Sat 19th March: Mens Day at LFW with Matthew Zorpas

When I'm not reviewing shows by typing into this blog ........... I can be found to give a soundbite to anyone wanting a splash of colour for their camera. In this instance Matthew Zorpas caught me at the New Power Studio show for his Top Man reporting stint. ........ which is fitting at Matthew is one of my Top Men ........ forever rocking fun and sharp looks with effortless grace........

Sat 19th March: Creatives in Residence at The Hospital Club

Dean Quinn invited me down to The Hospital Club for his final exhibition as part of the Creatives in Residence award which he won for 2010. Dean took over the coveted position from the his predecessor Nova Dando and in turn would be opening an envelope to announce his successor on Thursday night. Here are the mannequins which displayed his archive and his latest resort dress (centre) as a teaser of what to expect from his next collection.
The Hospital Club's scheme supports a diverse group of emerging creatives, contributing to their career progression and personal development. The judging panel is made up of industry-representatives who pick seven artists breaking into various fields from film, music, fashion, theatre & opera, architecture and visual arts.
The most recent nominations for fashion comprised of a shortlist including Yang Du, Hermione De Paula, Zoe Rosalind Sherwood, Shahzad Mohayudin with Brooke Roberts taking home the prize for 2011. To celebrate the announcements Lily Vanilli had been commissioned to create a sensational cake which had icing laced with pomegranate and popping candy! This was a brilliant opportunity to taste her magic potion bakery which normally I only get to read about......... I can confirm that it is quite as cosmic as it sounds!

Keep in the loop with Dean Quinns next step as he leaves Versace to focus on SS12 here.

Friday 18th March: NOKI Incoming = Judy Blame for Paco Rabanne

I have been chomping at the bit to see the chain-mail collaboration of Judy Blame's signature style mixing up the iconic metal medium of Paco Rabanne for AW11. Such a smart move from this Parisian house to bring on board Blame's aptitude for handling hardware to bring the brand in to a new era. Here you can see a product shot of the Chill Metal Cuff and NOKI's photos from the press day in Paris.

Paco Rabanne's signature 'le69paco rabanne' bag (among other items) has been reworked by Judy Blame through his role as Paco Lab guest designer. The bag (named as one of the 50 bags that changed the world) was initially created in order to shatter the conservative couture codes, comprising of metal disks. A few archive original items were on display alongside the new collection for visitors to trace the history of the technique. (Final three images)

Judy Blame's ideas for the project share many attributes with the house founder, through his eclectic mix of inspirations, disregarding convention and classes. His pieces are rooted in tradition of handcraft, but given new life through subversion of the precious and feminine. The result is both anarchic and ridiculously covetable. Whoever ends up with a piece from this capsule collection is a very lucky individual indeed!

To see more about the project, go to le69pacorabanne.com.

Friday 18th March: NOKI Incoming = W Hotel Opening Part II

"East block rocked the W party
Kate Moss and James Brown turned up the volume to John Sizzles-ing tunes
Complaints from average people were overheard about how outrageous the east trash drag scene has become..............

Well done East work it in Harder the normals are ruffled x"


(3 films of A Man To Pet)

Friday 18th March: NOKI Incoming = W Hotel Opening

Whilst I was in the depths of Soho at "Tranny Shack" ....... a seperate portion of the city's talent were entertaining special guests for the launch of The W Hotel. NOKI was there to capture the scene to share with us all............ including Scottee's performance and host Jonny Woo........

"Well done the head tranny serpant JonnyWoo for creating a brilliant East situation at the W hotel opening party..
Wearing Roksanda Ilincic, silk effortless chic..
Congratulations Jonny and Co"

Friday 18th March: Vogue Ball

If the lighting hadn't been red in Madame Jojo's you would see that the hair here is blonde with a turquoise ........ I was channelling Nan Goldin as I pressed the shutter but the photos came out quite different............. beautiful all the same. I LOVE a Vogue Ball. WORK.

Thurs 17th March: Anthony Burrill and No Days Off at Pick Me Up

Last year Rob Ryan took over Somerset House as artist in residence for "Pick Me Up" and now its the turn of Anthony Burrill who has chosen to collaborate with "No Days Off" on the identity for the fair. They will also be teaming up on a project close to their hearts and history of album artwork design to work on a Top 40. Teo, Patrick and Anthony will cut up and customize 40 charity shop-bought album sleeves to be offered as raffle prizes. Music will also take over the space in the form of performance with Burrill's band Späce Rock......... how many strings does this man have to his creative bow?!?! You can ask him for yourself when he holds a talk to discuss his work as a designer, illustrator, artist and video director. Or alternatively visit the open studio when everyone is welcome to get involved with daily fanzine sessions . This is a chance to participate in making collages which will be photocopied into a zine ........... or pick up a ping pong bat and have a game across the desks!

Investigate this further here.

If anyone wants to spend £8 in the shop and buy me an Anthony Burrill cloud and rainbow broach I will much appreciate it!!

Thurs 17th March: "Pick Me Up" assorted

"Pick Me Up" is a fair, a festival and a celebration of the graphic arts with a selection of 24 up and coming artists nominated to be represented and hang their work within Somerset House. Here are a few of my personal highlights........ including gorgeous black and white screenprints by Otecki from Poland and my regular feature fave Kate Moross with her optical patterns. The other 2 pictures here are 3D works from a couple of the "Collectives" ....... a giant cardboard watch from Nobrow and a pyramid hotel as part of Themlot's graphic model city which is the set for stop frame animation workshops.
To find out about attending one of the many, many workshops or events ........ click here.

Thurs 17th March: Jaguar Shoes Collective at Pick Me Up

The Jaguar Shoes Collective are part of the "Collective" showcase at "Pick Me Up", taking over a room with a woodland camping theme to their space complete with decorated teepees, such as Chrissie Abbott's cat and cloud version! Chrissie's beautiful psychedelic coloured screen prints hang on the rainbow silhouette sunset wallpaper and her range of crockery exclusively for the brand is laid out on display. "This Is It" have made a massive bonfire with holes in the marshmallows for visitors to put their faces through and become part of the scenery! Here is Craig Lawrence demonstrating to best effect how to do a Madonna style "burning up for your love" fire face............. to find out more details of how to attend to snap yourself in this interactive spectacle, click here

Thurs 17th March: Evening Tweed at "Pick Me Up"

The curators of "Pick Me Up" have invited a few of their favourite collectives and galleries to set up a "world of themselves" for visitors to step inside a 3D visualisation of the group's inner thoughts. Here are some snaps of the Evening Tweed space which explores the individual members interest in the process of print and illustration. Inside the installation fitted out to look like their studio, the team are actually practising thier various disciplines, making new work with Gocco printing and paper cutting............ LOVE THIS ZEBRA!

Thurs 17th March: Jim Stoten at Pick Me Up with Its Nice That

I read on Jim Stoten's twitter that he was giving away badges recently so I hunted him out at the private view of "Pick Me Up" to pick up my very own packet of pins. Jim was taking part in the "Its Nice That" pop-up section of the contemporary graphic art fair. Throughout the ten day event, different artists will be live drawing and selling the pieces straight off the desk as the ink drys. This offers a chance for the public to meet their favourite creatives and potentially purchase a unique original illustration. Totally unphased by the pressure of spontaneous doodling, Stoten sketchked away as we chatted, looking up to give me some "blue steel" for this photograph!
"Its Nice That" launched the latest in their line of publications last night, adding the 5th edition to the collection........... of which I contributed to the 2nd issue. The duo behind "Its Nice That" are loyal champions of my work and have recently asked me be on this year's judging panel for the "Young Creative Chevrolet" competition. The award scheme has been set up to support fashion, music, photography, design & film under-graduates with a 1st prize of £1,000 .......... so I recommend finding out more if you are an ambitious art student! > apply here

Weds 15th March: Alex Noble at his studio

Last week I visited Alex Noble at his studio which has changed since my last interview, with a new Alice In Wonderland chequer board floor. Sketches, samples and finished garments from his AW11 couture collection hung in amongst his menagerie of dismembered mannequins and props. Here you can see the original paintings he created for the Selfridges collaboration dresses and the pencil drawing with lace which became the invitation to his show. Its all just casually pinned up on the wall as part of a spontaneous story of work in progress but to a visitors eye, is actually more fitting to being framed and hung in a gallery. Alex's penned drafts are exquisite and a testament to the fact that he is an artist applying his vision to a designer role - when he drapes a dress he is making brush strokes with silk. All of these illustrations and garments need to be turned into an exhibition one day......... especially the Lady Gaga archive which includes early experiments of now iconic pieces.

Alex and I are both part of a new collective of London designers who have come together under one PR roof - which goes by the name of Ella Dror PR. The other names include Craig Lawrence, Piers Atkinson, Void Of Course, Astrid Andersen, Sorcha O'Raghallaigh and NOKI. Needless to say the first press day is going to be interesting!!! There are lots of surprise news stories in store.......... follow http://twitter.com/#!/Elladrorpr to be the first to know!

Click here to find out more about the world of Batty Bass for which Alex has artworked the new album that launched last week.......

Tues March 15th: itsonlyLARRY

Me and My Girls from Larry B on Vimeo.

I couldn't help but notice this six foot something style beacon strolling across the courtyard of Somerset House at Fashion Week. He then emerged as the muse to the AGI & SAM AW11 collection on menswear day and I wondered who he was! Welcome to the world of www.imtheonlyoneonmystreet.blogspot.com ........ a.k.a Larry .......20 year old.......... living in South London........... studying Fashion Communication at Saint Martins.......... photography and styling his two main preoccupations along with his blog. Here is his sent over his latest film project for us to see ..........

"Film is something that I've always been interested in, the idea for 'Me and My Girls' came about through the film 'Downtown 81' starring Jean-Michel Basquiat. The writers wanted to get the most interesting people around into a film, playing exaggerated versions of themselves, to show what life was like for the downtown New York crowd. It made so much sense in my head and fitted perfectly into a school project. I decided (for now) I'd scale it down to a group of friends - Four girls with individual styles but a great friendship. It's a healthy mixture of 'Sex in the City', 'The Craft' and 'MisFits' with that hint of young British rawness."

To find out what might come next from the land of Larry ........ check his TWITTER.

Mon 14th March: "You, Me, Bum Bum Train" Poster exhibition

"You Me Bum Bum Train" is the interactive performance where you are guided thought a labyrinth of experiences to encounter a myriad of unexpected characters in surreal scenarios. It all began as a party with 3 wheelchairs and collectively silly sense of humour, steadily escalating to a series of complex sets installed in nightclubs. For each of these plotted out parties were hand painted and reproduced posters and fliers depicting the particular theme. The team behind the bonkers business both studied illustration at Brighton University so were a dab hand at drawing out their ghost rides in gouache. The whole collection of original artwork is now on display in The Drawers Gallery situated in the basement of the Haggerston Pub, 438 Kingsland Rd, Dalston, E8 4AA. It's open 2pm till 9pm every day except Mondays throughout the month, ending on the 28th. According to official sources "If you would like to come during the day the pub is really nice and it does amazing pizzas for all you pizza fans." !

To get a little insight into the world of "You Me Bum Bum Train", find out by watching Jonathon Ross & Dermot O'Leary's testimonials from last year's Barbican residency: