Urban Junkies London | Weekend Guide September 18

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NIGHTLIFE

If you thought this weekend was entirely about London Fashion Week, well, you were kinda right. But if the spectator sport of watching freakishly dressed women making small children cry isn’t enough fun, we’ve also got the Design festival to be getting on with, a spot of Hula bowling, and Gay Sunday at the zoo. Yes, even the animals are embracing the world of the camp and fashion-abulous. Wonder how they’ll feel about Christopher Kane’s Topshop Croc-shirt…


• FRI Rock a Hula • SAT Fashion Fête • SUN Gay Sunday at the London Zoo

TONIGHT
Le Grand Macabre

With outrageous wit, wildly virtuosic vocal writing and astonishing filmic effects, La Fura dels Baus’s highly unusual settings and black humour make this 'anti-anti opera' a spectacular event; a surrealist farce set in a fantasy world that laughs in the face of modern life and points to the moral: eat, drink and make love, for who knows when the world might end. With only six performances kicking off tonight at The London Coliseum, we suggest you get booking now. 17th, 22nd & 25th Sept, 1st, 3rd & 9th Oct. £16 - £30.

FRIDAY

Rock a Hula
Thanks to a creative grant courtesy of Smirnoff Co, Bloomsbury Bowling will play host to a Hawaiian oasis of Honolulu, grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts and pin up bathing beauties. Sporting matching sunset outfits complete with Elvis shades, The Bikini Beach Band and the cream of rockabilliy and rhythm blues, Jessie & The Orbits, will be performing across the two floors of the venue in the King Pin Suite and The Lanes. Strrrrriiiiike!

Time:		8pm - 3am
Place:		Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, Basement of Tavistock Hotel, WC1H 9EU
Cost:		£8 on the door, £6 in advance
Info:		Rock a Hula

Showstudio: Fashion Revolution
Showstudio has pioneered some of the most exciting fashion projects since the website launched in 2000. Under the creative directorship of Nick Knight, it’s worked with the likes of Alexander McQueen, Gareth Pugh and even Heston Blumenthal, pioneering the use of film as a fashion medium. Grouped into ‘Process’, ‘Performance’ and ‘Participation’, this exhibit re-visits the most groundbreaking collaborations, and hosts a studio where you can witness leading photographers shooting first hand.

Time:		10am - 6pm
Place:		Somerset House, Embankment Galleries, WC2R 1LA
Cost:		£7
Info:		Showstudio: Fashion Revolution

UJ LFW OFFER
Two for One tickets to London Fashion Weekender 2009

This year's Fashion Weekend event is looking bigger and better than ever before, with some amazing new names taking up stalls. Bistrotheque will have a pop up restaurant, BLOW will be showcasing their new designers, and the likes of Luella and Peter Jensen will be selling their wares. London Fashion Weekend are offering Urban Junkies subscribers 2-4-1 tickets on all Black tickets from 24th - 27th September. Click HERE for more info.

SHOP
Christopher Kane at Topshop

It’s finally landing! After much leaking of imagery, followed by much embargo-ing of imagery, we’re finally allowed to see, and by tomorrow, touch and buy, what has already been lauded as the most exciting Topshop collaboration to date. UJ hearts the crocodile print tees, much in the open-mouthed vein of his mainline gorilla imagery. Get. In. Line. It’s going to be brutal. Available from 18th September.

SATURDAY

Covent Garden Fashion Fête
Whoo, yes it’s fashion week – but what about us normal people? Hmmm? From hook-a-trendy duck, Hunter welly-wanging to Tug-o-War and models in the stocks, Covent Garden’s Fashion Fête will see traditional British fête activities with a fashion twist. There’ll be an Anna Wintour fan photobooth where you can don the Editor’s iconic hair and glasses, SuperSuper magazine will have a booth, and you’ll be able to enter a ‘most fashionable cupcake’ competition. Because eating is back on trend, kids.

Time:		11am - 6pm
Place:		Covent Garden
Cost:		Free
Info:		Covent Garden Fashion Fête

Work It!
Tina Turnover, Jonny Dett and Think Twice present a night of nothing but 90’s R&B and hip hop classics all night long. Might sound like your worst nightmare, but Work It! is a sure fire hit for those who believe there is nothing sadder than a dance floor full of inanimate people. This is the night to bust those moves, let loose, have fun, shake that booty, instigate a Run DMC style dance off (ok we’ll stop now, you get the picture - there will be dancing.)

Time:		10pm - late
Place:		Visions Video, 588 Kingsland Road,E8 4AH
Cost:		Free
Info:		Work It!

BOOK AHEAD
Any Excuse at Babington House, 24th September, 8pm.

Jodie Harsh is letting Felix B and Vula of the Basement Jaxx loose for a rollicking house party; expect uptempo craziness, intriguing guests and a healthy dose of the unexpected. And you don’t need to be a Soho House member to get stuck in – why not make a night of it and grab a mate for the double-room deal at £210.

Email anyexcuse@babingtonhouse.co.uk to join in the party.

SUNDAY

Gay Sunday at the London Zoo
London Zoo is coming out in style with its rather fabulous Gay Sunday, complete with a VIP terrace serving cocktails to the beats of DJs (as well as squawks, growls and generally rumblings, we imagine). Expect a fabulous crowd of peacocks and flamingos to flock on the Pink Picnic Lawn to be serenaded by an orchestra, grab a bite to eat from the BBQ and debate what is the gayest animal of them all. We’re going with the bisexual bonobos – apparently the animal kingdom has up beat on kinks. Grrr.

Time:		10am - 5.30pm
Place:		London Zoo
Cost:		£18.50
Info:		Gay Sunday at the London Zoo

Open House London
Who lives in a house like this? Open House Weekend invites you to step behind the previously locked doors of private residences (neighbours don’t count – this not a validation of breaking and entering), historic government buildings, art spaces and City banks to have a nosy around. Check out David Adjaye's sunken cube property, an amazing glass house in Highgate, and get inside the belly of Lloyds of London. And no, we’re not in possession of any floor plans pertaining to the vaults, swear.

Time:		Various
Place:		Various
Cost:		Free
Info:		Open House London

DESIGN FESTIVAL
The Tournament

The Design Festival officially kicks off on Saturday, and our pick of the bunch comes courtesy of Spanish designer Jaime Hayón, who’s made a gigantic chess set with 2m high ceramic chess pieces, referencing iconic London landmarks on a specially created mosaic glass chess board. It’s go-time in Trafalgar Square; APPLY ONLINE for the last few spots - could be your only chance to take out The Queen, sans beheading.

COMPETITIONS

Win a pair of 3-day passes to the Red Bull Fashion Factory

Well there are Fashion Week tickets and then there are Fashion Week tickets. And these are definitely the latter. So for your chance to win a pair of tickets that cover all three days of the storming Red Bull Fashion Factory (including shows from Vivienne Westwood and PPQ) just CLICK HERE to drop us an email and tell us which one of them would win in a fight.
Red Bull Fashion Factory. Sat Sept 19 – Mon 21. Competition closes 6pm Thurs Sept 17.

Celebrate LFW with Vauxhall Fashion Scout and win a Beauty Goody Bag

Vauxhall Fashion Scout takes to the runway at London Fashion Week this week to unearth some of the world’s hottest up and coming fashion designers. To celebrate, you could win a top of the range AOFM cosmetic brush set, five top selling Benefit make up products and two TONI&GUY label.m product packages. Simply TELL US why you need to get catwalk ready to be in with a chance of winning.

Win Tickets to see Infinate Variety

A savagely opulent cabaret for the 21st century, Infinite Variety is an exuberant new show brought to you by Whoopee. This newly devised theatre piece is their highly stylised post-modern re-working of a traditional variety show, led by London's most deviant of showgirls Polly Cupcake, and supported by trans-drogonous performance artist La JohnJoseph and the supremely talented Gemma Whelan.
UJ has five pairs of tickets to see a night of music, magic and spectacle! Click HERE to enter.

Weekend guide by AC & MaM

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