Contributors:

• PHOTOGRAPHY: LEWIS KHAN
• CREATIVE DIRECTOR: RAPHAELLE MOORE

Italians have a term, ‘la passeggiata’. A long-standing tradition in which the locals gather to stroll each evening. A moment to see and be seen. To decompress after their days and catch up on the gossip. A moment of community and belonging… And just a little bit of showing off - in their finest threads, of course.

Tucked away behind the busy streets of Vauxhall, lies London’s answer. A rare gem; a community hidden amongst the madness of the capital. Welcome to “Happy Hour” at Bonnington Square (BSQ, to those that love it – you’ll meet them too).

To celebrate the last of summer in the city, FLANNELS’ Creative Council member Raphaelle Moore let us into her special world and introduced to the people that make it.

It’s 5pm somewhere. And that place is Bonnington Square. People gather on the communal bench. A tray of champagne cocktails is carried out. Friends laugh and joke and start unwinding after their week.

Across the road lies Italo, a cute Italian delicatessen that serves up epic sandwiches and great coffee. Their mix-matched chairs and tables cover the pavement with a steady flow of punters throughout the day, from the bleary-eyed breakfast crowd to the chatty lunchers and the afternoon workers, laptops in hand.

In the middle of the piazza is a hidden garden; immaculate, gated, green. And all around? A community of terraced houses, some spill backwards onto the garden, others spider off in a network that surrounds the square. All roads leading back to this very spot.

While August has historically signalled a time to leave the city and escape to the country, there’s magic to be found for those who remain. After the bustle of early summer there’s a quieter pace; a new sense of community that the long days and warm nights bring. Neighbours gathering in communal gardens, talking over fences, tables brought out onto the pavements and the streets reclaimed by people.

And nowhere is this more prominent than in Bonnington Square. Here residents have cultivated a real community, one that Raphaelle discovered eight years ago when she was first introduced to the square by her boyfriend, Gabriel Pluckrose, who was born and raised here (and who also styled the shoot). And for the past two years, she’s called it home.

Alongside Gabriel, the square and its inhabitants were captured by Lewis Khan, who also grew up here. “Their vision was integral to the project,” states Raphaelle. “We also happen to be best friends and it’s always a real joy to collaborate with them.”

As for the cast? “It was so hard to choose who to feature. They all inspire me in different ways,” says Raphaelle. “Lulu [Kennedy, Raphaelle’s boss at Fashion East] influences me every day with how she cares for people and enjoys life; she has the best sense of humour. Primo will drop anything to help someone, always putting others first. I’m lucky enough to have a very close relationship with everyone involved in the project, on and off camera.” You can see this bond in the shots, which capture Raphaelle’s muses in all their real, beautiful, glammed up glory.

“There are a lot of characters in the square; all hilarious and very unique,” explains Raphaelle. “Whether that’s the way they dress, what they’re up to day-to-day or the stories they have to share. It’s very inspiring to be around.”

Amongst them is James Ahmed (aka Dadu), Gabriel’s father and the life and soul of the square, whose G&Ts at happy hour have become legendary. He’s always seen with an ice bucket, ready for drinks, claims a passing resident who stops to chat.

True to form, he tells tales of his times in a touring Bollywood production in the ‘80s and cracks up the crew by playing up to the camera. But, on a more serious note, it’s moving to the square in 1992 as a single parent that he credits with saving him: “It’s the sort of area where we brought up our kids in the really old-fashioned way whereby you open your doors and you say, ‘go out and play’ and all the adults met, and we shared duties.”

“It’s such an old-fashioned village feel,” agrees Diana James, who appears with her dog, Chicken, aka the main character of the square. “Which comes with all that; everybody might know your business, but if you’re sick, which I have been recently, everybody rallies around and makes sure you’re ok and it’s brilliant in that way.”

As for the square itself? Diana describes it as extension of their living rooms, a place where friends meet daily and share stories of the old days, in Diana’s case, her experiences running VIP at Fabric’s sister club, Matter, and as the door host at the infamous Camden Palace, now Koko.

Bonnington Square has real history. Bombed in World War II, it was set to be demolished by the council, but one resident managed to delay the action. In the meantime, squatters moved in. By the early ‘80s they occupied most of the square, eventually leasing and purchasing their homes. And it was down to these residents that the square became what it is today, setting up a café and shops and transforming the garden into an oasis.

You see this spirit alive and kicking today. James is one of those who transformed the piazza. And Primo is described by Raphaelle as the “most helpful person on the square”. We first meet him driving – true to form - down the street in his van.

And then there’s Thalia Dergham; a New Yorker who first landed in Bonnington Square by chance 10 years ago via a friend of a friend and instantly fell in love. “Everyone who comes here feels it, which is quite amazing. You enter in and then you suddenly understand,” she says. It’s true. It feels like a slice of paradise in an otherwise manic city. “It’s not just a cute café on a corner, but there’s friends and people who’ve lived here who have cultivated this space,” she says.

You can see why the square attracts a posse of regulars; those who don’t live there but who crave the space. Katie Beddoe, who first met Raphaelle through a shared office, has become a frequent visitor, thanks, in part, to the square crush. A collective “trio crush interest,” we’re told. “There’s something about being here that means he texts one of us. It’s like magical, weird, wild.” It means she brings her A game when she visits.

And the cast bring their A game for the shoot. Taking cues from Italy, they dress up for the occasion in Vivienne Westwood and Magda Butrym and Balmain. James (Dadu) dons a fresh white Jacquemus suit. Primo sits back in a larger-than-life Versace silk shirt. And Diana buttons up in sharp Balmain two-piece.

And last, but by no means least, is Raphaelle’s boss at Fashion East, the legendary Lulu Kennedy, who stops by with her daughter, Rainbow. “Bonnington Square is a beautiful living, breathing example of what the ridiculously over used words du jour ‘community’ and ‘safe space’ really means,” she says. “The dream spot in the middle of a city almost too good to be true. I would love Rainbow to live here one day.”

And so would we. The whole crew spend the day plotting as to how we could make it happen. But in the meantime, we’ll always have happy hour.

Stylist: Gabriel Pluckrose,  Makeup artist: Rebecca Wordingham,  Hair stylist: Hiroki Kojima,  Talent: James Ahmed, Diana James & Chicken, Primo, Katie Beddoe, Thalia Dergham, Lulu & Rainbow Kennedy.