The Great Debate: Ben Kelly tells us what's good, what's bad and who's an idiot

Here at Vicarious we've got some serious pop culture issues so we got our e-hero, Youtube superstar Ben Kelly, to settle them for us. Tell us what you'd choose and why by clicking COMMENTS below!


1.Gaga or Britney? Gaga all the way - she has more talent in her disco stick than Britney has in her whole body.

2. Paris or Perez Hilton? Perez Hilton - he's the lesser of two evils.

3. iPhone or Blackberry? iPhone - I don't own either, but since I love iPods...

4. London or New York? New York - because if you can make it there you can make it anywhere. Apparently

5. IKEA or Habitat? Habitat - Ikea is mental these days - like the TK Maxx of home furnishings.

6. Girls or boys? Boys.what can I say...I'm biased.

7. Boris or Ken? Boris - because he's a bit of an idiot, but an unashamed one.

8. Staying in or going out? Going out - no one sees you when you're at home.

9. Skinny or baggy? Skinny all the way - I could never be anything else!

10. Girls Aloud or The Saturdays? Girls Aloud - since the Spice Girls weren't an option...

TEN STEPS TO YOUTUBE STARDOM

Ben Kelly is an UCL English student from Northern Ireland, who's Youtube renditions of popular music have secured a viewership of over 200,000. In our continued quest to become somebody, we decided to chat to him about how to obtain Youtube stardom and deal with the consequences. It is tough up there after all, just look up SuBo. Actually don’t, she just can’t cope with all the hits.



1. PISS OFF YOUR FAMILY: I've been singing and performing my whole life, much to the annoyance of my family, but I didn't start playing piano until I was 10, which is a bit late compared to all the whizz kids I went to school with. Then I started writing songs when I was 14, and I've just been putting it all together ever since.
2. ...LISTEN TO YOUR LITTLE SISTER: It was my little sister's idea to start the YouTube thing - it was basically just to share with everyone else the kind of stuff I do in my free time at home, and also to gauge a sense of whether people would like my style or not.
3. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE 'POP FACTOR': My musical influences come from all over the place, in almost every genre, but the biggest ones are Michael Jackson and Madonna for the pop factor, Stevie Wonder and Prince for the r'n'b/soul/funk sound, and for their excellent piano playing. I also love David Bowie for his eclectic style/the whole Ziggy Stardust thing.
4. DABBLE IN EVERYTHING. What!? No, put down the drugs and just listen: The music I write, which I hope to get recording and put out there very soon, is very much a fusion of all my influences - essentially it's piano-based pop, but it dabbles in dance music, jazz, soul, all sorts really.
5. BRAIN WAS TALKING SENSE WHEN HE TOLD PINKY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD: The response on YouTube has been phenomenal - I couldn't have wished for better. In 6 months I've had nearly 200,000 views, and especially over the summer that started rocketing up. People's comments have been fantastic, I have a lot of support all over the world now, which really helps for trying to get myself launched out there. The dream is to write, record and perform all over the world, entertaining as many people as I can - that's not too ambitious now is it?
6. DO A DEAR, A FEMALE DEAR, RAAAAAAAAAY A DROP OF GOLDEN SUUUN: I think I'm more influenced by contemporary music, but musicals are a major influence on me - I've been watching and starring in them my whole life - I'm even doing Into The Woods at the Bloomsbury this December. That has been really key to my style, not just from a theatrical perspective, but throughout history some of the greatest music from various eras have been represented through musicals, from music hall to cabaret, rock and roll to disco - they're bursting with imagination, and everyone loves them.
7. HAVE SOME BALLS: I've been on the stage my whole life - although at the beginning, I was terrified of audiences, and there were a few incidents of little Ben fluffing it in competitions or crying at drama class, but when I got to secondary school I did big parts in shows like Singin' in the Rain and Oklahoma and that worked wonders for my confidence. They can't get me off the stage now. That's where I am right now...
8. …ON THE SECOND DATE: I'm quite confident, but I don't think I'd be ballsy enough to serenade on a first date...maybe on a second!
9. GO FORTH AND CONVERT: My friends are late converts to the Ben Kelly fanbase - they didn't take me seriously for quite some time, but I think they're coming round to the idea now that they see other people actually enjoy listening to me.
10. A DIVA IS A FEMALE VERSION OF A HUSTLER, A DIVO IS A MALE VERSION OF DIVA...ERR, THAT MAKES SENSE RIGHT?: I have never been called a Divo backstage - only at home with my family.

And on that note, we’ve come back full circle to Ben pissing off the folks. Now you too can become a YouTube star…or you could just see Ben instead because he’s probably a better singer than you and we always recommend living vicariously.

EXTRA FACTOR: Become a true Ben Kelly fan by watching him perform on stage. He’ll be playing some Monday nights at the ISHbar on Great Portland Street so drop by. And once you’ve been converted you can follow him to Ireland where he will be supporting folk singer Mickey Coleman. For more details join the 'Ben Kelly Fans' group on Facebook.

MK,BK & CF

Fashion Fairy-tale: Vivienne Westwood launches Red Label collection in style and Coco Rocha kisses a frog.

Countless celebrities were in attendance for the launch of Vivienne Westwood's Red Label collection last week. Boy George, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud, Bonnie Wright, of Harry Potter fame, artist Tracy Emin, Geri Halliwell, Alexa Chung, Peaches Geldolf and PPQ Designer Amy Molyneaux all turned up to see what the ambassador of British fashion would do next.

As the guests found their seats, the music evoked a sense of wandering through the forest with Snow White; a faux wooden arch stood at the place where the models would appear and begin to strut. The lights were red.

Then the beat dropped.

Hard, pumped emo-punk set the pace for the quick-moving fantastical show. The girls, including pictured models Daisy Lowe, Eliza Cummings, Coco Rocha and Pixie Geldolf, appeared dressed in a vast array of fairy-tale inspired costumes.

Characters as diverse as Little Bo Peep, Dorothy (complete with Toto), a dinner lady, a school girl, pajama-wearing Wendy from Peter Pan, a cowgirl, swashbuckling pirates and romantic damsels who like hanging out in meadows stomped down the catwalk.

Headgear came in many forms: ribbons, straw hats, scarfs, hats with frogs on, etc. The most interesting however, was the gold horned hairband which suggested that the girls had been cuckolded.

These tales come from many lands and eras but found a happy coexistence in this show, just like in the imagination of a child.Besides, a central theme did run throughout the show: that of the modern Alice in Wonderland. Whimsical dresses were paired with plaited pigs tails; a checkerboard pattern adorned almost every look. A sense of the surreal was created. Scarfs were worn at once with straw hats and pajamas as with chic 50s style dresses. A model carried not just a plaid handbag but also a Costcutter carrier bag, as if she’d just come from the shops.

Further, the catwalk became a theatre. Eliza Cummings smoked as she walked; the models posed at the end of the catwalk – Coco Rocha kissed the frog which she carried. A match made in fairytale heaven.

This is a collection created with Sundays and the British countryside in mind. The British fabrics (tartan and plaid) complete this aesthetic. Nonetheless this collection wasn’t meant for lazy Sundays, but for the fantastical, the exciting. These tongue-in-cheek clothes are for those who miss the days when they could dress up. These clothes were designed for the girl inside the woman.

Katie Rose, German fashion magazine intern

Follow the fluffy white rabbit/ yellow-brick road/ticking clock to Vivienne Westwood's Conduit Street show room to see the collection for yourself. What? It is next to Sketch after all.

A Fashion Victim's Guide to London Fashion Weekend

The weekend is when the real action happens and collections from the past season go on sale. When we say sale, we mean SALE.ON/OFF at 180 Somerset House has been running independent catwalks, exhibitions and pop-up shops in conjunction with official LFW all week but it didn’t stop there. London Fashion Weekend has seen ON/OFF put on a designer fashion sale that could bankrupt even the most restrained of shoppers (75% off retail prices people). Check out our finds… Halifax Harold will never forgive you.


STEVE J & YONI P JACKETS, £150







KAVIAR GAUCHE FALL COLLECTION We found some light blue silk shorts with gold details at £99. We didn’t fit into them. We just thought we’d get that out there.



TATTY DEVINE ICONIC NECKLACES'S The glasses seen around every Shoreditch neck at some point or another were priced at just a tenner.



ELIZABETH LAU CARDYS, £75



PETER JENSEN JACQUARD BUSTIER DRESS,£90



The last day takes place tomorrow (27th Sept)and is said to be the best time to go as desperate designers drop the prices even lower than usual in a bid to get rid of their last items. Tickets are also cheaper on the Sunday at £12.50. Advance tickets have now sold out but if you get there bright and early there will be some available on the door. We have nothing more to add on the matter, we are too busy shopping.

Bernard Chandran, the fish hat man.

Bernard Chandran presented an eclectic show which referenced the Orient and his roots in Kuala Lumpur. The collection is all the more personal due to the unique printing techniques which he employed, such as spraying and painting directly onto the fabrics. The artistry and workmanship which went into this collection is plain to see.

His palette of gold, amber and brown, stone, charcoal and silver seem to derive from the natural elements of woody earth, cooling wind, still and intoxicating waters and warming fire. For the most part Chandran draws on earth and wind and then accents the collection with a couple of boldly coloured pieces which represent water or fire.

The fabrics of the ‘earth’ dresses represent the varying degree of softness to hardness which is present in earthy materials: from grass to bark to rock. The structured tailoring and the central print of bamboo cane are strong and modern. The draped, softer silhouette of some of the charcoal and grey dresses, ambiguously symbolic of earth or wind or water, straddle the boundaries between a hardened aesthetic and romantic dressing.

The accessories are more than unusual: bamboo cane print facemasks and sculptural fish hats provide a quirky undertone. Footwear was reminiscent of Geisha shoes in that the shoe soles were wooden and elevated. Other shoes were feathered or patent leather.

Ultimately Chandran mixes structured silhouettes and fluid fabrics to experiment with the limits of the human body. The textures, prints and fabrics used in this collection frame and extend the human form into something at once guarded and free. The accessories a defiant leap into exotic waters.

Katie Rose
Lesson in Cool: You know when you think you've lost your glasses and then you find them on your head. Trend-setters are just like that but instead of finding their glasses, they find Nemo.