Friday 30th May: RCA Fashion Show 2014

Thanks to Mary Thrift for these snaps from the Royal College Of Art Fashion Show yesterday.  See more at the school's site here.

Top to bottom:  Gabrielle Beau shoes, Olivia Hanson accessories, Jo Miller millinery, mixed student film, Emma Hardstaff womenswear, Katie Roberts-Wood womenswear.

Thursday 29th May: Selfridges Beauty Project via MC Gaff E

Selfridges latest scheme "The Beauty Project" is an all-encompassing campaign to promote and celebrate diversity in notions of beauty.  Alongside characters shot for the initial press images, there is series of films put together by director Kathryn Ferguson who scoured the UK to cast a spectrum of examples defining radically different faces of regional beauty.  Here is MC Gaff E who features in the 2nd documentary clip "Beauty I See You Everywhere" which you can see in these 2 stills and embedded video.   MC Gaff E also appeared in-store at the launch event of performance artists dancing the escalators and posing in freeze-frame.  Here are her own snaps from the theme of her group (Ibiza ravers in the 90s) for which they were dressed all in white styled in Adidas, Calvin Klein, American Apparel and BOY London with fanny packs, whistles and gold bling.  Check out MC Gaff E's own natural cosmic style and unique beauty at her Instagram and her music on YouTube.   Head over to the site for all of Kathryn's other films and list of events to book.

See archive blog post from GaffE at Glastonbury 2011 here.

Tues 27th May: Summer of Colour in Margate

This bank holiday my best friends took me on a surprise day adventure out of London ................ to Margate, Kent (childhood home to Tracy Emin).  The city has a season of events called "Summer of Colour" which I think probably inspired the city of choice!!  As part of the programme the "Turner Contemporary" has an exhibition of Mondrian which outline his career from early luminous landscapes thru to the Boogie Woogie classics we all know.  We also caught the end of the Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing No.1136 before it is painted over on the 8th June.  Head over to the site to see more of what's on at this fantastic sea-facing purpose-built modern art museum!  

We really lucked-out because the day we went fell on the "Margate Meltdown" scooter rally which filled the coastal town with mod scooters after the legacy of the original 60's day-trippers.  We also visited the Shell Grotto which has to be seen to be believed!  An entire underground vault is decorated with patterns made from shells which is a mystery as no-one knows exactly when it was made or who by or why?!   Its incredible as all the patterns are so detailed and intricate it must have taken forever to collect the right size and shape shells, not to mention arrange them!

The beach and it's rides for children, arcades and fish'n'chips makes it a fun destination to escape the smog of London so I recommend getting on the train the next day off you can!  It's so magic that Margate has embraced Emin's love for art and established this key institution for supporting and spreading the work of modern masters.

Saturday 25th May: Paintbox Fudge Hair

Thanks to Tracy Hayes at FUDGE for another lush colour!!!!  I LOVE this one.  It reminds me of slush puppy!  Achieved with pink moon roots fading into Turquoise Blue and Purple. 

Sat 25th May: Peter Jensen and Julie Verhoeven: Diana Ross, Muses, Fashion at the V&A Museum

Here are illustrations by Julie Verhoeven from last evening's talk at the V&A Museum where Penny Martin hosted a discussion with Peter Jensen and Julie regarding their collaborations and friendship.  The pair who originally met at Central St. Martins and previously worked together on Peter's "Jodie" (Foster) collection have most recently joined forces for his "Diana" (Ross) SS/14.  These are the initial sketches that Julie drew from watching video clips and referencing her many album covers.  Peter wanted to steer away from the current omnipresent trend of dense digital print pattern by toning down the palette and using just 3 colours via screen printing.  Julie worked with Black, Brown and Red to come up with these big Bambi doey-eye renditions of the diva star which became the artwork for a giant print and smaller repeat pattern.  It has become one of Peter's best selling collections, alongside the "Nina" (Simone) season that can be seen here in one of the muse drawings that the V&A commissioned Julie to make for the event.  Each of Peter's collections are named after and inspired by a particular muse and these are just a few that Julie penned into her signature style portraits.  

Shop some of the collection here.

Follow Peter on his favourite medium, Instagram here and Julie here.

Saturday 25th May: 'Everything All At Once' - 15 Folds I.R.L Gif exhibition

Congratulations Margot, Sean and Jolyon a.k.a 15 Folds.  The GIF project that usually resides as an online entity has made its way from the virtual world into I.R.L (In Real Life) in the form of an exhibition at Lyst Studios (formerly White Cube).  This is like nothing I have ever seen before which is a rare feat to achieve these days with emphasis of the art industry on making sales at trade-show style sales fairs.  Its totally fresh, unique and fun.  Its also totally absorbing.  On entering the space you are instructed to use your smartphone to log onto the WIFI and download their own APP.  From here you can start to navigate your way around the white room using your device as a viewer with colourful GIFS jumping out at you from nowhere when your screen aligns with each QR code.  Matthew Stone's contribution is particularity spell-binding as his image floats and slinks around in mid-air like a magic carpet flying and flapping, as apposed to just a regular static box of graphics.  Just look at the list of artists above - its a stellar showcase of previous contributors and newly commissioned names including Iris Van Herpen, Bart Hess, Werkhaus Ltd, Quentin Jones etc..............

This is a show not be missed - its going to open your eyes to the new frontier of experiential exhibitions......... and fill your eyes with joy in the form of moving magic-eye trickery.

'Everything All At Once' - 15 Folds I.R.L Gif exhibition
48 Hoxton Square, N1 6PB