare-chested under his leather jacket. And me – in this usually cold and changing weather chaos I wear every day my lederhosen.<\/p>\n

Wednesday 15 May: <\/b>Photo by Rankin for Marie Claire and interview. This is for a green issue so that\u2019s why I agreed. I don\u2019t do interviews on just fashion. However for a time I\u2019m going to stop all photos and interviews because I have some projects outstanding for quite some time, like fundraising for \u2018Cool Earth.\u2019 <\/b><\/p>\n

Rankin\u2019s studio is very busy \u2013 of course it\u2019s the headquarters of the magazine \u2018Dazed and Confused\u2019. Lovely breakfast, then lovely lunch; lots – help yourself. I was worried it would get wasted. No, it\u2019s never wasted, they cook for 50 people each day.<\/p>\n

Then on to Andy Gotts (same outfit means I only have to prepare once). Andy\u2019s well known for his portraits of film stars. He does charity work. He is doing a book -proceeds to Elton John\u2019s charity \u2013 on fashion people and pop stars. In the quiet of a suite in the St.James Hotel there is just him; comfortable, no fuss, no assistant; he uses the same lighting always. Hence his popularity, \u201cPeople don\u2019t like having their photos taken, I make it simple.\u201d It was a pleasure to have him take my photo. He offered his service to me for any charity work.<\/p>\n

I had time to walk over to the National Gallery for an hour. I had a cup of tea then looked at Henri Rousseau and bought a good little book on him. Then got the bus home.<\/p>\n

\"Henri<\/a>

Henri Rousseau – Suprised! at the National Gallery. You have to see it in real life ( and don’t forget to look at the frame). There is nowhere a more thriving representation of nature than the one that Rousseau manages to convey.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Garden\"<\/a>

A view of my back garden. Andreas said “I want to show you, it’s the same as Rousseau. It was the same – the thriving manifold abundance – though you can’t get it from a photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

Thursday 16 May: <\/b>I went to LSE in the early evening to hear James Hanson speak. He is the most well respected scientist in the world. He told his story.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/a>

James Hansen being arrested<\/p><\/div>\n

He is the fifth of seven children of itinerant farmers. It was good business, they took a share of the profits; easy to make money in those days, (the 50\u2019s) He went to university then, then to NASA.<\/p>\n

By applying his studies of Venus to Earth he discovered the dangerous rate of global warming in relation to CO2 emissions. In the 70\u2019s he spoke out and was attacked by the scientific and political authorities. He wasn\u2019t good at dealing with this so he stepped back from debate and continued his work for 15 years. He has four grandchildren and when Sophie the eldest, now 12, was born he stepped back into the public arena to testify his findings.<\/p>\n

He told the story through family photos. One day when the world was destroyed his grandchildren would ask, \u201cWhy\u00a0didn’t\u00a0grandfather try to do something?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In one photo Sophie showed him a letter to Obama which she knew he would like because she had written, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you listen to my grandfather?\u201d He showed photos of the monarch butterfly which migrates from one mountain top in Mexico to his home in California, where they flock to the milkweed bushes his family plants for them; he made the point that if Earth gets hotter they will have to plant higher up his home mountain until they reach the top.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 idea is carbon price.<\/span> It\u2019s a very simple idea: fossil fuel companies would pay a pollution tax at source before fuel enters the market. This tax would be passed on to the customer, who would realize the effect, e.g. when a gallon of petrol cost $1 more. However, all the tax collected would be paid direct to the citizen. Each US citizen would receive $3,000 per annum paid into their bank account in monthly instalments; children would receive $1,500 so a family with two kids would receive \u00a39,000. People who had no car or green car would make a profit. The tax would increase each year. This scheme would put money into circulation and stimulate the green economy. Governments are interested. James was on his way to testify to the EU. He had another idea: to prosecute the U.S. government.<\/p>\n

Amongst the questions James was asked was, \u201cHow do we get more people engaged in activism?\u201d He didn\u2019t know, he said, \u201cBill McKibben got 35,000 people on the streets recently in Washington to protest the pipe line from the tar sands. It wasn\u2019t \u201cenough.\u201d (The pipeline has been temporarily stopped. James was amongst the people arrested).<\/p>\n

\"Monarch<\/a>

Monarch butterflies<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Wednesday 22May: <\/b>Until now nothing eventful except (it blew me away as usual) a concert at the Barbican to mark conductor Gergiev\u2019s 60th<\/sup> birthday. Gergiev is artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, home of the legendary Kirov ballet. His genius and inspired leadership have ramified, via events and festivals, into ever-increasing cultural prestige \u2013 national and global. Amongst his world-wide activities he is Principal Conductor of the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra, home \u2013 the Barbican). Russia has already rewarded him with a new concert hall and now and now in 2013 a new Mariinsky Opera house. I hear he is a pal of Putin \u2013 he must be \u2013 and although I have very much enjoyed meeting him once or twice I haven\u2019t broached the topic of politics but I would like to \u2013\u00a0 so I will if I get the chance. Don\u2019t forget concert tickets start at \u00a310.00. Great value, great acoustics\/ no tricks \u2013 just people power and centuries of skill.<\/p>\n

\"Valery<\/a>

Valery Gergiev<\/p><\/div>\n

Friday 24 May: <\/b>A special treat to mark the honour of having a tulip named after me: tea at the Dutch Embassy; I should invite 30 guests. Tizer was clever \u2013 why didn\u2019t I invite our couture customers, those who were around? And our pattern cutters and sewers.<\/p>\n

The Ambassador\u2019s speech touched me. She felt that I appreciated the importance to culture of Dutch painting and spoke of this often and that my fight for the environment, along with true human values is share by the best that is Dutch.<\/p>\n

Ligthart Bloembollen the man who invented the tulip presented me with a bunch. It takes 25 years. The tulips are a fiery, burnt orange with yellow lights inside and purple lights outside; their petals are framed with a tough little fringe. I love them.<\/p>\n

I spoke on the importance of culture. If people only bought beautiful things that would be Climate Revolution. I enjoyed meeting and being with everyone and pianist Nelly Akopian- Tamarina who looked so chic in our dress of black Cluny lace framed with a navy Cluny lace which also bordered its diagonal cut, played a little piece of Chopin.<\/p>\n

Yes, I am a fan of 17th<\/sup> century Dutch painting. There is no progress in art and this is the place to start if you wish to love art. Its small format and original and intimate subject matter is intended to hang in houses with smaller rooms. Starting from here you can go forward and back in time to know painting but if you start at, say \u2013 the Impressionists, you might go on in time, to Picasso but after that there are only birthday cards. You might get stuck there and never discover the past.<\/p>\n

\"Tulips\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Saturday, 25\/Sunday 26 May<\/b>: We drove to the country with our friend, Robert. He has a workshop near to Tunbridge Wells in a part of Kent amongst the Weald which he thinks is the most luscious country landscape in Britain. He used to be a tree surgeon. He can build anything \u2013 furniture, wood sculpture, sets \u2013 for clubs, for our catwalk shows: he built a forest<\/span>\u00a0on the 3rd floor in Harrods. Robert told us we could stay with Megan who rents a lodge in the deer park of an estate belonging to a family descended from the Nevilles (It must be the family who fought in the War of the Roses). We travelled down with Rema. She had lived in Ibiza and had travelled in India; she lives in Hastings and wants to move back to London. I know her father, Craig: there was a period when my children were very young that I did not work but lived on Malcolm\u2019s student grant and my precious family allowance \u2013 I was studying to go to university but my plans changed when I borrowed \u00a3100 from my mother and Malcolm and I opened \u2018Let it Rock\u2019 in the back half of a shop which is now called \u2018World\u2019s End\u2019. For a few years, our diet was macrobiotic and I bought brown rice etc. from Craig\u2019s shop in the Portobello Road \u2013 there were very few wholefood shops then. Craig headed the Soil Association for many years. Rema told me that she knows a family in Spain who have been living on sunshine and water for seven years (photosynthesis?)<\/span>. The two year old child does not eat, though her mother breast fed her. Someone gave her a mango but she just played with it.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

May is the crown of the year and because nature is late this year we were in perfect time: everything in leaf and in blossom, bursting \u2013 steaming and swaying into the big blue sky. Highlights:
\nA visit to the cottage of the mothman. By complete coincidence he is the father of Emma who hosts the Century Club where I went for the activists meeting for Bradley Manning. This private collection of moths is an important one. He is a third generation of moth specialists, instead of collecting them he\u00a0traps moths, records them and sets them free. He was an important spy during World War II. He is descended from Nelson.<\/p>\n

Megan happens to be a friend of Julian Assange and among her guests for dinner were some of the activists for Bradley whom I\u2019d met, including Emma and her young daughter,who live nearby commutes to London each day.\u00a0She had made a delicious Thai curry \u2013 I had it again at breakfast. It was kind of Megan to invite me. Megan does acupuncture and she works on better treatment of farm animals. She did the fire walk.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The full moon, big and low.<\/p>\n

Late morning visit to the house of the Neville’s estate and its gorgeous garden: a stunning old cedar and a giant oak standing squat on a mound heaving up its too many arms like a basket till its fingers scratched the sky. And the lawn leading down to a view of May in all its green glory, rolling in a ring of hills, while Andreas and I entered the warmth of the grass paths walled by bushes of every kind and many in flower, especially the fiery azaleas.<\/p>\n

Sunday, 30 June<\/b>: I\u2019ve been too busy to finish the diary until now. I have had several speaking engagements which focussed on Climate Revolution one of them in Cannes<\/a>\u00a0(crowded and noisy but we met young Brandon there, Pamela’s son who was working on Lion International festival).<\/p>\n

Prior to my stay in Cannes Andreas and I stayed 2 days with his uncle Cristel and Otmar who have a house on the neighbouring hillside leading up from Nice to St. Paul. They are a really glamorous couple and I so much enjoy their company.<\/p>\n

\"St<\/a><\/p>\n

St. Paul is famous because so many artists stayed there e.g. Matisse. We visited the\u00a0Fondation Maeght – modern art. Half the garden sculpture was by Miro who is 90% bore (one wall fountain was good) I liked a painting by Braque. I find cubism uninteresting and I had never looked at him. This painting was less formulaic and quite beautiful. Braque had also contributed a stained glass window to the restrained d\u00e9cor (by artists) of a tiny chapel. The wooden crucifixion was donated by Balenciaga. I have never experienced something so complete; austere, sublime, it made the soul quiet. St. Paul itself is full of derivative art reproductions for tourists and the other shops all sell the same stuff, same clothes, same gew-gaws as every place on earth. Didn’t find any real French restaurants – just generic chi-chi, tasting banal.<\/p>\n

\"fountain<\/a>

Miro fountain – Fondation Maeght museum<\/p><\/div>\n

I took part in a discussion about Human Rights with Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve (he got more than 300 people off death row), after a performance of a play by the Belarus Company at the Young Vic. Belarus still has the death penalty.<\/span><\/h1>\n

On Thursday the 20th we shot our publicity campaign with photographer Jack Pearson and on Sunday we did our MAN catwalk show in Milan.
\nSo now I’m going to deal with only the most important things I’ve been doing and thinking about Climate Revolution.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about events that have helped me see more clearly what is happening in the world and what we can do about it. These events are: the Bradley Manning<\/span> demonstration; what I learnt from Julian Assange<\/span> in an interview I did with him for Yoko Ono\u2019s Meltdown Festival at the SouthBank; the information released by whistle-blower Edward Snowden<\/span> which we heard about in early June; also the fact of reading about events in India<\/span> (Arundati Roy: Broken Republic).<\/p>\n