Friday Oct 15th: Adorn - House of Organza

So here it is, the second edition of "House Of Organza" - a collection made by a collective of connected designers. The show launched yesterday as an exhibition and film projection in the window of Vogue Fabrics and screened simultaneously over on SHOWstudio. Jez Tozer shot Jourdan Dunn in each designers piece in a moving set of stills that graduates from black and white to subtle painted pastel hues that intensify to deep golden tones.
To incorporate the allocated 200 gold pins into my submission I sewed them down in a gold-work embroidery technique with brick stitches. Ive wanted to do goldwork for so long since learning the basics at Hand & Lock Co. and finally I had the perfect opportunity. I geeked out for days carefully couching down the tiny dressmakers pins and larger hat pins, which you can see in this print of Jourdan peeping through.
Here are Craig Lawrence's cuffs and Lyall Hakaraia wearing one of Craig's S/S dresses by his own piece for House of Organza. The final portrait is Dr Noki in his installation in the hallway of Vogue Fabrics for the Frieze weekend of events "Dalston Hotel". If you go over to SHOWstudio you can see each adornment )LYALL HAKARAIA, JUDY BLAME, DR NOKI, PIERS ATKINSON, CRAIG LAWRENCE, PINS LDN) styled by curator Kim Howells. The collection is now available for press loans and we cant wait to see here they end up as last time both Lyall's and Laura's appeared in the Tim Walker willow pattern story in British Vogue.

Check Kim's blog for more photos incoming from the party......... here.

Friday Oct 15th: Happy Birthday Jessie Ware

Last night when I met someone who works at The Barbican, she already knew who I was from seeing Jessie Ware wearing my accessories. Its a great extension to my motto of opening up dialogue and interaction between strangers thru tactile accessories - that I myself get to meet new people via other people wearing my work!
Happy Birthday Jessie, thanks for being such a great ambassador!
Check out Jessie's new track "Nervous" here.

Friday Oct 15th: Future Beauty @ The Barbican

Last night, ROWDY and I were invited to The Barbican for the opening of the new exhibition "Future Beauty - 30 years of Japanese Fashion".
In a word - GO.
The garments from Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabae, Jun Takahashi etc. comprise Europe's first exhibition of avant-garde Japanese fashion. Its all of those super tactile iconic pieces you wanted to grab off the pages of the Kyoto Costume Institute book............... brought to London. On the ground floor each incredible invention is concealed in an isolated pod, hidden behind screens of white gauze which adds to the anticipation. Upstairs the larger partitions are home to more looks from classic collections with the best being Issey Miyake's folded polygons printed flat - then drop into a garment when worn. So affirming for me to see. I make garments based on origami just because that's what I like doing - it never occurred to me that all of these historical wonders were derived from the same source. Its invigorated my enthusiasm for running riot with what I love most - weird materials and bizarre shapes.
I remember so well the bliss at discovering Jun Takahashi's first Undercover collections, in particular A/W 2000/1 when he covered the whole body top to toe in tartan complete with full face paint in line. These Melting Pot pieces are on display and commented on by Colin McDowell as "its half Chanel, half Vivienne Westwood" *SIDENOTE* I admit to loitering behind the man at a few intervals to overhear his running narrative to his friend along the way!
Congrats to The Barbican on another stellar fashion exhibition with perfect positioning and display of these prize and genius pieces. The added bonus is the extensive and equally well researched events calender. Go to their website to check out evening sessions hosted by the likes of Diane Pernet, Cassette Playa, Alex Box, Charlie Le Mindu, The Broken Hearts, Shelley Fox, Amy de la Haye, Noki, WAH Nails, Sharon Kinsella............... and me and ROWDY in discussion about fashion and performance on Oct 28th!

Thurs 14th Oct: Fred does Frieze

Think that Ive selected pretty much the same artist's work as I do every year! But highlights include this telephone costume by Frances Stark, this classic fractel Olafur Eliasson yellow light, David Shrigley fun drawings, Bishi - a walking artwork.
I only got to see inside the tent but I think that there is a sculpture park and a cinema so make sure you take a whole day to get round everything..............

Frieze Art Fair

Weds 13th Oct: Bendy Bandz Craze

Ive noticed kids wearing elastic bands on their wrists. WHY? I dunno. But I thought Id give it a whirl to find out. So Ive got involved in the new accessory craze and its a great party trick. The animal and number shaped bands stay exactly in shape when you take them back off - so you can play a guessing game of what each colour will be. Ive had this lot on for nearly 2 weeks and they are still perfect. Try it out for yourself! I got mine from Christopher Shannon's local nik nak shop but I'm sure you can pick them up anywhere!

Weds 13th Oct: Going for Gold at House of Organza

Its the second outing for the "House of Organza" project with the regular crew of artists on board to tackle the new theme "ADORN". The brief has been to make small scale adornments to complement the minimal mood of the new collections arising this season.

Curators Kim Howells and Lyall Hakaraia have taken inspiration from the precious metal gold and the ubiquitous pin (from hat pins to dressmakers pins). The Pin is a humble tool used in different disciplines and they have delivered us a selection gilded in gold to interpret in our own creative visions. The exhibition will take place tomorrow to kick off the Frieze festival season at "Vogue Fabrics" which is becoming "The Dalston Hotel". Jez Tozer has shot a special film of the pieces which will be screened and Jonny Woo will be in residence regaling a story he has written for the event.............. and no doubt generally being fabulous and fun.........

Who's in the House of Organza? - LYALL HAKARAIA, KIM HOWELLS, JUDY BLAME, DR NOKI, PIERS ATKINSON, CRAIG LAWRENCE, FRED BUTLER, PINS LONDON

For rsvp details, see the invitation below (illustrated by William Broome)
To see what we did for the first episode, refer to the full feature on Dazed Digital.

Here is a scan from the underneath of my adornment mid work-in-progress

Tues 12th Oct: House Of Organza Take Two

Tues 12th Oct: Luke Tarpey

On the eve of FRIEZE Im going all arty on you with work by Luke Tarpey of Tarpey Gallery who not only curates the gallerys' shows, makes his own pieces but is also one half of the mastermind behind my website design - which we put together in 2006!
Here is a series entitiled "forward through the rearview mirror".

Mon 11th October: Russella Vision

The latest episode from the Fabulous Russella for Filep Motowary. (We shot this in the summer with La John Joseph............which seems so far away now ..........thank God the sun is shining out today on this fall morning)

Sunday 10th Oct - Julie Verhoeven's "Her Name Is Lola, She Was A Showgirl"

Julie Verhoeven's collage in the Celebrity Postcard Auction for charity ......... make a bid and check out all the other artists who have donated to the project here............ including Stephen Jones, Tracey Emin, David Bailey, Giles Deacon.......

Sunday 10th Oct - Terminator

Julie Verhoeven tipped me off about a group show that she is in at the moment. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get to Camberwell to check it out for myself, so thanks to Emily for visiting to get these snaps for us to see. Check out the flyer above for more deats.