In the photographs of Lebanese artist Leslie Hakim-Dowek concrete brutalist-like buildings meet Wedgewood-blue skies. The artist provides snapshots of domestic interiors, shops and cafes – interspersed with portraits of Beiruti youths.

Songrwriter and singer Xanthí has released her latest album: Problems. Describing her music as dark, confessional, and impulsive, she has us hooked with her sensuous style and embracing a sensible play with imperfections.

Gold. That is the theme of artist extraordinaire Andrew Logan’s 50th Alternative Miss World contest of 2022, carried out at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London. For the fiftieth time, contestants showcase their uniquely distinct talent in a combination of outrageous dress, liberating movement and straight-out sparkling craziness.

This exciting second round of the programme The Young Associates at Sadler’s Wells has supported John-William Watson and Olive Hardy – we interviewed both for The Protagonist – as well as Vidya Patel and Magnus Westwell. The choreographers worked with Ben Duke as their Artistic Guide to produce the pieces that will now be presented on stage this October.

This photographic essay is part one of a series exploring working with new technologies, material innovation and design in terms of fashioning the anatomy. In the 21st century fashion and material production is evolving. Innovations through aesthetics, materials, and technology are furthering the possibilities of what we wear.

Issey Miyake was first and foremost a creator of a unique oeuvre, which has always drawn on all disciplines and various forms of practice and research. Undoubtedly Miyake was one of the few figures to have taken clothing design into the realm of art.

The World Famous *BOB* is a neo-Burlesque icon as her shows and activism blur the lines of gender and sexuality, allowing her to inspire and create optimism for the community. The photographer Amy Touchette gave six years of her life to document *BOB*’s milestones on and off stage in what she calls “the ultimate postmodern gender story.”

With an unconventional cast, an unconventional soundtrack, and an unconventional approach, director Jan Martens presents his piece any attempt will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones and creates an atypical corps de ballet at our “London stage of dance” that is Sadler’s Wells.

Volker Hermes has recently received a lot of attention internationally on social media – in particular his series Hidden Portraits. Long before it became practical, and indeed, fashionable to cover part of our faces with a mask, Hermes played with the idea of covering the faces of the rich and famous as portrayed by the Old Masters.

In her latest role Susanna Herbert plays the ill-starred Tsarina Alexandra in the hit Netflix series, The Last Czars. We meet her behind the scenes as she directs a new US cable network drama-documentary, Breaking The Band, and talked about exploring the Russian Revolution through her role.

"Prosperity." That is the meaning of Unnati in Hindi, and ever since, this most talented of singer-songwriter-composers has lived up to her name – live appearances on the global stage and successful recordings have led to Indigo Soul, her new album which skilfully blends the Asian flavours of her heritage with global ingredients.

“Anything glamorous is normally French!” – nothing short of a promise, La Voix is all about the voice, the singing and performance. The Protagonist team had the chance to have a tête-à-tête with the celebrated red-headed, gowned and rhine-stoned sensation.

While working she is surrounded by velvet, silk, brocade, lace, pleated fabrics and an “extensive, wild mixture” of small objects like pearls, medallions, ribbons, brass metal feathers, braids, sequins and even little ceramic swans. “I am looking out for material all the time” says Della Reed from Velvet Eccentric in London.

Whilst taking Freddie Wise’s portrait I paused and there was a moment of silence in which I could not recall who Freddie reminded me of, I felt that I had seen or met him before. Was he a great actor who I had seen in a Hollywood movie? He could easily be cast as a young James Dean in Giant or as a protagonist in a Gus Van Sant film such as My Own Private Idaho.

“Life is here for living” is a line in one of Ayala’s songs. If we think of listening to music and being moved by it as part of intense living, Ayala certainly gave us an evening filled with life in the best sense of the word. The British singer, now living in Mexico, and her band intrigued with a broad variety of her creations from (Latin American) classics in a new interpretation and new songs with influences of Mexican folklore music.

For this feature of The Protagonist, we interviewed the actor Michael Fox, who is starring in the highly anticipated film “Downton Abbey” alongside other members of the cult cast including Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Matthew Goode, Tuppence Middleton and many more.

“[A]nd then I swan in with my sewing machine” says Harriet Riddell remembering her time in Kenya. Her art works have been exhibited in London, Delhi, Nairobi and Toronto. She loves to travel. Coming from Oxfordshire she graduated from The University of Hertfordshire, UK in 2012. Whereas other students would paint or draw the live model, her mind, hands and eyes were busy stitching a portrait with her sewing machine.

Paloma Faith's new album The Architect has been released. At the same time, two of the images that we produced with Paloma Faith at The Protagonist Magazine have been pre-released at the exhibition opening of "Pop-Artisans" in Liverpool, an exhibition around the work of the renown designer duo Whitaker Malem.

It is not very often you get to photograph someone who is as handsome as Harry and who you feel will be a great talent of the future. Harry seems to posses a look and demeanour of one of the Hollywood greats such as a young Paul Newman or Robert Redford.

Aubrey Logan, originally from Seattle and now based in L.A., describes herself as funny, serious and driven all at once. And who would not agree with her after listening to her voice, watching her playing the trombone, giggling at her jokes and tapping their feat to the rhythm she creates!