Sat 10th Oct: Shoplifter fills her trolley

This week I have had very exciting news that Shoplifter is in town and doubly excited that it is for her first London show!   For anyone that is not familiar with the artist known as "Shoppy" to her friends, here is a quick de-brief...........of Icelandic origin she now lives and works in NYC  with a secondary artists residency in Poland in addition to showing internationally............she is most typically associated with her sculptures made of human hair and famously the cover for Bjork's Medulla album based on a hair "Memory Flower" keepsake.............most recently her hair has taken over the windows of the MOMA in a Neon rainbow.............and now the continuation has concentrated on orange and umber tones conjuring up fire and flames to create the flickering palette for her "Burn" window at Trolley Gallery.

I haven't been free to pin her down for an interview yet but at the private view she disclosed that she is still really enjoying exploring the realms of hair and can't escape experimenting with the medium.  I want to find out where she got this particular accumulation of weaves from?............did she bring a case of it through customs or visit Dalston on arrival?  And how about the "Vanity Beast From Hell"?  I would love to see that being scanned on the nothing-to-declare monitor.   I do however know that its real hair as my guest Charlie Le Mindu assured me after a quick and decisive knowledgeable stroke.  Hopefully I can find out more details for a separate post and get to sit down and chill out with Hranhildur herself..........here's to hoping.......(I'm still in some deadline spiral with no immediate sunlight in sight)........

Another of my guests was Jamie E17 who I have to make a little shout out to here.........thank you so much for teaching me how to link........I have never been able to figure it out in the 2 years of writing this ..........so now I'm going link crazy.............all thanks to you!!!!!!!!  So go on everyone, do yourselves a favour and click on Jamie's link.........its an incredible read for any cultural thing out there...........

Thank you to Rosy for these photos!  LEGEND

Fri 9th Oct: New Shoes!

Massive thanks to the lovely Dee at Reebok, I have a fresh addition to my wardrobe!  Yes I was lucky enough to be invited into Reebok's artist's site and look at all the new season's styles.  There are some monochrome high kicks that took my fancy and also have an interesting theme - the 7 deadly sins - with each colour representing one of the sins.  But I was won over by the latest in the Jean-Michel Basquiat range.  This Top Down Model has Basquiat's paintings printed on the uppers with a logo repeat fabric lining revealed when worn turned down.  I'm ever so chuffed but didn't put them on straight away like I used to when I was a kid.  Instead I carried them with me to Atlantis which was my next stop.  WHY HAS NOONE TOLD ME ITS MOVED!  But all was not lost as I found this great rainbow on the side of a van outside and this graffiti to get some lush shots of my new sneaks!  I think passer's-by thought I was mad (especially the van driver when he started to reverse!) but I couldn't help myself.  It was blogtastic!

 If you want to purchase these rad boots they are available at colette.

Thurs 8th Oct: 100 ways to be a good girl

I don't really like it when designers name drop who they've been dressing..........its a bit icky.  So sorry for falling prey to the trap BUT I think its a justified interesting post.............

................

.......Firstly because Skin (Skunk Anansie) is a special lady THATS FACT

.......Secondly because a teenage dream has become reality in that I never would have imagined I would be dressing her when I was a 15yr old enthusiastically moshing round the Astoria (R.I.P)

.......Thirdly because it involves Craig Lawrence who needs no excuse to get mentioned anywhere, as he is a GENIUS and GORGEOUS

...............

Here we are in craft corner (image by Kenzie) at Skunk Anansie's final rehearsal before their come-back tour.  Craig knitted silver reams using his finger and I sewed iridescent plastic on my domestic machine whilst listening to the set list being belted out by a stunning songstress.  The energy and force of the music got woven into our outfits and so the final touches to our couture show-pieces for Skin were conjured up with musical magic.   She is going to wear them on rotation for each date of the tour...........last night was Craig's at The Electric Ballroom in Camden and the previous night was mine at The Concorde in Brighton..................check out her wardrobe box for the road...........it looks pretty fun!  High Five Kim for being the best stylist a star could have!

Thurs 8th Oct: Interior Politics

This evening is the first time Amy, Anna and Bella have opened the doors to their studio/gallery to exhibit their latest photography work as a joint show named "Interior Politics".  Lets hope there haven't been any inter party politics or domestics whilst putting it up!  But looking at the 3 way self portrait on the flyer I think we can hazard a guess that the three amigos are  inextricably linked in harmony for their debut.  Although its a joint effort in curation, each artist's series is totally separate and been devised in their own solitude and individual sanctuary outside the studio.  For example here is one of Anna's pieces which comes from an anthropological study of common artifacts found on her journeys across Europe.   Whilst Anna has been capturing urban landscapes, Amy has been continuing her personal project "The Housewife" which I can't wait to see out of her blog and realised up on the wall.............if that's what it will be?............who knows............judging from this snap of a slide projector there might be some fancy-pants projections?........... to find out, pop along to the private view............

Weds 7th Oct: Taking Liberties, Prints Charming

This picture has nothing to do with this post but heck, its a corker isn't it?!  Its my nephew Blake from a few year's ago sporting an outfit which was quite avantgarde for the time looking at the Watermelon theme from Peter Jensen's S/S10 collection!  Anyway to the point...............from the print theme of yesterday onto a print theme for today..........to be exact = Liberty print..............and your chance to win an hour to appear and perform in the store's window .......(sounds a little like the Anthony D'offay moment with Leigh Bowery to me).............to find out how to enter by putting together a printastic look, have a look at the guidelines below............I'm on the judging panel so its going to be fierce..........in a very passive way, natch.

From now until Wednesday 21st Oct there is a 2nd installment of the SHOWstudio competition "Taking More Liberty's" which is an interactive exhibit in the window of Liberty's to celebrate the spontaneous creativity and theatre of London’s street style. Originally broadcast as Taking Liberty’s in 2004, in association with the London department store of the same name, the project offered passers-by the chance to record their personal style. An interactive camera and sensor was placed in the window of Liberty’s on Regent Street, inviting passers-by to capture their ‘look’. The phenomenal response of over 17,000 participants in a two-month period proved how the street is as fertile a breeding ground for fashion imagery as the photographic studio. All of the images were posted on SHOWstudio.com as a testament to the democratic nature of London’s internationally renowned street style, captured by day and by night. The project is restaged as part of SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution, with the set-up once again placed in the windows of Liberty’s.To celebrate the SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution at Somerset House Taking Liberty’s project which kicked off yesterday, Liberty Online is running its own competition to search for a fabulously dressed star. The winner will be invited to appear in our iconic Liberty windows during the lunch hour on Friday, October 23rd.

HERE ARE THE RULES:
1.Pencil Friday October 23rd lunch hour into your diary, in case you are the winner!
2.In order to qualify for our competition, be sure to wear something Liberty print when you visit the Showstudio webcam window. Only those with Liberty print will be selected for our category. Our expert panel of judges* will vote for the most original and inspiring applicant on Wednesday October 21st.
3.Log on to the Liberty website at 6pm on Wednesday October 21st to see if you are the winner. If you are, contact us via our blog and we will arrange for your sixty minutes of fashion fame to take place between 1 and 2pm on the Friday! We will film your starring moment and run it on our blog plus post it on our Liberty YOUTUBE page. Feel free to invite as many fans to worship you as you strike your pose.

 

Tues 6th Oct: Brie Harrison

Kim Howells has dedicated today's blog post to my S/S 10 collection so I thought it was time to start posting some of it myself. Here are the pieces that I made with the patterns i collaborated on with print master extraordinnaire Brie Harrison. The geometric designs are derived from the 8 pointed star that kept cropping up during the whole process this season..........I couldn't get away from it. From the negative space inbetween physical sections to the constellations of diagonal earrings grouped together........

The mini and large "snake" pieces that twist and tessellate have prints that correspond to those panels ........Brie got fully involved with the maths behind the madness and realised my dream which was so exciting. The larger star top was engineered by Camille Jacquemart who became my right-hand (wo)man over the last 6 months.........so this is a massive shout-out to her too. In addition, props to Jacqueline White for being at the end of the line in "phone a friend" style to answer our pleas of ignorance to piping.

Monday 5th October: Walker vs. Jensen vs. Hillman vs. DSM

To start writing this I wanted to use the collective noun for penguins and discovered there are quite a few!: 

colony	of	penguins
crèche	of	penguins
huddle	of	penguins
parcel	of	penguins
rookery	of	penguins

Although my favourite is a "huddle", I'm going to go with "parcel" for this post as its most fitting to the context.  Hillman studio have put a production line into place, to pump out penguins for their latest Dover Street Market installation to tie in with long time collaborators, both Tim Walker and P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-Peter Jensen.   A sure fire winning combination of quirk and cool...............literally cool with its Artic Explorer theme.  The multicolour crate composition came about from discussions of making this new collection launch appear like a fish market - ie. fresh in / just arrived.  As I sit here, more birds are being born to add to the "parcel" already in place.  Its been such a success that CDG HQ have requested extra web-footed friends to fill the space.........so a third delivery is winging its way tomorrow.

So what is the catch that's been commissioned by Comme?  ...........two prints lifted from Walker's sketchbooks (dots and ladybirds) interpreted by Jensen in silk draped dresses and skirts.  Although mostly womenswear there is also a Moon print T-Shirt for the lads and even a pair of hairy pants for any fawn wishing to top up their witchy wardrobe.  I have also heard that there is a beaded collar/yoke in complimentary colours which i want to trek into town to discover...........

Images courtesy of DSM and my own studio snaps of the latex feet being made.........

(apologies for blazon over-use of a puns, purely for Spadgermatazz sick delight)

Monday 5th October: you lazy oaf

Lay Oaf  launched their new collection and fanzine at an exhibition at the Old Shoredtich Station last Thurs in true colour cute crazy style.  The team gave the venue an Oaf make-over with black illustrations across the walls, paintings on the mirrors, collages in frames, glittery wrestling men and gems in the window to complement the new "Special" screen print.  The Super Ted wallpaper portrait here is a scan from the Fanzine/look book shot by  Bella Howard of another new style called "Rosy Bear" designed by Rosy Nichols . 

The theme of the Oaf's inaugural "Amazine" is dedicated to collections and features still-life set ups of different contributors kitsch collections.  The cover's curiosities belong to Gemma Oaf whose house also provided the backdrop and props for Bella's shoot.  My personal favourite looks from this season are the Burger sweater & beenie hat, All Hands Can Play T-shirt, Tuxedo and Cat scarves.  If you can't make it down to the shop just head to the online one which is a bevvy of beaming faces on more essential non-essentials from Bumper Sticker packs to Cleptomanicx Boxer shorts to I LOVE MJ badges.............

Thanks to Rosy for the couple of wool snaps here from documenting the process of her spectrum thread rainbows that connect the space down at the installation........