14th Feb: First Love

Here it is. The 1st issue of LOVE which previewed today at DSM and sold out within the 2 hours. As such, my reporter Ben missed the action after trekking all the way there on my instruction (SORRY!). But fortunately I have been sent these images courtesy of my friend HannaH Beal who was paid £5 to go and buy a copy for a colleague. She didn't know what was going on or what the hysteria was all about so text me for an explanation which was lucky as I could then pester her to get some illicit snaps. So thank you Han for risking a telling-off in the name of blogging! Apparently there was also a bed as an installation for this "Love In" but she was stopped before being able to get a pic of that.................

Sat 14th Feb: Lily's toys lost

So after hyping up the content of Andy Hillman's artwork for Lily Allen's new album, I was totally gutted when it finally came out. I asked the nice lady in HMV to break the seal on a CD with impatient enthusiasm to investigate the outcome. To my horror it is just a few pictures of the outsize letters which we have already seen. None of the incredible toy shots have been included. Here are some snaps from Shoreditch studios on the day of the shoot to give them some exposure so that they have not gone totally to waste. Hillman Studio had so much fun making these treasures its such a shame that they could not be enjoyed by fans who invest in the album. In this day and age of acquiring music without having to buy the actual hardcopy, I find it a strange decision of the record company to only run an edited cut of this sensational story. Who knows what happened but I had to share these images for everyone to see the characters that were invented in Lily's honour.





(photos: Alex Cunningham)

Fri13th is unlucky for some but NOT for Craig!

The sun is out at last and the angels are shining down on Craig Lawrence as he found out today that a creation from his graduation collection is modelled by Tilda Swinton on the front cover of the new Another Magazine. Can I just say, how bloody exciting is that! I was excited enough just to see a preview of the shoot in the Observer Woman at the weekend so to now see the shot has made the cover............woo hoo!
Craig has kindly sent me some snaps from the time when he was knitting the original collection. Back when the glitter yarn was the only twinkle in his eye, little did he know where it would end up! The shoot was styled by Panos Yiapanis and features garments by numerous other designers who are part of the NEW GEN scheme. The time is now!

(photos by Kenzie)

Thurs 12th Feb: Count Down

Only 1 week left till London Fashion Week eve, yikes!
Here is a preview of the Cooperative Designs collection as shot in self portrait by their muse Amy Gwatkin.
This time last week I delivered her birthday present which was a bashful gesture as I missed the actual official celebratory bash due to my hibernation status. But I love this spontaneous Spadgermatazz self portrait as much as the organised ones for the Coop A/W launch and look book.

Weds 11th Feb: Back To Life

Whilst British yaghtswoman Dee Cafari has been sailing in impossibly inhospitable seas to become the 1st woman to sail round the world alone in both directions, I have been taking part in my own one-woman experiment to test out the boundaries of cabin fever by inadvertently residing solely within the four walls of my studio. Its me and the mice of Islington working to the beat of "we will fix it, we will mend it" pushing the realms of physical endurance and sleep deprivation equal to Dee in the high sea.
Well perhaps not, I don't yet have a survival suit to swim out in perilous seas to save my skipper BUT I am feeling the need to activate my EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) to be rescued. My batman beam has been answered with invitation to the next "Work It" event in the ever increasing over subscribed calender. If I do make it down I fully intend to dance away the blues of pre fashion week hibernation hysteria. Hooray!
I was very upset to miss the last block party when I was away in NY, but fortunately didn't feel too far from the action when i found an article about it in the NY Times Style Magazine! Now the British press have followed suit giving a feature in last weeks Sunday Times Style. So if you are still not sure what all the fuss is about , head down to the ICA this Saturday for some Valentine Vibes and good times.
(On another Valentine tip, Katie Grand's new baby "Love" magazine is being previewed at Dover Street Market on Saturday for anyone unable to wait another week for the official launch.................http://thelovemagazine.blogspot.com/)





'Work it' - block party from Trav on Vimeo.

Tues 10th Feb: Fold Fantasy

My Graphic collaborators "No Days Off" continued with my origami obsession for the S/S look book by inventing a special envelope to encase the concertina artwork. Here are photos illustrating each stage from the portfolio of Katie Alger who was on placement with the team during this project. She graduated from Kingston last year and is curently featured in the Wallpaper 2009 Graduate Directory.