Saturday 9 March 2013

Sat 9th March: WOW Festival = Nailwraps "Influences" by Phoebe Davies








To coincide with International Women's Day, Jude Kelly's "Women Of The World" festival is now in its third year at The Southbank Centre in London. Over four days the programme has symposiums and events covering all topics surrounding everything from war, peace, race, beauty, religion, sex............ specifically how they are experienced from a female perspective and how to actively put in place change for future generation's progress. This year's activities began on Wednesday and conclude on Sunday so make sure to visit if you haven't already! I popped down today for a panel discussion on "how black women fit into today's popular culture" - hinged on Bell Hooks seminal book "Ain't I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism" . Just before hearing Angelique Kidjo's views on resisting the music industry's demons that dictate an artist's direction and Kieren Yates specialist critic on the Rihanna debate ......... I visited Phoebe Davies nail bar installation for a female icon manicure! I opted for Coco Chanel in homage to nail-art queen Mandi Lennard, whilst the full sets comprise of Emmeline Pankhurst, Rosa Parks thru to Olive Morris and MC Lyte (pictured above). Head down to the WOW market to get your digits done tomorrow - you can chose from forty female faces and then nominate your own hero for the next set to go into production.

Look up the full programme here.

Friday 8 March 2013

Friday 8th March: International Women's Day via The W Project















 The W Project have published their first book, titled "The Journey is the Treasure" to mark International Women’s Day 2013 = today! Here are photos from the launch last evening which took place at Suzy P's gallery "The Depot" in Clapton.  Here she is with Poppy Chancellor and in the photo below are The W Project founders Teo and Loren.  In its 3rd year of operation, the girls have switched from a gallery showcase to a printed almanac of their affiliated artists.  The book explores the work of 33 established and emerging talented females working across the creative industries. Each has been asked to contribute a representation of the journey they have taken in their careers to date. This takes the form of: an early piece of work from the individuals’ career, a current piece, and a brief description explaining the choice of work.  The foreword of the book has been written by journalist, editor and curator, Liz Farrelly (Liz has worked on over 35 books, including Designers’ Identities; For Love and Money; Street Art; Stick ‘Em Up; and Zines).

Click here to see my Vine video of a flick thru the pages of the following contributors:



 The proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the women’s charity Refuge, which provides amazing support to women and children escaping domestic violence in the UK.  Find out more about the wonderful work that Refuge is doing at REFUGE.ORG.UK.

Thursday 7 March 2013

Thurs 7th March: Studio Africa vs. BoilerRoom for Diesel & EDUN in London









As soon as I arrived back into London from Paris, I headed straight to Selfridges hotel for the next installment of the Studio Africa gigs hosted by BoilerRoom for Diesel and EDUN.  Two gigs in two cities in as many days!  So funny to see the same crew all set up and ready to pull off another stella event but in completely new surroundings with different sound-systems (see Funkineven in the 1st photo).  Here are London guests Rosy Nicholas, Rennee Yearwood, Shingai Shoniwa (with BoilerRoom's Thristian Richards) and musician Seye.  Thristian's cosmic patterned attire set the sartorial  tone for the evening with my personal fave  being Morgan Clements home made shirt, sewn by his mum!

Listen to Thristian and Bradley Zero's StudioAfrica theme show when they returned from Paris on NTS here.

Paris StudioAfrica post here.
Archive blog post on Seye here.
Archive blog post on Shingai here.  
Archive blog post on Selfridges Hotel here.


Thurs 7th March: Paris Fashion Week = Streetstyle












Various street-style snaps from Paris Fashion Week including the team from Liger  (top photo) who won my award for absolute best - incredible detail!!  Follow Hilary Tsui's daily outfit diary here.
Thanks to Ruth Mitchell for additional details shots.






Wednesday 6 March 2013

Weds 6th March: "AAARGH! Monstres Des Mode" The Gift Shop











I just had to write a separate post dedicated solely to the gift shop as its so cosmic!  Not only are there gorgeous mugs, totes, tees, pins, keyrings of the Craig Green artwork, but you can also pick up garms by the designers!  Here are examples by Cassetteplaya, Andrea Crews, Bas Kosters............. and a photo of a school trip going nuts with excitement at all the monsters - too cute!!

Weds 6th March: Paris Fashion Week = "AAARGH! Monstres Des Mode"













































GAITE LYRIQUE // AAARGH ! MONSTRES DE MODE

3bis Rue Papin  75003 Paris, France
from 13 Feb till 7 April