Each week, we ask writers, artists, and people of interest to share what’s inspiring them lately. This week we feature picks from Nik Thakkar, creative director for the luxury menswear brand Ada + Nik (which shows at London Collections: Men each season). He is also currently the face of Jean Paul Gaultier’s AW13/14 digital campaign. Nik is listed as one of 25 on The New Fashion Power List 2012 and on Time Out London’s Culture 100. VICE magazine calls him “one of the premier creative minds in London,” while Style.com says he “pushes the boundaries of the industry.” Follow him on Twitter at @nikthakkar.
1. Woodkid aka Yoann Lemoine
There’s an ongoing debate about whether fashion can be classified as art; or film or music for that matter. I’ve always seen it as art, and I guess that as a child of Gen Y, modern art to me is creative content in any form — even if it is branded, i.e. pop music, ad campaigns, and so on. With that in mind, I don’t want to list off a set of “artists” in the traditional sense. Music video directors include Woodkid/Yoann Lemoine.
2. Bradley Stern
My friend Bradley Stern, who writes for MTV and runs the globally-renowned site MuuMuse, is one of my favorite writers. His comedic and satirical take on pop music is absolutely unparalleled in an online space that is full of opinion and commentary. I’ve never been so addicted to someone’s work. (Editor’s note: Stern’s album review of Britney Spears’ Britney Jean is highly-recommended reading.)
3. Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power.
4. Filmmaker Oz Thakkar
My brother Oz Thakkar is one to watch. He’s been shooting in Japan a lot and has the most phenomenal short film called MAID, which is coming out. He is also shooting our new campaign film for Ada + Nik. Behemoth is a short film he co-produced with Laura Bailey.
5. Greenpeace’s #DETOX campaign
I am one of Greenpeace’s #DETOX ambassadors, alongside Ada Zanditon, Laura Bailey, Gael Garcia Bernal and Alexis Knox. The ethos behind this is to encourage designers and factories around the world to use sustainable processes to ensure that the water system is not polluted. This is really important to me as it is something that is so often overlooked.
