Friday 17th March: Gemma Cairney's "OPEN" Book Launch

Gemma Cairney loves to throw a party and so her official book launch was the biggest bash to date.  For the book's tour she has bought her very own 1990's double-decker bus painted yellow with the graphics from the title "Open".  This was parked up outside The University Women's Club venue for the night, which apparently caused mayhem in the streets of Mayfair to get there!  This is quite apt for the book's mission to make a big impression and cause waves in inspiring the country's next generation of readers.  It's time to avert eyes from screens and sift thru spectrum pages of self-help for teenagers.

It's a "Toolkit for how magic and messed up life can be".  Essentially its a tome from Gemma's own heart and life experience but with a 360 degree solid representation of insight from experts that she has brought on board.  During her time on the BBC radio programme "The Surgery" she realised the need for information to be readily available for young adults to find and trust.  And here it is!  The book is designed to either be a reference guide to look up particular subjects or a personalised diary to customise and make into a working manual.  It's for all genders and explains issues that effect everyone to either try for yourself or become prepared and equipped to support someone else.  The topics covered range across:  family, bullying, love & heartbreak, grief, anxiety & depression, eating disorders, OCD, self-harm, periods, sex & sexuality, racism & prejudice, politics, feminism, careers and .............. the Internet!  Although it is targeted at young adults I think it can relate to any age as it literally covers everything that the human condition encounters and offers strategies to solve.  The illustrations make it easily legible and light despite the serious issues it extends to feature.

In short, its really an essential read for any family.  Every household has a new generation to support and perhaps an older one to re-educate and re-connect.  And here-in lies one of the main subjects the book is built on = in that no family structure is the same.  Everyone has their own arrangement and this contextualises how each version is manageable.  Ive learnt alot and even alot about Gemma's own background which I didn't know already!  

What else do I need to say, you owe it to your loved ones and yourself to bring this into your life...................... find it here.

(Photos by me & Mitchell McGillvary)

Thursday 16th March: Rhys Coren, "Whistle Bump Super Strut" at Seventeen Gallery

Rhys Coren's aesthetic is immediately really pleasing to the eye, especially if you were a child of the 80's and teenager of the 90's with these patterns and tones.  The layout of line and contrasting colours also photograph really well.  But what you need to do to fully appreciate the beauty in the technique is take a close look at the composition.  These playful panels of marbled, sprayed & splash marks are actually painted marquetry.  Not only that, the slithers of each individual colour even have secondary darker inlays of silhouette running alongside for extra optical depth.  (This reminds me of the satisfaction and relief as a kid when you finally figured out how to do shadows on bubble-writing.)  Here it's intricately cut-out and spliced textures in squiggles and swirls.  It's like nothing I've ever seen before - exquisite and fun in equal measure.  These pieces are going to make the walls of their future homes very, very happy. 

 Seventeen Gallery, 270-276 Kingsland RoadLondonE8 4DG

Tuesday March 14th: Matty Bovan for Barbie

Barbie celebrated both her birthday and International Women's Day with a new SS17 wardrobe by Matty Bovan.  The new line of miniature garms were presented with a panel discussion exploring female identity chaired by Susie Lau and premiere of Matty's film made for Barbie ‘GIRLNESS'.  Barbie recently integrated three new body types - tall, curvy and petite and expanded the variety of skin tones and hair styles.  Head to Selfridges for the Fashion East pop-up shop to see these styles and all of Matty's merchandise surrounding the campaign including badges and t-shirts.  Here is one of the outfits with his trademark jewellery and a flower hat seemingly spontaneously borrowed from Barbie's rose & pistachio birthday cake by Lily Vanilli!

(Additional photos by Mitchell McGillvary)

Monday 13th March: G-Star RAW Elwood X25

G-Star RAW Elwood X25 is the new unisex denim line from Pharrell Williams, with 25 different pattern designs.  This range covers a whole spectrum of styles from camouflage to Fleur De Lis or checkerboard to tropical palm prints.  I chose this optical Dazzle print from the selection to match my accessories from the time Patternity collaborated with the Imperial War Museum on this historic graphic.  I can put the G-Star badges on the canvas clutch!

Friday 10th March: #MadebyGoogle presents Sharmadean Reid

I have heard Sharmadean Reid do talks about her career before but this was a specific technology themed presentation explaining how she has adapted tec to grow her business.  This included everything from how she has developed booking-systems thru to a new Virtual Reality App to design your artwork before an appointment.  She has embraced social media since its inception to expand her customer base and used it to cast models and teams for new marketing campaigns.  Every single detail has been driven by her curiosity into the future of technology.  For example she integrated the UV lamps for gels into the nail bar so there's no shuffling of equipment - genius!  Sharmadean wants the WAH! experience to be as efficient, intuitive and fun as possible and managed this by pushing boundaries forward by asking questions and inventing her own formula.  World watch out, she's got big plans!

Monday 20th February: LFW AW17 - MM6 Maison Margiela

The MM6 Maison Margiela presentation took the form of a shop interior on New Bond Street being decked out with a set to replicate an atelier, a screen-printing studio and a fashion photo studio.  Models wandered between the separate scenarios involved in the activities by either taking part in fittings, constructing garments or posing for a look-book shoot.   All of the real-life actors were so immersed in their jobs that they didn't seem to acknowledge our presence and intrigue.  The rooms were assembled on fake wall "flats" like a TV set so that the doors opened and closed to a void either side.  Although the creative processes were truly happening it was also carefully set up so that the tools on the tailors desk were all white coated in painted muslin.  It was a beautiful realisation of a brilliant idea.  Everyone loves being nosy and this was a perfect cheeky performance playing out how the creative process might be.............. using an AppleMac charger cable as a belt.......