Fri 20th June: Dance the pain away

After Grace Jones, we joined Jamie E17 and hair stylist Charlie le Mindu to see one of his clients dj.at the silent disco - the ever cooly coiffed Peaches. On entry you are passed the obligatory headset which allows you to switch channels between the sets of either dj at one time. Or you can just take them off and laugh at everyone dancing to their own beats. Her spinning technique involved squatting on the desk and jumping from deck to deck whilst swigging Verve Cliqot. She finished on a Nina Simone number and handed over to Noel Fielding........I can't tell you who was battling her as I never changed over to find out..........but apparently he played a song from Jungle Book, so perhaps he stole some audiences members for that but its really no contest when Peaches is in residence.........

Thurs 19th June: Here's Grace!

The volume that wowed the Royal Festival Hall last night is only accountable by the acoustics from the vibrations bouncing back off Miss Jones bionic booty.
No more to be said.
LEGEND

Fri 20th June: Mao Mao

My friend Angela (of Three As FOUR) listens for little miows wherever she goes. The latest discovery is this little definition of cuteness she found in the trash!

Weds 18th June: Amelia's Magazine at Pure Groove

Amelia's Magazine launched the new issue at the record store "Pure Groove" which has recently relocated from Archway to a very snazy Smithfield's store. Here is my studio mate Andy Macgregor who had a double whammy of celebration as his work coincidentally features in the magazine and also the newsletter for Pure Groove. Go to any number of the evening events and pick one up for yourself. It is an exciting list of "goings-ons" (e.g Partizan film night or Peter Saville installation). Just a visit to see the interior design is worth a check...........re-branded by Patrick Duffy of "No Days Off" and wall illustrations by Kate Moross.

Weds 18th June: Heres something Im making at the moment

A few different varying commissions on at the moment..............im enjoying the way my desk is looking..............

Weds 18th June: Heres something I made earlier

Anna Leader has very kindly been helping me find old picture files for a requested image. In doing so, I unearthed some treats I had forgotten about. Here is a little chap that I made as a thank you present in 2005 and snapped before I wrapped him up to put in the post.

Mon 16th June: Im a Barbie

My friend Michael Vanderham sent me this hilarious picture he found and thought that if I were to be a Barbie, this would be it! Oh yes, I would love this jacket!

I first met Michael when he was interning for As FOUR in NYC in the summer of 2005. He returned home to Holland and decided to leave studying fashion in Antwerp and continue work placements. He moved to London and diligently undertook placements at McQueen followed by Sophia Kokosolaki. Now he has gone back to his studies on the womenswear MA at CSM. I am very excited to see what he will come up with for his final show................updates will appear here in due course..............

Sat 14th June: Teo Fest

Andy Macgregor and Rich Stevens have been planning a monumental "Dirty Thirty" birthday celebration for Teo. They set up a mini festival in a field with green parrots in the willows and a yellow flowered lily pad pond inhabited with jet blue dragon flies. Here are Maki and Steve who brought spicy prawn skewers and marshmallows (not together!) to christian the BBQ. We made the most of the open air dance floor and bopped ridiculous moves under the canapy of Kate's beautiful bunting and nearly solstice stars. The nights ended trying to fall asleep against the mega decibel last act in the musical line-up............ a frog chorus of apparently randy reptiles in full mating mode.

Fri 13th June: Mishkin a la Newton

Top Shop collaborated with the Helmut Newton foundation to re-instate his " Newton Machine" in store. His invention from the 1970's was devised to create a catalyst for a photographic self-portrait. As the model, you can work out your stance in a mirror and then just "click".
I was in town with the photographer's Mishkin for a meeting, so we had a quick hit and run encounter with the equipment. Coming from a set designer background, I would prefer to have been better equipped. Sadly Top Shop staff were not in alliance with our spontaneous gathering of props from in store. So our final image involved putting our hands in each others pockets which was quite fun. Here are some previous Newton road testers ..................

Thurs 12th June: News Flash

Nicola Formichetti has just announced his new project on his blog (see my favorites list) as fashion director of a new bi-annual publication to be launched by Conde Nast in Sept "Vogue Hommes Japan".

Here are 2 pages of his editorial with Oliverio Toscani featuring my accessories. The first is from the current Another Man magazine - the shoot I made accessories as props for all 5 boys in each different DPS scenario. The 2nd image is from the new Dazed & Confused issue, guest edited by Vivienne Westwood. This is the first page I have seen to use a piece from A/W collection.........the triangle rouleu necklace.

Mon 9th June: My aunt - the queen of puds

Potentially, the best ever Pavalova?

Monday 9th June: CONTRIBUTOR FROM BASEL

When Anna Leader went to the Basel Art Fair last week, I asked her to send me some pictures for an incoming report. She snapped this incredible sculpture by Artist Kohei Nawa who is represented by SCAI the bathhouse, Tokyo. It reminds me slightly of a Hussein Chalayan dress? She seemed to think that the taxidermy is inside the glass............so I looked up his explanation and here it is...........quite fantastic...

PixCell - ...... (Beads)
By covering surface of an object with transparent glass beads, the existence of the object itself is replaced by "a husk of light", and the new vision "the cell of an image" (PixCell) is shown.
Most of the motifs, like stuffed animals are found through the internet. I search some auction sites and choose from the images which appear on a monitor as pixel. However, the stuffed animals which actually have been purchased and sent have real flesh feel and smell, and have a discrepancy with images on the monitor. I then transpose them to PixCell in turn.

Sat 7th June: Lets Get Lost

Bruce Weber generously gave a Q&A session after the showing of his new release last evening at the comfortably lush "Screen On The Green". Here he is afterwords, answering more intimate questions to the scardy cats who didn't put their mit up the first time round. I loved the way he translated his own experience of watching the film ("Lets Get Lost" about legendary jazz musician Chet Baker)..................apparently he has an inexplicable hunch that Chet is watching from heaven, and the film will unfold in a certain mood governed by Chet's feeling that day ............luckily Bruce thought this showing was a positive one, as Chet would have loved and approved of the atmosphere of this Islington cinema. I first saw a Bruce Weber film in 2001 at the Castro Cinema in San Fransisco. I chanced upon "Chop Suey" when I visited the beautiful 1920's cinema, just to see the Wurlitzer organ that is played in the interval. Who knows, perhaps this was a favourite film retreat of Chets when he wasn't playing his trumpet down at The Black Hawk...................

Fri 6th June: JCDC

The much anticipated store opening for Jean Charles De Castelbajac on Conduit Street happened last night. I had died and gone to multicolour heaven. Rainbows everywhere. Many of the guests had been lent outfits to sport for the occasion and here is Nova Dando in a current jumper and her own vintage leggings. It was sequin trompe l'oeil dresses and gold pendants a go-go. London's brightest and colourful crew turned out with the Super Super team for once resembling chameleons blending into the physcadelic backdrop.

Thurs 5th June: Urban Outfitters

Sara is in today researching for Wren studio. Looking for websites that scroll horizontally, she came across the Urban Outfitters blog. What a nice surprise to discover that today's news from London is about my accessories...............and I reckon that this image is pulled from the blog as it is just a studio snap..............so thank you whoever you are, viewing my daily picture posting and spreading the word........

Thurs 5th June: Work It

Sara herself had some press this weekend via a Lauren Cochrane article in the Guardian on Sat "Dig Out The Dungarees" picking up on the resurgence interest in 1990's R&B. Sara set up a new club night to bring back the classics that are not played anywhere else in London ........

"on both sides of the Atlantic are creating clubs dedicated to the 1990s sounds of their childhoods, like New York's 1992 (lauded by the New York Times) with Mariah Carey, MC Lyte and Janet Jackson on their playlist. Or London's Work It which boasts a hair fade on the flyer and plays everything from Luther Vandross to Bell Biv DeVoe; it also serves beer bottles in brown paper bags, New York-style, to girls in TLC-ish dungarees."

The next installment in Dalston is June 21st. Here are pictures from the last event by Simon Archer Hurlstone.

Weds 4th June: Time Out

This jaguar pearl necklace was originally made by Maki and I for a Patti Wilson Italian Vogue commission. "Fifi Trafalgar" was resurrected from the archive and now features in a report on 5 new London Jewellery designers in Time Out by Helen Jennings. The other designers profiled are Hannah Martin, Johanne Mills, Lina Peterson and Eleanor Ford. The edition's focus on jewellery is to tie in with "Coutts London Jewellery Week" happening from now until 15th June. It will comprise of exhibitions, catwalk shows, auctions and workshops.

Tues 3rd May: Outside, Inside

The latest campaign for Coin (Italian Homeware) was shot by Tim Walker and Andy Hillman. Maki helped make these incredible gigantic flowers and we luckily still have a few roses decorating the studio. (The plethora of cakes in the recent self portrait of Tim was shot at the same time with the props left over from the cupcake shot)

Sun 1st June: Garage Sale

After a Leicester Square Matinee of "Sex In The City", 4 girls trotted along to Soho for a riffle through the vintage sale on at The Black Gardenia. Here were the hosts on deck, looking suitably gorgeous in their Sunday afternoon spleandour................reassuringly untainted by the Bradshaw Blanhnik Brainwash we had just witnessed............

Saturday 31st May: Brit Chic

4 mini fashion films at the BFI as part of the Fashion In Film Festival. The 2 highlights being firstly "Pacemaker: Biba (1970) and secondly "Insight - Zandra Rhodes" (1981). It was fascinating to see both Barbara Hulanicki and Zandra Rhodes in their prime looking totally dazzling caught on candid camera in these fly-on-the- wall documentaries. Equally fascinating to see the scrumptious and sumptuous surroundings that they inhabited............no wonder both visionaries have had such success in interiors aswell as frocks. But the best, best thing was Zandra's eyebrow/s that morphed in design and positioning on a daily basis and put on in one stroke.

(Here is an original 70's Zandra fan invite that I have in my room............nestled upright in the Grace Jones record collection)