Fri 15th May: The Bachelor

Nick Thornton Jones and Warren du Preez have shot the artwork for Patrick Wolf's new album "The Bachelor" with set design by Gary Card and styling by Susie Lloyd (who used a butterfly quilted piece from my S/S 08 on his shoulder).

The Bachelor limited edition is available NOW and is completely exclusive to Bandstockers. Numbers are limited, so hurry on over to the Bandstocks shop now! The Bachelor limited edition will feature a beautifully crafted box set, complete with a heavyweight slipcase that features the album cover in all of its glory without any title or logo. Inside of the slipcase is a perfect bound 28-page book, which tells the story of the album with the use of photos and lyrics throughout. Remember, if you aren't already a Bandstocker, you can still buy stocks. Just head on over to www.bandstocks.com to do so, and you will be entitled to privileges like these and much more in future.





(Still Life shots by Mishkin)

Fri 15th May: If gesticulating was an Olympic Sport

I would bring home the Gold for Britain

Interview by Sophie George for her degree.

Thurs 14th May: Marianne Vitale @ Ibid Projects

I have had a tip-off from GABi of ThreeASFOUR about an event in East London this evening:

"Our good friend Marianne Vitale is having an Art Opening in London
for her amazing sculptures this coming Thursday .
Her work is intensly beautiful"

So..............here are some images to explain what might be instore at Ibid Projects tonight. These are some previous works with the bronze sculpture being the latest. For her exhibition opening in London she is showing ink and charcoal drawings with sculptural installations. Marianne (born NY 1973) studied BFA Film at the School of Visual Arts in New York and still lives and works in the city..................so go and see her latest offering whilst she is in town!

IBID PROJECTS 210 Cambridge Heath Road, London, London, E2 9NQ
Bethnal Green (tube)
020 8983 4355

Weds 13th May: Soren Bach is back

Last week when I was guest contributor to www.itsnicethat.com I had to post a different "favourite thing" each day. Being me, I couldn't keep it to just 5 so unfortunately one didn't make it into the designated days. So here is my original prose for the piece accompanied by new pictures that I haven't seen before, kindly sent over by Soren's PR:

"Breaking new ground for many a barnet, is Danish designer Soren Bach who started creating sculptural adornments for the head in his previous career as an editorial hairstylist. His specialism was painstakingly hand dying multicolour patterns on hair sections before applying them to the model. He took his craft to another level studying millinery at the RCA in 2005 and working with fur to create kaleidoscopic pom-pom pieces as worn by Bjork on tour. Here is his latest sci-fi cosmic craziness ……….."

Tues 12th May: Pop-Up Shop "143"

As Soho starts to become blighted by abandoned retail units, one space has been resurrected and re-birthed into a pop-up shop entitled "143". It has been devised as an experimental shopping experience to run for 2 weeks, situated inbetween Carnaby Street and Newburgh street. The mixed merchandise laid out like a gallery, features an edited selection of exclusive
products chosen by Silver Spoon Attire and art-directed by Kate Moross (seen here together last night at the launch). Kate has designed the interior aswell as a special program outlining each designer and pieces stocked. She herself is selling prints, t-shirts, records.........even a bike which she has customized! I'm representing amongst the accessories section with a few of my S/S 09 Caterpillar necklaces. I have only produced 7 pieces from the season and this is where they will be selling! They are all hand-made and took bloody ages so I'm never doing it again! Each is made from hand-painted satin and this fabric turned out much better than the original samples so its been tricky letting go of them as they are so lush (even if I do say so myself)!
I'm gutted I didn't get a photo of Carri Mundane infront of the ice-cream stand lamp as she was wearing an ice-cream cone print ruck-sac............so hopefully someone else caught that moment and it will turn up on a blog somewhere in the blogstratosphere......











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Tues 12th May: Portrait Photographer Profile - Dan Wilton Part III

So to wrap up the weekends profile and find out future plans.............

Do you have a personal favourite portrait from your archive and if so, what is the story behind it?


I met Buffalo Bill in the Birdcage last month. He's part of a gang who tour a different East End pub every Saturday night, all decked out, proper Western style. I mean, he's got a real human tooth necklace on - literally no messing about. I liked him a lot

I'm starting a personal project shooting them in their homes this month, should be good

Sun 10th May: Portrait Photographer Profile - Dan Wilton Part II

When I do a profile I like to show an image of what the artist's work space is like and here are some snaps from Dan's Bethnal Green studio. Just at the moment its full of free newspapers but not because he's hoarding them for future papier-mache exploits or swatting up on exactly what time which Girl's Aloud was spotted wearing Wang at whatever pop-up shop launch for a new limited edition endorsed collaboration with guest TV presenter irony dj whose dating a Z- list celebrity's child that's out caning London Town mid GCSE revision ............ So what exactly is going on ?


"I'm in the final stages of a stills & animation shoot for the wonderful people at Choose What You Read. CWYR are standing up against the rubbish thrust into our hands every evening like the London Lite & London Paper - instead offering free books every first Monday of the month at major London rail stations. Free books donated by the public, for the public. With new CWYRs opening up in other UK cities as well as New York I really hope you'll be hearing a lot more about them in the future

The shoot's based around the simple idea of people making an individual choice of what they read. Normally my work doesn't involve much photoshop work at all but with this shoot there's a ton of post production to be done in piecing the shoot together and editing the stop motion animation. So it won't be finished for a while...

I still might need some more people to come stand in front of the camera next week so if you're interested gimme a shout......"

0044 (0) 7779 101241

So if you want to hop off the Central Line with your current favorite book to pose for a quick portrait, its all for a good a cause ..........

Watch his blog (www.danwilton.blogspot.com) & their website (www.choosewhatyouread.com)

Sat 9th May: Portrait Photographer Profile - Dan Wilton

I first borrowed images from Dan Wilton's portraits archive in March when he covered the single launch for thecocknbullkid who has been a recurring subject in his vast library. (http://fredbutlerstyle.blogspot.com/2009/03/tues-17th-thecocknbullkid.html) Although preliminary press shots of immerging artists are necessary to launch their career, these are also the pictures that go down in history when the act was captured in their primary state and purest essence. I always love discovering the first early shots of musicians where they are almost unreconisible, unaffected and unaware.............before they have started hiding behind the masquerade of their own constructed character identity. For example Maripol's Madonna or Mick Rock's Iggy Pop. So it’s an exciting time to be at the epicenter of London's unprecedented up surging saturation of stars in the ascent. There are a few photographers snapping the scene but Dan's seem to be the most energetic and fun-filled so I wanted to know how he achieves getting the best out of the crop of new bands..................








1) Whats your earliest memory of using a camera?

I've got a really hazy memory of pinching my Dad's camera when I was a toddler and trying to figure it out, then dropping it. Got in a bit of trouble for that one



2) What was your 1st camera? What kind of collection do you have now, whats your favourite?

My Dad's old Olmypus OM-20 (with a dent in the top of it from my toddler steal). I'm a bit of a closet camera geek, got a bunch of different cameras, all different shapes and sizes. I'm actually waiting for the postman to come as I'm getting a new one delivered today! My favourite? Probably my Contax T2 - goes everywhere with me




3) Do you always have a camera on you?
If yes: What has been the best candid shot you took?
If no: What was the most regrettable moment you missed?

Pretty much always got a camera with me yeah. I hate to admit it but I'm a little cat obsessed with the new addition to our household Ron. So he's gonna have to feature somewhere in this interview (pic attached)



4) How did you get into portraiture (break through commission?

I wouldn't say I've broken through at all yet. There's definitely been an element of blagging in the past, putting myself in shoots where I haven't really felt comfortable - that's a great way to force yourself to learn. More recently, shooting for 'Sup & Volume has really helped as I've had some great bands put in front of my camera and that's now leading to some really great commissions



5) Who has been the most fun to shoot and why?

Rusko was great cos he was up for trying anything. Ended up getting his manager and his wife to chuck bag load's of flour all over him on the tube. The Black Lips were brilliant just because they were so relaxed in front of the camera. Fake Blood was really enjoyable because he had such strong ideas on what he wanted - that became more of a collaboration rather than a normal shoot. All fun shoots but for loads of different reasons




6) Any disasters or divas?

One particular band was a bit of a Spinal Tap-esque farce but I don't think I can name names...

7) Whats your favourite portrait from history?

Wow. Er...tricky. There was an amazing painting of Michael Jackson up for grabs in his recent Neverland auction of him dressed like an 18th century royal. I had grand plans of organising a bunch of similar minded friends to buy it and each have him for a month of the year, time share style, but it never quite happened. Shame

8) What would be your dream subject alive or dead? (person and place)

ZZ Top. I love massive beards



9) Whats your magic formula to get a good shot out of a shy person?

I think it varies from person to person. I try to be as relaxed as possible and hopefully that can rub off on the person I'm shooting. But to be honest, a lot of the time if I'm shooting a shy person, then I want some of that shyness to come across in the photos as that's part of who they are, and that's not necessarily a bad thing




10) Any insider top tips of musicians you have shot recently?

I haven't shot them yet but Luisa & The Lampshades are brilliant, go check them out - www.myspace.com/helouisamusic. Oh and Lesbian Bedsit, they're gonna be massive - www.myspace.com/lesbianbedsit





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0044 (0) 7779 101241
www.danwilton.co.uk
www.danwilton.blogspot.com
www.danwilton.zenfolio.com
www.myspace.com/danielpaulwilton
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Sat 9th May: Bulletproof

"Bulletproof" is the next single from La Roux and the video has been uploaded for a preview on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_8038000/8038450.stm

Featuring archive pieces from my A/W 08 collection "Dodecahedron Collision" as styled by Nova Dando and intergrated into the set via CG by the French collective of directors known as UFO.

Fri 8th May: Guillaume Boulez

Guillaume is a stylist based in NYC where we first met when he came to intern for AsFOUR. After taking on their PR for a stint in the days of when a database was a series of sequin covered address books and requests were done via fax!!!!!! More recently he has worked with Alicia Lombardini styling the likes of Erin Fetherston but now he is off on his own. This time last year he requested some special pieces from me which I made and fedexed over but until yesterday hadn't seen the results. So another great unexpected surprise to see such crisp imagery of the pieces. Thank you Guillaume! Beautiful!

Thurs 7th May: Esser Exclusive - Brave Face

Well here it is, Esser has released his debut album this week.........entitled "Braveface". Since first discovering his music and art direction by Elisha Smith-Leverock last summer (http://fredbutlerstyle.blogspot.com/2008/09/weds-10th-sept-worked-it-out.html) I have been relentlessly championing this uber sharp musical shape-shifter. That was before I even got a whiff that we shared the same improbable talent hotbed background of Colchester Instiute (big-up to all fellow canteen dwellers out there)! So without furthur a-do here are some archive Polaroids thanks to Elisha, who has been documenting his different projects leading up to the release. I asked Ben a few atypical questions and he has taken time out to honour yet another blog request to give us the inside scoop................


If you could learn any instrument what would it be, and who would you like to be taught by? (dead or alive)

Id have greg howard teach me the chapman stick.






What has been your most inspiring encounter?

I think it was when don letts came on stage and did a vocal on satisfied. Hes obviously a hugely influential figure..... That was pretty amazing to be honest.



What has been the most unexpected positive performance and why?

I never really expected a gig in chelmsford to be quite as rowdy. The term is barhouse crazy.




What was your favourite tune to dance round the house when you were a kid?

Boom boom boom by the outhere brothers was always a favorite and actually still is.




Whats your favourite home-comfort when you get off the road after a tour?

Just home cooked food. Its nice to eat something that you know is real, like a plain potato.




Any idea or clue what you may have been in a previous life?

Im pretty sure i was a pigeon




Whats your dream venue for a gig (could be literally anything imaginable........not necessarily real!)

Id like to play in the town of fucking. Fucking?is a small settlement (population c. 150), part of the municipality of Tarsdorf, in the Innviertel region of western Upper Austria, located at 48°02′59″N, 12°50′59″E, bordering Bavaria. It is near the city of Salzburg. The village is known to have existed as “Fucking” since at least 1070 and is named after a man from the 6th century called Focko.





Any advice for the next unsigned discovery?
Just relax.



Elisha's illustration collaborator Omar Hraib has hand drawn artwork for special version of the album exclusivley for Pure Groove. There are only 200 copies of the vinyl edition in the world! So get down to Smithfields to snag a copy or for those in the Essex homelands, head to HMV in Chelmsford today for an instore signing at 5pm.

Weds 6th May: Little Boots

I knew that my archive pieces have been going out on a few different shoots for Little Boots but hadn't see them crop up anywhere yet........not even the main press shots.......BUT then thanks to Aimee Robinson I discovered it was there all the time but I hadn't noticed.........due to a Carl Cox CD stuck on the front of Mix Mag directly ontop of my belt with the magazine titles obscuring the irredescent hair piece. So now I'm overjoyed to see both these accessories styled with a Peter Pilotto dress by Stevie Westgarth and shot by Diana Gomez. These pieces are a couple of years old now so its a real joy to see them still in circulation and relevant.........YAY!