Culturemotif

Stories

Field notes on how culture moves.

A smiling man in a gold cap and black Bloke shirt, picked out in colour inside a monochrome store

New York · Streetwear

The Store Is the Stage

BRKLN BLOKE began with a few shirts, two tables and a Brooklyn street. In Grand Central, Wayne Fortune is proving that cultural value can come from welcoming people in.

Six men gathered around the Earth Rocker sound system, their clothes in muted colour against a monochrome room

Global · Sound culture

The Speakers Remain

Luxury listening bars are everywhere, but their sound arrives from somewhere. Jamaican street dances and Japanese jazz kissa built two traditions around collective listening.

Two young Singaporeans in a city street, with an orange striped shirt picked out against a largely monochrome scene

Singapore · Creative scenes

Can Singapore Design Cool?

Singapore knows how to plan and polish a city. New Bahru and The Panic Room show why its cultural life needs both curation and character.

A smiling man in an Archive shirt at a Dubai festival, picked out in colour against a monochrome crowd

Dubai · City profile

Beyond the Bling

How Dubai is redefining its global image through culture, creativity and community. The rebrand is happening in real time.

A milk crate and turntable sealed in a lightbox display case at the JAY-Z30 exhibition

Brooklyn · Music

Still a Business, Man

Thirty years on, JAY-Z proves the point. In a world of digital abundance, scarcity creates intense economic value, and JAY-Z30 turns Hip-Hop history into luxury commerce.

A monochrome Hollywood portrait turned on its side, only the red lips in colour

Global · Entertainment

The New Cultural Silk Road

America's grip on worldwide popular culture is loosening. New technology is pushing the globalisation of entertainment into reverse, and the implications are huge.

A dance fitness class on a Brooklyn sidewalk, the leader's red shirt and orange shorts in colour against a monochrome street

New York · Public space

Somewhere to Happen

The real culture war is over space. Every culture needs somewhere to happen, and a new report asks whether cities will make gathering possible for everyone.

A fan in Knicks blue holding an orange "Same time, next year?" sign above a monochrome celebrating crowd

New York · Sport

The Codes of Culture

The Knicks winning it all was more than a masterclass in grit and determination. It was a demonstration of what it means to be a real cultural brand.

The Harlem Haberdashery storefront in monochrome, a red fire bell the only colour above the door

Harlem · Fashion

A Cultural Operating System

Harlem Haberdashery is more than a boutique. It is memory, place, people, craft and ritual, run as a business on 125th Street.

A model in a sunset-coloured dress and yellow orchids walking a monochrome runway at Fiji Fashion Week

Suva · Fashion

Putting Fiji on the Map

From a remote island in the Pacific, Fiji Fashion Week is doing to luxury fashion what another famous brand did to water. Here is how they pulled it off.

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