Weds 2 April: Lush Plush Patterns

My Bluetooth is on strike so to get back to blogging until its fixed..........here is new work by printer Victoria Langdon.............which can be seen on her blog plush patterns in my fave blog addresses............

Sat 29th March: End of An Era

Holly Macdonald has been my right hand man since August and has just signed off as we are wrapping up the collection. ..........
So here is a big-up to the big star. Thank you for the dedication and patience with the daily stitch and glue escapades............go forth and prosper in patchwork and pom poms................
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Sat 29th March: Bon Anniversaire

It was my turn to be the recipiant of "cava and cake" in our studio birthday tradition. This cake not only had a rainbow but also irredescent glitter! Thankyou everyone!!!!!!
I was also spoilt with a medley of amazing hand crafted and beautiful cards! Ive included a pic here of my presents from Alex Cunningham which are just so lush, I had to share them...............

Friday 28th March: Leftovers

What happens to the pieces after shoots................they are put to good use in brightening up our surroundings and cheering up the everyday...................

Monday 24th March: No life

I have less than 1 week to finish making my accessories collection. Thus I have had nothing to report for this weekend. I have missed Neel's Fancy Dress Easter Egg Hunt on Hamstead Heath, William Orbit dj at Circus, the 2nd installment of new Sunday event "Issue" and tonight's drinks at The George & Dragon with the fashion team of Pop magazine serving at the bar and spinning the tunes.............instead I am hunched over, embroidering away, trying not to loose the will to carry on.........I can't preview anything for fear of letting the proverbial cat out of the bag but here is a coat I embroidered on my degree which I have revisited for inspiration in technique..........

Monday 24th March: Face Fuzzy Felt

I accompany the day's chosen colour with Bindi decoration around my eye. Something I started when I was at school after a shopping visit to Alperton for fabrics and discovered these beautiful graphic shapes. Sometimes I incorporate them into my work as seen on my business card collage. A friend has very kindly brought me back a selection of new packs from India so my stock is generously replenished. No need to keep old ones by sticking them to my bathroom wall..............

Thursday 20th March: Cooperative Designs

Here is the irresistible new knitwear collection by Cooperative Designs which have just released their press shots to Vogue.com (see link). It was shot by my Amy Gwatkin in her new studio space which I helped paint and decorate for this shoot. When we first visited Annalisa and Dorothee to preview the work in progress, it was still wet from being washed and smelt reassuringly and comfortingly sheepy. So nice to see the initial inspiration of the emblems through to the samples and finishing up with a look-book shot on this Mariacarla look-alike who is a friend and not actually a model! Perhaps this is the start of something........

Thurs 20th March: Paloma Faith

Paloma Faith has just had a profile published in Italian Vogue and this is a portrait originally submitted for the piece by Ram Shergill. It was styled by K A B I R and uses my tiger head piece and Scott Ramsay Kyle's sparkle fringe dress which K A B I R discovered on the night we subconsciously synched by jointly dressing in rainbow attire back in September.

Tues 18th & Weds 19th March: Head In The Clouds

This week we have been mostly been wearing clouds on our heads...................a de riguer trend sure to infiltrate the mainstream in no time at all.........

Mon17th March: New Collection by Scott Ramsay Kyle

Scott sent over his look book this morning for his new A/W collection that previewed at the Super Super runway show in fashion week. He is the master embroiderer and the busiest man in the business...........juggling show pieces for Biba alongside his own line and commissions from stylists Sarah Richardson and Jane Howe. Picture: Amy Gwatkin

Sunday 16th March: Prezzy for Frankie

Finishing touches to a present for my first meeting with Andy Hillman and Katie Jones newborn little Frankie Ellis.

Saturday 15th March: Lyndell's Fantasy Theme Birthday

The hair stylist Lyndell Mansfield had a fancy dress birthday party in the theme of fantasy which gathered many varying and hilarious interpretations...............it was tricky to know who was behind the costume. Here she is opening one of her cards and again with Chloe Kerman and Georgina Graham. The prize for the best dressed duo had to go to Leith Clark and James Hatt(er) who looked very at home in their chosen Lewis Carroll alter egos. Im not quite sure what I was, but I wore the iridescent blue butterfly wings we made last year and pulled together lots of blue left-overs from the VIVA installation............which I stuck in my hair and glued to my face........... my eyebrows are now slightly balder after ripping off the sequins I had decorated them with!

Friday 14th March: Jessica Dance

Today was the last day for Jessica Dance who joined us for 1 week of work placement. She is in her first year of fashion at Bournemouth and this is one of her cheeky chappies that accompanied her CV....................

Thurs 13th March: Previous Arrangements

My studio partners Andy Hillman and Alex Cunningham took me along to the preview of Tim Gutt and Shona Heaths (our joint previous employer) exhibition. It is fittingly being shown at the bStore on Saville Row which is a stockist of Peter Jensen whose archive pieces were used in this project. In this picture you can see Peter's business partner Gerard talking to David David below one of the portraits on show. "Previous Arrangements" is a project inspired by Japanese flower arranging ................... "part reality, part cinema. Their collaborations endeavour to produce work that resists categorisation"

Weds 12th March: Loose Salute in The Metro

What a nice surprise this morning to find an image from a shoot I did with Tara Darby last year. One of the band members of "The Loose Salute" had the idea to paint a rainbow across them..........as seen in my phone pic ...........and the official picture from the Metro where Tara caught them off guard standing up after being patiently (or not) laying down whilst Holly and I installed them with paint...........

Tues11th March: CSM MA 2

This collection was very impressive. Mary Katrantzou created a few heavy duty necklace pieces and then reinterpreted them on other dresses as a plush trompe l'oeil print.............very considered and concise............

Tues11th March: CSM MA

My friend Michael invited me to the Central Saint Martins MA fashion static exhibition preview. He will complete the course next year (watch this space) but was able to give me a guided tour and great insight into this year's graduates. This collection is by Yang Du who produced a collection based on a story about a giraffe and zebra. You can just see the knitted zebra head here and a crochet dress that is based on a cut of meat! I loved this body of work despite it not being chosen for the catwalk show..............especially the green cactus hat...............

Sunday 9th March: Birds Eye View

My friend Kathryn Ferguson curated a fashion film event at the ICA as part of the film season "A Bird's Eye View" to celebrate female creatives in the industry. She then held an open panel discussion with designer Bella Freud, photographer Toyin and hosted by ShowStudio's Penny Martin. The screening included highlights from Ellen von Unwerth, Julie Verhoven, Mahalia Belo & Laura Tarant-Brown. Kathryn also had a film of her own in the mix which was a showcase for the new David David collection and featured props by Helen Macintyre.

Fri 7th March: Art Futures

Finally back east to The Bloomberg SPACE for Art Futures to see contemporary art by 100+ contributors. I went with my friend Lee Regan who I lived with at Brighton University and who is a practising sculptor..........so it was good news to read that apparently "sculpture is in the ascendancy"! By contrast conventional painting is currently taking a back seat whilst collage and drawing are "growing status". There was also plenty of "performativity" and live work. Its an exciting and unusual environment of a show with pieces being rehung and taken down around you. As soon as something is sold it is replaced so the selection is everchanging and not static like a regular curated exhibit. The artists are chosen and then displayed on rotation so whenever you visit the show it will not look the same.............

Fri 7th March: Tank Magazine

Then into town to the new office of Tank Magazine to deliver to Fashion Editor Chloe Kerman and to meet Editor in Chief Masoud Golsorkhi who gave me these cleverly packaged little books. Tank has many divisions including a creative agency, online Tank TV and Radio Tank soundtracks. This edition of books came out at the time of the smoking ban to replace peoples nicotine habits with consuming classic literature in the same iconic packaging. Couldn't have come at a better for me as I am 3 weeks into cold turkey abstention and not very happy about it..............

Fri 7th March: Peter Jensen Studio Visit

Next stop over to Dalston to pick up some pieces from Peter Jensen's studio. The space is beautiful on the sunny side of the building. Although there is tonnes of beautiful artifacts and work to look at, I particularly love the white lace wall hanging that reminds me of Peter telling me about his embroidery tuition in Denmark. Here is Alex wearing her new sensational beaded collar!

Fri 7th March: Another Man

I visited Kim Howells at the office of Dazed & Another Magazine to have a look at the new issue of Another Man. I worked with Kim (who assists Nicola Formichetti) in December on a shoot with the photographer Olierio Toscani in the V&A museum. The theme was to shoot a grouop of 5 boys in 5 scenarios around the museum each with a different artistic genre as point of reference. My team and I conjured up aprox 25 accessories over 4 days and the results have now been published...........

Thurs 6 March: Changing of the Guard

Walking past The Screen On The Green cinema last night .............they were changing the film titles on there traditionally lit hoarding.............love these letters........

Tues 4th & Weds 5th March: Going Live

Mon 3rd March: Animal Inspiration

I want to involve some animal motifs into my accessories line so I have gone back to the Mexican animals that we painted in the Summer for inspiration. They are just so cute, they have not worn out!

Sun 2nd March: Clearing out

I had to clear out some things from my brother-in-law's garage and unearthed some discarded treats belonging to my nephews.....

Sun 2nd March

Sat 1 March: Final Fantasy

Last night I went over the road to the Kentish Town Forum to see Owen Pallett perform at a night he curated with a line up of other acts. Whilst he performed by layering loops of sounds from his violin, there was a fantastic live animation going on in the background. I eyed up the OHP before the performance with my geeky appreciation for these dinosaur pieces of equipment (of which we have 3 in our studio). I have never seen one used in this way before! As the sounds layered up, the animator layered up carefully cut imagery that would connect to become whole stories and moved with her hands. It was such an endearing way to illustrate songs on stage and beats any VJ that I have seen. (I have stolen this photo from flickr and cannot take credit it for it......its by John Gleeson)

Sat 1 March: Popsicle hairpins

Here is another picture from the current Dazed & Confused where Karen Langley used a selection of my archive accessories for an article on a new Mac range by the graffitti artist Fafi . The other image is the original portrait I took when I first made the popsicle hairpins in NYC back in 2005. My friend ADi very kindly obliged to be the model for this shot whilst working in her studio. This was one of the first pictures that I took to set up and make my website.............

Friday 29th February: Its all about outsized bags

I discovered on the hintmag.com blog that the set design from the Chanel show featured oversized accessories (this photo is from the original post shot by Rachel de Joode). I spent January making a giant Chanel bag myself, to submit for the showstudio.com political fashion project. Here you can see a still from my film that will be launched as part of a screening to be announced soon..............