Features
Olivia Spring
journalist
journalist writing about chronic illness and disability, artists and creatives, feminism, fashion, and more.
journalist writing about chronic illness and disability, artists and creatives, feminism, fashion, and more.
Features
"I couldn't believe the results. I had the energy to go for walks, get out of the house more, and I didn't feel my fatigue dramatically increase throughout the day. I felt like I could see everything a little clearer."
In a Marie Claire exclusive, three girls kidnapped by Boko Haram speak about their ordeal and their joy at being free Over three years ago, in April 2014, 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped in the middle of the night from their school in Chibok, Nigeria.
Celebrities such as Bella Hadid, Yolanda Foster, and Kelly Osbourne have brought it to global attention, but what actually is Lyme disease? Lyme disease is an infection caught from a tick bite, affecting over 300,000 people in the US, with an estimated 2,000 - 3,000 new diagnoses in the UK each year.
A former Tower Hamlets teacher and local mother of three has launched an initiative to help support families who are affected by life-threatening or chronic illnesses. The social enterprise, Grant a Smile, was started by Joyce Obaseki, who was a teacher in Tower Hamlets for five years.
"It's the cancer of our time," says naturopath Oliver Barnett, an integrated medical practitioner and leading health expert in the UK. Barnett speaks for an estimated 45,000 people who suffer from Lyme disease in the UK annually, as well as 85,000 people in Europe and 300,000 in the US.
Approximately one in four people in the UK experience a mental health problem each year. The most common diagnosis is mixed anxiety and depression, and women in England are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders In honour of Mental Health Awareness Week, we've put together a list of the best Instagram accounts to follow.
A Croydon mother has launched a new female-only car service, offering women a safe and reliable alternative to minicab services and London transport. Annisa Cars, founded by Sade Agboola, will only accept women and children passengers and use only female drivers.
A Hackney and Harringay-based band are set to perform at an event run by an alternative feminist music collective this autumn. Dream Nails, a feminist alternative band who got together in summer 2015 are part of the LOUD WOMEN Fest line-up. The festival will include 20 acts, all of which are female-led.
Vulnerable patients in Lewisham and bordering areas could be losing the only remaining walk-in centre for urgent and non-urgent healthcare services in south-east London. Local pressure group Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign (SLHC) has warned that proposed closure of the walk-in centre in New Cross will leave patients who are not registered with a GP unable to receive medical help.
Three Goldsmiths students have won the prestigious Royal Television Society (RTS) London Student Award for their film about female oppression. The Female Voice was made by Julia dos Santos, Minji Kim, and Jeanette Lee, who were all undergraduate media students when they made the film. Director dos Santos told ELL: "It was absolutely amazing.
Union members and protesters are urging the Mayor of Lewisham to reject a cinema chain's proposal to take over a publicly-owned Victorian bath house in Ladywell. Lewisham Council announced it was inviting proposals on the development of the Ladywell Playtower in February, and the shortlisted applicants were recently announced.
Interviews
Tracey Emin is sitting on the edge of her couch placed in the middle of her ground floor studio. Surrounding us are canvases mounted on the walls, tables overflowing with bottles of paint, an old CD player, baskets holding art supplies scattered around the room.
Discovering the band Chastity Belt was like finding a bunch of old journals I'd forgotten I had written. Their music entwined humor with sadness, sarcasm with truth, and uncertainty with confidence in a powerful, poetic way.
Performing A Womb of One's Own. "We just said if you want to be part of the company, come and have a coffee at 10am at the National Theatre, and whoever arrives, that's the company," Holly Bond tells me, describing how a group of young women decided to create their own all female theatre collective.
Essays
I remember being a sick 12 year old searching the internet to understand my diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I would stumble across forums of people asking if it is a real disease, and I would angrily write long responses, trying to sound like a sophisticated adult.
When I ride the subway I become so many ages, I carry so many different years, and they appear in layers inside of me in a way I wish I could erase. They are built like a pyramid in my body.
Fashion
Amesh 's debut collection combines local craft with modern techniques to create free-flowing and loose fitting pieces, featuring distressed knit and floral prints. High waisted trousers and jumpsuits blurred the gender lines smoothly. For the Spring Summer 2018 collection, Amesh collaborated with luxury sustainable lifestyle brand SRI to create modern and refreshing designs.
New York based designer and graduate of Parsons school of Art and Design, Han Wen, debuted his Spring Summer 2018 collection to an overflowing crowd in the Vestibule this afternoon. Han Wen explores the opposition of things through his designs, pairing masculine silhouettes with feminine sophisticat
Anita Atuobi Anita Atuobi, graduate from the University of Creative Arts, uses "innovative pattern cutting techniques, surface and textile development and contemporary interpretations of femininity" throughout her work. This is shown in her designs through bold florals and hand embroidered flowers. Anita spent a few months interning for J.W.
Francesco Rasola, a self taught Italian designer, debuted his Spring Summer 2018 collection titled '2+2=5' as an artistic presentation today in Freemasons' Hall. Aiming to mix street wear with innovative Italian style, Rasola does just that, while exciting the audience with booming music and models
Reformation is a US-based clothing company created in 2009 by Yael Alfalo. Their mission is "to lead and inspire a sustainable way to be fashionable", and they do so by sourcing sustainable fabrics and vintage garments to make less of an environmental impact. The majority of their clothes are designed and manufactured at their Los...
India based International Institute of Fashion Design has worked in association with London School of Trends for the INIFD-LST: A REGEEN RIOT show for Spring Summer 2018. Included in the show was 12 selected student and graduate designers from across India, who showed to an overflowing and excited a
Designer Xi Zhu's spring/summer collection, Girls Grown Up, is designed for the strong, feminine woman. With a dominant colour scheme of black, white and blue, this collection features flowing dresses, oversized blouses, high-waisted trousers, and frilly blouses with lace and sheer detail. The New Romantics, '80s power dressing and postmodernism are the inspirations for this...
For Spring/Summer 2018, Billie Jacobina used her experience of working at a bakery as inspiration for her colourful, sequin filled collection. With models dancing on stage to music by Drake and Dua Lipa, they embodied the sassy, uplifting mood Billie illustrates through her designs.