Friday 20 July 2012

Friday 20th July: Mary Katrantzou at Port Eliot Festival









Last May, Sarah Mower invited Mary Katrantzou to St. Germans to visually document and translate the interior details of the house into a print design for a dress.  Mary took so many photos that the result became three separate garments which have been hung on display in a site specific show as part of this year's scheme at the festival.  Here are snaps of the final pieces against the backdrop which inspired the digital montages. 

Friday 20th July: The Flower Appreciation Society at Port Eliot Festival










Here are Ellie and Anna of The Flower Appreciation Society with the flowers they have been making into headwear as part of the BFC Wardrobe Department curated by Sarah Mower at this year's Port Eliot Festival........... their rosette for being awarded Highly Commended in the scarecrow competition ............. Rosy modelling one of the wreaths ............ and Piers Atkinson's studded wellington boots whilst out foraging for foliage before our turn on the tools tomorrow...........

Friday July 20th: Port Elliot Festival, Cornwall = Day 1






















(Day 1 of the Port Eliot Festival, in no particular order:  The viaduct setting, Our Field Candy Tents inc. a Basso & Brooke design, My origami centre fold in the Daily paper, Phillip Dunn's illustration for "Haughty Culture" in the BFC Wardrobe Dept,  Barbara Hulinacki's colourful creative masterclass,  Michael Howells setting up the flower show,  Ella Dror's pink feet, Lou Bones in the Print Club arena, the Anthropologie tent record player, the maze, the potting shed where Im blogging from, crochet decorated trees, Susie Bubble's hydrangea dried flower top, Susie and Steve, Bleach vs. Bumble & Bumble salon, my beloved VW camper van)

Thursday 19 July 2012

Thursday 19th July: My camo article written for HUSHKIT aeronautical blog






When Hushkit "winged" over some planes for me to find comparative details from fashion collections in a spot-the-difference investigation, it occurred to me how apt the timing is.  Print is currently the omnipresent trend across international menswear to womenswear from high-end to high-street, with camouflage making a reappearance as part of the pattern portfolio.  Camouflage in its essence and invention is an optical allusion of invisibility but only in a fashion context does it have the transverse effect of being LOUD!  The most successful specific exploration into the sartorial application of foliage is 90's British label Maharashi, founded from a background in military and industrial clothing.   Since this time the streetwear label has started a subsidiary business "DPM" (Distruptive Pattern Material) with the aim to detach camouflage from its adopted military associations and promote its natural and artistic roots from where it initially came. They have even put together a 944 page encyclopedia of camouflage for your every camo query!  A recent collaboration with Casio G-Shock on a "Bamdazzle" watch fits perfectly into context of the disguise in this study with the "dazzle" pattern.  However, the nearest "Dazzle" reference employed in the fashion industry was in stylist Simon Foxton's work for Fred Perry drawing on the original Norman Wilkinson geometric patterns of World War 1.   As for the designer to come closest to incorporating actual aviation engineering in their garments, is Hussein Chalayan in 2007 with a dress that had sliding panels operated by remote controlled animatronics.  
In this vein of contextualising aircraft dynamics into the craft of clothing, I have analysed the models and aligned each one with a brand and season in a non-scientific, just for laughs exercise.  Is it a bird, is it a plane................. no it's Prada!

Mikoyan MiG-29A Slovakian air force vs. Pixelated small squares like the PREEN print from S/S 2012:

Preen's digitised geometric square pastel prints came from an extreme close-up of a vase of peonies and lace in reference to  
looking at Virginia Wolfe and her lifestyle with the Bloomsbury set:

"We loved various aspects from that period but felt to replicate them would be too retro, so we tried to take it to a new level by computerising everything. We took the lace from that period and digitised it so it became very geometric and black and white, almost to the point where it didn’t feel like lace any more."




Prototype Sukhoi Su-32FN vs. Bright pop colour camo like the Dior bag with camo print by Berlin artist Anselm Reyle:

The Parisian House gave free reign to Berlin fine artist Anselm Reyle to shake up the codes of Couture with his signature style inspired by the agitprop of eighties punk graphics.  His prints for accessories reworked camo in bright, saturated hues & fluorescent colour ways. 

“I am interested in irritating the viewer’s eye.”







Sukhoi Su-35BM vs. Geometric design knit from PRINGLE S/S 2012 designed by Alistair Carr:

Carr's first collection designing for the British heritage brand updated their traditional argyle and jacquard patterns,  playing on the function of knit as a brilliant tool for color, texture, and pattern.  The opening look of the show was this gray crewneck sweater with multicolored intarsia bands based on the patterned upholstery of London Underground tube seating.   





  





 Sukhoi Su-30MKM vs.  Aqua colour camo print like Tommy Hilfiger S/S 2012:

Hilfiger's collections are always preppy but this season he made preppy more modern, inspired by contemporary art.  He chose the artists he collects himself and focused on Andy Warhol and Basquiat for this  Warholesque camo print.  He applied the pattern onto jackets and shorts in a red/purple/pink mix and a cropped jacket and sweater in blues and blacks seen here.



   


 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7/Trop vs.  Ombre fade animal print camo like the Givenchy Couture A/W 2007 jacket:

Its the Couture shows this week, but back in 2007 the newly appointed designer at Givenchy, Riccardo Tisci  made top-to-toe looks in dégradé cheetah check pattern.  The way the dot print fades into the sand camel section really looks like this plane's paintwork like the body of a leopard print gecko.






 
  
 

Northrop P-61 Black Widow vs.  Black patent sheen with spherical form like Giles Pac-Man Headwear from S/S 2009  

To accessorise this 80's theme collection Giles worked with milliner Stephen Jones on enormous Pac-Man metal helmets to complete asci-fi sadomasochism scheme.

"I was just looking at the graphic designers of the late eighties and early nineties who I grew up admiring: Ben Kelly, Peter Saville, Mark Farrow. Pet Shop Boys videos, The Hacienda club. What they did was ridiculously simple but incredibly graphic." Pac-Man (the precursor of every modern computer game) dates from the same sort of vintage"

                               



The SK-37 Viggen vs. Pattern like Jeremy Scott x Adidas Originals A/W 2011 camouflage sneakers.......... with wings!

 These military-inspired high top basketball JS Wings sneakers for the Adidas Originals by Original line, have dark woodland camo print and lined inside with a “Aviation” orange inner.   He has added to his signature wing motif  with the finishing touch of a dog tag including all his own essential information and even his blood type B+ ! 








 (All imagery ripped from many sources so I apologise sincerely for this terrible unprofessional execution - it is a one off as I only ever use original imagery on this site!)