Friday 14 October 2011

Saturday 15th Oct: Chanel SS12










When I was first planning my presentation in The Portico Rooms with Patrick Wolf we wanted to have a pod in the centre of the room to house the track that would be played separately on individual speakers around the circumference of the space. We were channelling a Mariko Mori temple vibe of interactive installations we have both visited. Unfortunately health and safety stipulations of the historic Somerset House meant that funding this feat wasn't possible. So, blow me when I see the Chanel show two weeks later. Not only is it an underwater theme like the world Patrick and I had put together but Karl also had a giant pearl igloo in the set. ARGH. I rarely get jealous but this put me in a spin! Please God can I one day have an inch of the budget Chanel have to play with ............. they had Florence Welsch singing in a giant oyster shell......... I can only dream of having Patrick playing the Theremin in a colossal cosmic conch!!!! Now I'm starting to sound like Veronica Salt singing about Golden Geese......
But seriously!!! Check out the iridescent plastic weft woven Chanel wool! If there was ever a more fitting Fred garm to come from the classic ......... I WANT IT SO BADLY!!!

Big thanks to Tom Ryling for sending me his snaps from the show. Not that he had much choice when I started hyperventilating on discovering that A. He had been present B. Had these incredible photos on his phone!!!!!

Friday Oct 14th: Hot Voodoo - Piers Atkinson SS12 shot at Zandra Rhodes Penthouse












From one slice of Verhoeven colour to another .......... and this time an appearance for Piers Atkinson in the book and film for his SS12 collection Hot Voodoo. Piers invited a cluster of his most colourful friends along to Zandra Rhodes rainbow painted penthouse to model his new collection. Julie and I pitched up at our allotted time, inbetween Duggie Fields and Dudley O'Shaughnessy (Rhianna's new squeeze) to put on a hat and take place in Alun Davies jungle set. This tropical paradise had been planted in the middle of the spectrum decorated loft which you can see in Zaiba Jabbar's film of the shoot. Zaibba and Alun both appear in the final portraits for the book shot by Thomas Cooksey, engineered so that the art department were as much part of the final shots as the models ......... after all, the subjects and crew are all one in the end with Kim Howells at the helm!!!!

Read about Piers's London Fashion Week Presentation on style.com for which Zandra Rhodes printed fabric for his swimwear line to match the millinery....... here

(top to bottom: the look book, Thomas Cooksey portrait, Zaiba Jabbar film stills)

Thursday 13 October 2011

Friday Oct 14th: DAVID DAVID PRESENTS SUSIE BUBBLE IN CONVERSATION WITH JULIE VERHOEVEN







A combination of three of my favourite visionaries came together last evening to combine, curate and chat all things colour. David David currently has a pop-up shop on Monmouth Street and has organised a program of events in the space as part of the project in addition to just showcasing his products. Yesterday Susie Bubble hosted an informal Q&A session with artist Julie Verhoeven bringing a double dose of colour into David's patterned world. Here are they are deep in convo, and some atmospheric shots of David's place, plus images of the bean-bag David's designed specially for this season.

Check out David's site for more details on up coming attractions .....and visit the store
DAVID DAVID STORE, 37 MONMOUTH ST, LONDON WC2H 9DD

Thurs 13th Oct: Uniqlo relaunches on Regent Street






Last night Japanese retailer Uniqlo relaunched their Regent Street branch with the slogan “Uniqlo makes Regent Street happy”. This includes innovative techniques to capture their customer including a vending machine which will drop items throughout the first three days of opening. The morning of launch (today) saw the first 200 people in the queue receive a free 'happy' breakfast, the first 100 receive a free cashmere scarf, and limited edition tote bags to the first 4000 customers.

In addition to this, throughout the next two weeks Uniqlo will be 'making people happy' along Regent Street, with balloons, performances, and random acts of happiness.

(images of the opening party last night - Twister games and Anna Murray modelling some fleece)

Uniqlo 84 Regent Street, Thursday 13th - Saturday 15th October 2011

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Tues 10th Oct: Elisha Smith Leverock wins ASVOFF 4 Grand |Prix with "I Want Muscle"









Congratulations to Elisha Smith-Leverock on winning the Best Film Prize at Diane Pernet's 4th annual fashion film festival ASVOFF, held at Centre Pompidou. Elisha chose to show feminine beauty in a revolutionary new vision by finding a female body-builder to depict in her unique hazy cinematic style. Its an opening introduction and glance into the niche world of devotion to muscle development shown with sensitivity with a slice of sexual energy. Elisha asked stylist Kim Howells to create the soft and slightly seventies feel for the wardrobe fusing Mawi gold jewellery, Lyall Hakaraia perspex harness and vintage organza gowns. Art director Anna Lomax came on board to construct the magnificent and mighty set complete with gold inflatable dumbbells and swathes of silk. This was a dream match for Anna who has wanted to work on a body builder story for some time and when she met Elisha at The W Project - the plan fell together! Here are snaps from the shoot and photos from the event last week in Paris - see Elisha's captions for details:

(Top to bottom: Styling goodies, Kizzy and Phil Vaines, Anna Lomax,
Dancing 'Park Avenue Youtube' style with Zaiba and Kathryn, Rossy De Plama, Diane <3, red trophy by Miguel Villalobos at home)

Watch Elisha's film of Kizzy "I Want Muscle" supported by Creature Of London and Knock Knock here or on www.vogue.fr along with the other entries:

Monday 10 October 2011

Mon 10th Oct: House of Liza










I am a massive Kansai Yamamoto fan .......... Stephen Sprouse and Jean-Charles De Castelbejac......... and all three of these radical designers are stocked in London's specialist vintage boutique House of Liza which is very exciting news for London! The store has been open for a year but I have only just sniffed it out, so I wanted to share this revelation with you encase anyone else is unaware of this little goldmine of goodies. There is a whole rail dedicated to jazzy shirts which I know will appeal to plenty of 90's enthusiasts after a genuine article of Versace or Moschino from the hey day! Other prêt-a-porter treats include COMME DES GARçONS, JEAN PAUL GAULTIER, THIERRY MUGLER, ISSEY MIYAKE, MOSCHINO, CHRISTIAN LACROIX, ANDRÉ COURÈGES and WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK. Here are some snaps of the store from my visit last Friday on a little outing down Kingsland Road which also included a pit stop at A Little Of What Your Fancy for lunch as this small business is also celebrating its 1st birthday. I highly recommend both to be investigated and ingested!
House Of Liza rent their rare articles for TV and Film productions in addition to sales ........ see their Facebook, Tumblr for images and site for full details .......

199 Kingsland Road, E2 8AN +44 (0) 20 3487 0782

Mon 10th Oct: Abbey Lee wearing FB in i-D





Inbetween seasons I still make one-off pieces for shoots on commission to stylists as this is how my business first started. I like discovering techniques or materials that I wouldn't necessarily try out myself - I love a challenge. Here are studio snaps of a pair of earrings in development which feature in the current issue of i-D on Abbey Lee Kershaw shot by Richard Bush, styled by Sarah Richardson. The outsize design was to fit to the concept of a surreal size sixties baby doll aesthetic with slim fitting suits and dresses accessorized with ginormous jewellery. I'm quite looking forward to wearing these myself!

The Dreams and Aspiration Issue Cover Stars

Sunday 9 October 2011

Sun 9th Oct: Greeting Cards




Here is the latest edition in my life's work of making dotty spotty greeting cards! Whoever helped with my show this season has received one as thanks for all their hard work ........ and hopefully a little ray of colour to brighten up their pinboard or window sill ...... and the postman's day in the sorting office seeing the new Patternity tape which I seal the envelopes with alongside my pink polka dot parcel tape ....... designed for ASOS HIT! 2 years ago alongside Louise Gray friendship keyrings and Markus Lupfer's glow-in-the-dark pants! ...