Sun 4th Sept: Freedom's Designer Collaboration at Topshop

Here are the pieces that I made for a new luxe boutique area within Top Shop's Freedom accessories area. At the back of the floor in the flagship store is now a pocket of designer goodies from a selection of new generation names - Piers Atkinson, Henry Holland, Maria Francesca Pepe, Zoe & Morgan and myself. You can snap up a signature Piers Cherries headpiece or fluffy House of Holland earrings whilst in the Oxford Circus bazaar. My pieces are archive classic styles but produced in an aqua colour palette specially for the project. To find out more, here is my interview for the Top Shop blog ..........

Where do you call home?
My studio. By mistake. (Because I spend the majority of my time there)

What kind of girl wears your pieces?
A girl or boy who enjoys dressing to add to the fun & fullfilment of their day.

Who are your fashion icons?
Those who have been brave to stick to their vision and made work to inspire and enlighten with integrity, passion and humour.

What’s your biggest fashion faux pas?
Nothing is a faux-pas if its done with purity, authenticity and conviction. The only mistakes are in mimicking a mislead trend to deceive others and ultimately yourself. i.e. WHY do people pay premium prices for "destresed / aged" look jeans & t-shirts?!?! RIDICULOUS on every level

Where do you love to hang out in London?
Whenever I get to spend time with my friends - the location isn't crucial.


What’s your design inspiration?
I never really know. Its a combination of realising an aesthetic that's floating around my subconcious and experimenting with new material manipulation techniques.


What would be on the soundtrack to your life?
Micheal Jackson - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough
Aretha Franklin - Respect
Dee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart
The best songs to dance to - I LOVE dancing.

What’s your favourite ever moment in fashion?
Aged 16 - coming to London for a Phillip Sallon party and seeing that people dressed in a more extreme and exciting way than I had ever experienced.

And you earliest fashion memory?
Aged 6 or 7 - Drawing fashion designs - one Saturday morning - women in colourful bikinis & eyeshadow, fur coats, huge earrings and perms. Needless to say, it was the 80's


If you could have any super power, which one would you have and why?
The ability to revert humans to humanity. Surely this might start to save the world?! If every person treated each other and their surroundings with respect, the future would be a brighter prospect.


What’s the best way to spend a Sunday?
Record shopping - digging crates to find a hidden gem that I've been waiting for. I also enjoy eaves-dropping on record shop guys conversation!


What’s your most treasured possession?
My family


What’s on your radar for 2012?
www.elladrorpr.com

Pop into Top Shop to see the pop up concept, or shop the looks online soon..........

Fri 2nd Sept: Matthew Herbert's ONE PIG (unpublished piece from Aug 2011)

In the midst of my hiatus from blogging, here is a previously unpublished article from last summer which ties into "One Pig" being brought to The Royal Opera House one year on:

I have been hearing tails (forgive the pun) about this forthcoming album for some time and been fascinated about the whole concept - so to attend the final chapter was fascinating. In a nut shell, Matthew Herbert has sonically documented the life cycle of "One Pig" in order to compose an album from all the sounds. He was present for the birth and visited the creature every 2 weeks of its 1 year existence, taping its trotting antics. To conclude the journey, Matthew attended the butchery of the carcase and curated an assembly of chefs to cook the meat to honour its sacrifice. The process of preparing the dishes was recorded and guests were invited to dine on these platters. Each attendee took turn to take their plate into a sound booth and lay down some chomping noises to contribute to the acapella for the soundtrack!
Matthew composes music as a commentary on society as its inherent role is implicitly inseparable from culture and humanity.......... he questions why more artists don't also incorporate current affairs as the crux of the concept for their albums. In this instance Matthew is addressing the increasing separation of consumer's consideration of where food is sourced and farmed. He is highlighting modern eating consumption since meat has become so cheap and disposable. ie. how many chicken shops do you see daily in London and how many chickens do you actually see?! Matthew decided to track the life of a pig for a soundtrack to encapsulate this particular preoccupation of his.


One little piggy went to market.
One little piggy stayed at home.
One little piggy had roast beef,
One little piggy had none.
And this little piggy cried "Wee! Wee! Wee!" all the way onto Matthew Herbert's "One Pig" album!

In addition to the menu of meals to use the meat, the entirety of the animals anatomy was transformed into products for the "One Pig" project. Its blood was used to die the table cloths, fat to make candles and even its trotters to make the candelabra. To add to the musical element, its skin was stretched for a drum and remaining blood bottled up in glass cylinders in an invented instrument which was an organ that made squealing noises. Pickles were prepared a year in advance to accompany the ham and pork pie......... no detail was left unconsidered - this animal's sacrifice was to be put to the best use!
What better way to do this then have the following feast:





The whole sonic supper was washed down with English Ale and serenaded off with a rendition of Old Langswine (excuse another pun!) with Dave Invisible on guitar and Finn Peters on saxophone.
Tune in to hear updates on the final release of this epic immortialised piggy soundpiece...........

Tues 9th Aug: Apologies

I have to apologise for failing to keep up with my daily posting. As the deadline of my London Fashion Week presentation is nearing, I am locked away and absorbed in a sewing marathon with no time for typing. Please bare with me - it'll all be worth it by the 18th of Sept!
The sudden change of situations in London the last few days has also left me a bit shocked and lost for words............ I suspect we all feel the same way ............ that anything else other than news of the riots is fairly irrelevant and trivial.......

Channelling peaceful and loving vibes to the UK.
Hope everyone is safe and those dear to them.
Best of luck to the police force out on the streets tonight.

Sat 6th Aug: Rainbow Post from Australia

Thank you Neel Morley for donating to my Rainbow Brite collection! I now have playing cards to add to my toys, bed linen, curtains, trinkets and jewellery box!! Its so weird that the characters were dressed in monochrome and the red character was called "Red Butler"!!

Friday 5th Aug: Gemma Cairney for Trekstock

From one interview to another - the Radio 1XTRA Dj Gemma Cairney who invited me in for a little feature in January to discuss whats hot and whats not......... on a day that she was celebrating summer in the middle of winter (hence the sunglasses!). What a shame we didn't realise that the actual summer to come would be just as much a figment of our imagination!!! I suspect that Gemma probably had no idea that she would also be climbing Mount Kenya come September! The trip to scale up the second highest mountain in Africa has been organised to raise money for the charity Trekstock who support young people with cancer by raising funds & awareness through combining music, fashion & treks. Gemma is currently on the search for sponsorship so to check out more details of how to donate or get involved, visit justgiving.com/Gemma-Cairney or text GEMC85 to 70070 £2/£5/£10. Also tune in to her 1XTRA show today to hear CK model Aaron Frew take position in the hot seat for the Friday fashion feature......

(photos: from her BBC studio in January and wearing one of my A/W11 rings by Rosy Nicholas interviewing Jessie J)

Thurs 4th Aug: My TALK@ for MTV with Beth Ditto

.................... and here is the subject of my TALK@........Beth Ditto. Having met Beth only briefly a couple of times via Lyndell Mansfield, I really didn't know her too well and was understandably nervous at the prospect of interviewing her for MTV. As it turned out, Beth invited me along to her 30th birthday party beforehand to get closer insight into her world and ease up an otherwise transitory encounter. This forethought and consideration is testiment to a girl totally rooted in real life and in touch with the fundamental important focuses most dear to her - family and friends.
It was such a nice opportunity to have a one to one chat (albeit infront of a camera crew) and discover what a humble soul she is ....... along with the humour and hilarious constant banter of comical commentary. I had no idea quite how "punk" she is, with her views and approach to life and to that effect transversely enjoys her position in pop music to generate change in perception. I think it's brilliant that a rock band can have respect from an international following in both genres of music without compromising the other. This is a rare formula but one that they have gained because of Ditto's undeniable pure and passionate Joie de vivre........... and of course a unique, contagious killer, killer voice and uplifting presence.
Thanks to MTV for engineering this all to happen!

Head over to www.talkatplayground.com to watch clips from our conversation.......

(Photos: From the interview and a more recent snap at Lovebox by Simon Archer Hurlstone)

Weds 3rd Aug: Alex Noble and Juliette Lewis TALK@ for MTV

As part of our guest editorship for Swatch MTV Playground, Alex and I were able to interview any musician of our choice and wildest dreams (that was a very exciting meeting I can tell you!). Before us, first editor Rankin shared banter with his muse Kelis and second up, I had an amazing opportunity and exchange getting to know Beth Ditto for my slot. Alex was able to meet his favourite pop icon and fly over to L.A specially for his installment in the series. The outcome has just gone live over on Talk@Playground – Swatch MTV Playground and hitting a telly screen near you soon! Here are a couple of his snaps from the trip and his summary of the experience for his 4th and final blog post for the project:

"As part of this venture with Swatch and MTV I was lucky enough to travel to L.A, it was my first time visiting the city. It’s made up of towns and freeways that over the years grew until they merged into one vast Metropolis. Hollywood hangs over decaying art deco architecture, crumbling away next to all sizes and colors of suburban palaces, palm tree’s and cacti line the streets as the heat sizzles the ground.

The reason for this trip was to meet Oscar winning rock and roller Juliette Lewis to talk about creativity, careers, style and music. We also sang some ska tracks together about Brixton when she found out my roots!

Talking with Juliette it seemed we have a major thing in common, that we both have more than one career in the overall bubble of our lives. This got me back to thinking about what I feel is so important in the creative industries, as a means of inspiration and survival. It’s what we call ‘cross pollination’, and means having more than one career .For example I work as a fashion designer, an artist, a creative director and a curator. Also Fred Butler your other guest editor has a fashion label and is also famous for her journalism and blog.

Cross pollination is a great way to further your opportunities, ventures,network of connections and in the end your success. This concept is now very celebrated and excepted in the industry, you can be taken seriously in two practices where as before it was not so common; the pigeon holes are multiplying or maybe just getting bigger."

Tues 2nd Aug: VINTAGE at SOUTHBANK CENTRE

Wayne Hemingway's celebration of music, fashion, film, art and design from the 1920's to 1980's held at the Southbank Centre this weekend.

Images by Emily Beard.

Mon 1st Aug: Lucien Freud

In the light of recent inexplicable tragedies, I just wanted to dedicate some space to the legend that was Lucien Freud. It was always a joy for me to be at a modern art museum and turn a corner to see one of his paintings in the midst of mixed collections........ and learn that he constantly worked on 2 paintings at once - one in daylight and one in artificial light.
Here are some different various clippings I have been collecting to keep in a book that I got from a retrospective at Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia and a couple of photos from one of my Cecil Beaton books........ which relate to this lovely quote from the obituary in last week's Independent by Richard Calvocoressi:

".....photographs of Freud at the period suggest strikingly romantic looks: a lean, intelligent alert face crowned with a mop of dark curls. Ever the dandy, when not painting Freud favoured tailor-made suits in the finest cloth or cashmere, silk shirts worn with scarves of the most discreet hue, and hand made shoes."

Ive also picked out this line which is a nice, neat description of his approach / process :

"Freud never worked from photographs but only from the living model, scrutinising every nuance and inflection of this sitter's appearance close up. His penetrating gaze seemed to probe beneath the skin, exposing a landscape of muscle, bone, blood and flesh - each blotch, bruise and swelling recreated in a palette of grey-blue, yellow and red"

But the best quote is from the man himself:

"As far as I am concerned, the paint is the person. I want it to work fro me just as flesh does".

To read Bella Freud's dedication to her dad, head over to the Vogue blog ........ which is very, very sad as her mother died only four days after her father .......

Sat 30th July: Tracey Emin at Selfridges

To coincide with Tracey Emin's show "Love Is What You Want" at the Hayward Gallery, she has curated a selection of her most loved pieces from Selfridges in a special pop up shop in store. If you haven't already been, its the last day tomorrow (Sunday) so make sure you visit to see some pieces of her own work in addition to the gathered goodies.
Ive been listening to Tracey's favourite songs recently via her Desert Island Discs and a playlist she has compiled for http://www.studiomusic.fm/........... an excellent new site dedicated to soundtracks from artist's studios soundsystems ....... head over to hear what Peter Blake, Anthony Burrill, Rob Ryan etc. have spinning whilst they create........

Sat 30th July: Rainbow Wedding Cake

........ and on the subject of extra special amazing cake......... check out this totally cosmic rainbow wedding cake designed for Katie Shillingford's big day by Karen Langley and Natasha Chietiyawardana. Cor blimey, its dreamy!!
Thanks to Elisha for the snap - knowing this would be up my street!

For a method to make your own rainbow cake, check out my 2 Part article on Lily Vanilli here and here.