Fri 14th May: Craig Lawrence Accessories

Here is one of Craig's broaches which he made for Candy Boutique whilst having his residency at FAKE in Tokyo ...........to read more about the gallery there is a write up over on VICE.

Craig and I are guest bloggers over at Fashion156 next week so drop us a line if you have anything interesting you think we should know about and be writing about..............otherwise its going to be us in our studio stirring tea with a knitting needle.............which is actually quite facsinating!

Thurs 13th May: Man Like Me EP launch tonight

Man Like Me return to play  The Electric Ballroom after last month's Camden Crawl to launch their new EP "Lovestruck".   One of my top fave bands for their stage performance deploying props, Russian doll-esque layered costume changes, jumping brass section, banging beats, on point witty poetic lyrics and group dance moves...........a masterful front man Johnny Langer now flanked by new addition to the line up vocalist Jessie Ware.......seen here from their recent performance on the BBC Switch 5:19 show.  For anyone in London wanting to catch them before the summer festival season, head to their original stomping ground and ATG tagged Camden Town tonight ........... records will be spun by guests The Maccabees

Starting at 7 with support from Othello Wolf and Graffiti6, full details here.

(Pics from top to bottom, Jessie by Dan a.k.a MLM trumpet player, EP on vinyl available May 24th on  Black Butter records)

Weds 12th May: Wake Up! with Robots in Disguise

I met up with Dee Plumeof Robots in Disguise the day after she had been to see Iggy Pop and Suicide at the Hammersmith Apollo.  Our discussion was fuelled with her respect and  enthusiasm for the energy from these veteran performers still relevant and rocking today.  We exchanged mutual admiration for the exhilarated stage presence of bygone stars and agreed that this passion needs to be ignited in the current industry.  These odd ball talents that had all-consuming vigour and overwhelming love for the art inspired Dee's own step into creating music and get up on stage.  The wish to connect with an audience continually inspires her to reach out to the fanbase of RID and promote proactive positivity.  Robots In Disguise are girls with their own agenda and viewpoint, not fitting into an assigned identity designed with affectations to market to the masses.  With the latest single "Wake Up", the girls have written an anthem to shake up the dumbed down charts and animate a wider audience to the progressive power of finding your own voice and vision.  Rialled by the new breed of establishment acts posturing pretentious personas has triggered the girls to launch this campaign which aims to prompt the passive listening public to make their own choices.  

To fund the varying outlets and spread the word, RID teamed up with Barry M makeup who have a new range of colours and a special lipstick which they have assigned to the girls "Robot Blue".  Via the medium of makeup the message is extended to expressing creativity with your look in the the same spirit as the unabashed experimentation of The Cockettes who Dee sites as one of her favourite historical references.  For this video RID took inspiration from the most successful artist to gather empowerment by embracing pop culture and throwing it back in its face - Andy Warhol.  With tongue-in-cheek reference, its a playful promo employing pop art projections, Lichtenstein polkadot makeup and props.  The girls ride a gigantic lipstick by set designer David White and had their hair coloured specially by Marcello at Billie Currie and Charlie Le Mindu (who they became friends with from spending time in Berlin........where Sue Denim was at time of this interview)  

Blue lipstick has had a renaissance in the catwalk shows of recent times with the likes of Gareth Pugh (see above) and Hanna Marshall and set to become a big trend for S/S 2010.  I remembered blue lipstick having its own mini-goth moment when I was at school and asked Dee what was her adolescent de-rigeur war paint...........apparently the school girl Dee would get together with her pals in a cubby hole in the morning to apply their pastel pink lips and electric blue eyeshadow.  The band have a substantial teenage following so partnering with Barry M on this fun project is a perfect combination to bring music and lifestyle together for their loyal fanbase.  The collaboration even extends to their friends Tatty Devine who have implemented the lippy into a cute necklace which you can see here on Dee.   

If you have ever been curious about the brilliant robot props and costumes embroiled in the RID world, here is a debrief.  I tracked down Neil Bowen fromZip Design whose extra curricular activities revolve around mastering making new and improved models ........... as you can see here with Dee tangled up in their robo blue date. 

1)  How long have you been the Robot inventor for RID?

I took up the roll of chief robo-inventor as my old buddy Dave the Chimp moved to Berlin (he made the 1st set of robots based on his creations for 'the Sex has made me stupid' video). I've been cobbling together wonky robot parts ever since.. about the last 3years.

2)  What different Robot costumes / props have you made for the girls?

So the first job was making robo-dancers MK2.0 as Dave and I pretty much destroyed the original parts with a combination of sweat and a robot version of riverdance.

3)  Do you wear the costume yourself for their performances...........and if so what character to you assume for this role?  What personality has the robot got?

Yep I'm one of the hyper charged robo-dancers, I basically become a robot version of Dee n Sue with a little bit of MC hammer thrown in for good measure.

4)  Are the costumes based on a totally fictional robot that you design or do you reference actual robots?

The original robots were all based on Dave the Chimps designs for the RID videos. The latest versions MK3.0 are a combination of robot meets giant electric blue lipstick, and retain the special wonkyness of the original versions.

5)  Do you stick to one particular fabrication or have your materials and finishing become more sophisticated with time?

They all have a kind of recycled precise imperfection, then I've added random LEDs and sparkle from gig to gig.  

6)  The latest outfit for the "Wake Up" campaign is a blue lipstick robot.  If there was a trump card for this character, what are his special features?

Battery life, Dance moves, Lip coverage, Glam factor

Massive thanks to Neil for his time to get dressed up and answer my questions!

(Images top to bottom:  Model in Alex Box makeup backstage A/W 2008, Dee in her bow-tie tshirt and lipstick necklace, Dee and Lipstick Robot shot by Dan Wilton in the blue room of Shula's Wigwam prism party)

To find out about becoming part of supporting financing thier 4th album by pledging a share, click here.

Tues 11th May: Hillman Studio installation for Haring at DSM

Hillman Studio spent their weekend down at Dover Street Market installing the latest window  display to launch the Tommy Hilfiger capsule collection of shoes for the Keith Haring foundation.  The range of wellington boots and sneakers has been designed with the foundation to raise money for its work in supporting AIDS and children's charities.   The interior has been designed in keeping with Keith Haring's original pop up shop on Lafayette Street.  In '86 Haring expanded his creative universe into the commercial context in order to open up the experience of his work to children who might not have had the opportunity to see it elsewhere.  In that vein I think this is a positive step to continue sharing his vision with the next generation that weren't around for the subway graffiti he penned himself.  Its incredibly important to keep his distinctive talent alive as his life was cut criminally short by the disease that the foundation is now actively generating funds to overcome.  If you have nippers in need of a new pair of kicks and the finances to invest in this cute collection take them down to Dover Street to have a look.

If you are in NYC you can put your Haring sneakers on to join the team on May 16th for the Aids Walk happening for the 25th year to raise money for HIV programs within the tri-state area..............its officially the largest AIDS fundraising event in the world!   

(For ladies of a more dainty disposition wishing for something more whimsical than a pair of high-tops, I hear whisperings of a Haring collaboration with Nicholas Kirkwood.........)

Thanks to Alex Cunningham for the snaps from when they were on site.

Mon 10th May: Ron Arad Rolling Rolling Rolling

Its the last week of Ron Arad's Restless exhibition at The Barbican where I had a meeting today and was very thankful to catch the show before it finished.  Here is the rolling bookcase which is massive and runs down one side of the gallery.  I worked out for the 1st time how to make a film so this is going to be a new feature to the blog I think!

Its also the last 2 weeks of the free exhibition in The Curve gallery at The Barbican with a live installation by Celeste Boursier-Mougenot.  Please, please go if you haven't already, its so cute!  He has turned the space into an aviary of zebra finches which are nesting amongst symbols and electric guitars wired up to amps.  The little birds fly around you and land on the guitars, jumping around creating sounds as they pluck the strings.  It looks like they are really enjoying it as they chirp along to their incidental instrumental bird song!  I'm not quite sure what will happen to the birdies after the exhibit............I had a sick and twisted vision of them being gassed and handed over to Polly Morgan to immortalize in a taxidermy sculpture.  Obviously that would be wrong and sick on every level but it did just cross my mind................

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot

Sun May 9th: Mirror Mirror at Top Shop for SHOWstudio by Shini Park

 

Here are the photos as promised from Shini Park who was an earlier guest to the Mirror Mirror line up on Friday.  I didn't recognise her, hidden behind her camera when she appeared on my screen to comment, but I did have a hunch she may be a blogger!  As it turned out I was correct as she came back to SHOWstudio to say hello in person!  Here are her snaps from infront of the mirror and back at the ranch where you can see how the whole thing is operated.

From my article yesterday explaining my wish for the mainstream mediocre trend followers to experiment a little bit with unique accessorizing it became food for thought with BryanBoy and his followers picking up on the notion.  

bryanboy Interesting insight from Fred Butler! http://bit.ly/cKu6hf Everyone, be individual!

fredbutlerstyle 

  

@bryanboy thanku for sharing my post! I really believe that accessorizing can open up discussion between strangers & bring humanity closer

@fredbutlerstyle I completely agree! That one question, "where did you get that", have started many friendships and acquaintances

Well, here I am with my Judy Blame rainbow necklace (kindly donated!), my own caterpillar necklace,  Steven Shein Spectrum Argyle Bangles (from Lazy Oaf), and my new fave accessory - a simple slinky worn as a bangle.  But perhaps the best accessory of the day was my neon yellow tulle pom pom archive AsFOUR bag which I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.  You can see my picture and everyone else at the facebook page here..............

Its the last day so get down to Top Shop.

(Many thanks to Shini for her photographs.........to see more follow her site Park & Cube)

Sunday 9th May: Machine A with Charlie Le Mindu

After my Mirror Mirror encounter with Leith Clark I ventured round the corner of Oxford Street to boutique Machine A for its 1st birthday anniversary and celebration of 1 year stocking milliner extraordinaire Charlie Le Mindu.  Founder Stavros Karelis and buyer Paul Joyce opened the doors to a special live installation staged by Charlie and his stylist Anna Trevelyan with set design by Alun Davies.  Charlie's hair sculpture artwork had been used to create a sinister graveyard in the basement gallery of the shop with spirits risen from the tomb and roaming around (3 naked ladies crawling around on all fours).  This kind of thing totally freaks me out so I didn't stay long enough in the zone to get photos but perhaps they may have been to explicit to publish anyway!  The gravestones had a contextualised Cathy De Monchaux quality and the girls were acting out a kind of unsettling  Araki bondage scene as if a photo had come alive.  My head is full of rainbows and sweet smelling kittens and sometimes an antidote to my Care Bear fantasy can catch me out!

Not perturbed I stayed to the end and had a lovely time catching up with lots of familiar faces and the extended family of the emerging scene who turned out in support.  Its a guaranteed good crowd at a Machine A opening with one particular wash out Summer evening last year where we all ran the gauntlet of Soho's streets that had turned into the Ganges to get there.  So high five to everyone involved for another great success!

There is a special t-shirt now on sale to commemorate the occasion with an illustration of Charlie's work by Stefan Schwartzman.  Fake tattoos of the drawing were printed up for the event and here you can see the beautiful Bishi sporting one on the back of her shoulder.  Head down to the shop to get your own limited edition Charlie T!

(top to bottom:  Bishi, metallic shoe trend, Gemma Slack infront of the current window display  by artist Celia Arias featuring a doll of her own work, Alun, installation illustration under UV, Anna infront of the Charlie doll, the man himself)

Sat May 8th: Blackwhite at SHOWstudio SHOP

Luckily my hour at SHOWstudio perfectly coincided with the private view of their latest SHOP exhibition "Blackwhite".  The title is an exact description of the theme which ties all the works together in a narrative exploring the classic match of a black and white palette in fashion.  The original iconic Harlequin Dress print by Irving Penn has been lent for the show and hangs alongside a brand new sculpture of a white shiny bondage table made for the exhibition by Peter Saville.  Stylists such as Simon Foxton and Amanda Harlech have work displayed with others in line to hold performances to be broadcast at intervals over the duration of the exhibit.  Archives have been dipped into for early editions of Visionarre, Chanel couture headpieces, a flag by Michael Howells and 2006 beauty shot of Kate Moss by Nick Knight himself.  The most exciting collection the team were privileged to filter through were Cecil Beaton's contact sheets of Audrey Hepburns "My Fair Lady" portraits.   These original silver gelatin print artefact's complete with his red chalk workings are on show for the very first time and on sale through the archive at Sotheby's.  

I was transfixed with the video reel of a recent performance by Shystie wearing Nazir Mashar headware which you will soon be able to watch at home here.  Keep an eye on the upcoming live transmissions from Judy Blame, Gareth Pugh and Edward Griffiths with the pieces they produce being added to the catalogue.

Sat May 8th: Mirror Mirror at Top Shop for SHOWstudio

SHOWstudio asked me to take seat in the hub and take over the guest slot as the voice of the mirror in their latest interactive project "Mirror Mirror".  To mark the arrival of Top Shop's new makeup range, the two power houses collaborated on inviting fashion industry artists to make contact with shoppers via a two way glass.  Customers can stand infront of their reflection and seek style advice from the establishment via a live feed of  interactive interaction thru an LED screen shining out across the structure.  I found it tricky to be of any help to the crop of uninspiring fashion lambs that came past during my hour at the helm................I'm so sorry, I am not usually negative but really every single girl looked the same and it drained me!  The only thing I could say towards the end was "Top Shop shoppers should keep shopping".   I find it so depressing when gorgeous looking gals feel the need to disguise their unique charm by hiding themselves in swathes of ethnic scarves.  Go get a life and get wearing some interesting accessories...........there is plenty in store to try out!  The highlight was blogger Shini Park coming to take her self-portrait in the mirror............pics to follow hopefully.

I nipped round the corner from SHOWstudio HQ to the flagship store to have a go myself and had a nice shy wave at Leith Clark who was the next contender.  Here are Nova Dando and Bubbles Gilmour who were manning the decks before me.  The event has been running for the last few days with input from the likes of Edward Enninful, Julie Verhoeven, Susie Lau, Bryan Boy, Mary Katrantzou and Katie Shillingford ending today.  Head down to Oxford Circus tomorrow if you are a Gaga fan as Nicola Formichetti will be at your disposal between 4-5.  Check the schedule for more info here.

Sat May 8th: Cassette Playa for Swatch

On Thursday night Carri invited me down to the ginormous  Shunt space under the arches of London Bridge station for the launch of her watch designed for Swatch.    To introduce the 2010 SWATCH & ART Collection to London, the brand decked out the venue with multimedia installations and interactive white-hot art pieces.  There was a mini cinema to sit down and watch documentaries about the four different artists chosen for the project.........you can watch Carri's interview here.  The 24hr faced timepiece comes in its own collectible spherical case in the quintessential CP eyeball emblem.  It must have been a child hood dream come true to collaborate with this iconic brand as it was such a omnipresent item when we were kids in the 80's.  I think its time (excuse the pun) for accessorizing with a watch to make a come back as an essential item after the practise has been phased out due to the replacement of clocks on phones.   There are 3 other exclusive styles to chose from by Ivan Navarro from New York, Enki Bilal from France and Manish Arora from India.

To see more from the event, check out Carri's blog.

 

Thurs 6th May: NIYI on your radio

Just popped round the corner to catch NIYI before his radio show over at Diesel radio towers.........(in the same block as Christopher Kane, Emma Cook, Peter Jensen, Kim Howells and Skin.)

Listen live to his election day special now over at Billboard.org or check back later for a podcast.  There were 4 foam microphone covers for the guests...... one in each colour......yellow, green, blue and red................NIYI's mic is blue but that's no indication of his vote!  I know what it is but he's keeping it disclosed for the transmission!............tweet in to ask them any question here.

Thurs 6th May: Rubbish Party Political Broadcast

To get into the groove of today's election mania, I headed down to the Rubbish Party Political Broadcast at "The Parliamentary Waffle House".  Specially designed finger puppets acted out the scene whilst the house sipped on Prescott Punch and chowed down on Waffles ..........waffling on like Ken.  Nail Polish-ticians were on hand to paint your digits to match your pledge.  You could choose your "party" hat and show your vote by dropping it off in the ballot box.  Here is Dot in her hat, styled up with Rubbish dot stickers.

To buy your own finger puppet go here and watch them live here:

Thurs 6th May: You, Me & Everybody Else - Part 3 - Anna Leader

ANNA LEADER

The final post of my preview to "You, Me & Everyone Else" photo exhibition opening this evening is from Anna Leader, the third artist from the group show of six.  Anna has been documenting the changing shape of her first time pregnant body through a series of self portraits and art direction of creating different masks for each stage.  Every individual guise is a diverse manipulation of materials from someone who is usually involved in polishing pixels rather than props..........so full credit Anna for pulling off this powerful set of timeless portraits.  To better explain the concept here are her own words:

"When I first became pregnant, several people told me I was now a warrior. I did not know how to respond as I did not feel like one and it left me with the question of how one can deliberately become a warrior. 

The most obvious thing that came to me was to dress like one. If feeling like one was intangible, I could try to look like one wearing a reproduction of a tribal mask full of symbolism and ritualistic weight.

All the 'warrior' masks produced so far for this series run with a similar vein of depicting a role one could assume in a moment of metamorphosis; an oversized and cumbersome body shield; a soldier esq. persona 

whose rigidity and stability seem absurd; a mask of fruit and fertility that are contracted by a jesters scarf. All leave something fleshy and insecure, an exposure to a grey area of doubt and contradiction in a transitional period."

"My favourite piece of equipment generally I think is the Mamyia 7II. It can take wonderfully sharp (when my focus isn't off...) medium format images, but is light and compact so you can kind of take it with you anywhere. It is also really silent, which is sad when you would like the heavy 'clunck' noise film cameras make, but great for going about your business un-noticed." 

Weds 5th May: You, Me & Everybody Else - Part 2 - Tara Darby

Tara Darby needs little introduction to this blog as a regular featured artist and of course the recipient of the now illustrious rainbow birthday cake (reciped designed by Lily Vanilli)!  You can keep up to date with Tara's travelling antics over at her own blog with recent portraits of MGMT............  Tara's blog has been selected as one of AnOther Magazine's favourite titles on their Blog Reader..............an essential one-stop shop for anyone wishing to get an edited overview of the day's best treats.

TARA DARBY

To me, "You, Me and Everybody else" signifies the intimacy of recording any friendship or relationship on film... how memories get preserved and then shared by anyone else interested enough to take a look. 

My pictures are a series of my friend Milena taken over the last ten years.  Many are unguarded moments, some are more considered portraits, all tell a story of my friend and a friendship.  Milena is someone I have always been inspired to photograph and looking back over the huge amount of pictures I had of her made me realise how much we have done and seen together since we met back in 2000 when we were both assistants.
There will be a limited edition book called TuttoLula 2000-2010 which will be available to buy at the show.

Here is a little collection of my favourite cameras...

Tues 4th May: You, Me & Everybody Else - Part 1 - Annie Collinge

Its going to be Ladies Night on Thursday when 6 photographers come together to launch their documentary portrait exhibition.  I have contacted half of the group to each send me a selected shot as preview of their own projects and an explanation of their interpretation of the umbrella theme that unites each separate component.  I also requested the girls to send over a snap of their favourite camera equipment to get a sense of what they like shooting on............all photographers are secret tech geeks/pervs so I like to know which shutter release flicks the switch for every one I meet!

Last year Annie sent me lots of photos for a little write up about her blog.  One of the images really stood out to me and I'm so happy that she has delved deeper and developed it further into this series.............I can't wait to see it all on Thursday! 

Annie Collinge

The title "You, Me and Everybody Else" represents our theme of extended portraiture, the idea that we all spent some substantial time with our subjects, rather than just going round and papping them once.  It's also inspired by Miranda July's 2005 film, just incase anyone was wondering.  

  

I met Linda in the street in New York, I took some pictures of her and she said that she was happy for me to take some more later on, I was a little terrified, not of her, but of going round to a complete stranger's apartment to photograph her for no particular reason, other than my own amusement.  After the first time, I realised that she just really enjoys being photographed, her and her boyfriend spend the weekends doing shoots together for fun. It was very refreshing to meet someone who doesn't ask you why you feel compelled to take pictures of them wearing a china town dragon perched on her head or in a strange yoga pose.

Here is me trying and failing to take an arty picture of my canon G10.  At the moment this is my favourite thing, I can put it in my bag and forget about it and then, when I see two dogs in a pram or sea of gravestones out of a window, I can whip it out..