The Earpiece Ladies Night w Tough Love NYC

Tune in tonight at 10pm with Special guests Circa 95, Nitty Scott and DJ Sakir

Two girls at the beach, Portugal, 1930

Ilustração, No. 112, August 16 1930 - 33b, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 897 x 1284 size. Ilustração, No. 112, August 16 1930.

Thurs 31st March : House of Hackney Pop Up

When Lily Vanilli raised her eyebrow, nodded and passed me a little rolled tube of paper, I wondered exactly what kind of "High Tea" she had invited me to?!?! As it transpired the white cylinder uncurled to be Claire Voyant message specially written for me by the fortune cookie teller quietly typing away in the corner. Lilli had sprinkled a little sneaky surprise into the mix of her tea shop experience with this unexpected humorous gimmick, and laced her cake canapes with suitably hallucinogenic ingredients such as absinthe mint chocolate chip ice cream. The cheeky ambience of decadent debauchery in Lily's private members cake club has been devised to reflect the surroundings of its home in the hub of the "House of Hackney" pop up shop. This new interior design enterprise have a print titled "Hackney Empire" with depictions of animals up to mischief: bush babies playing accordions, badgers drinking cocktails, sloths smoking a hookah. The label who have been coined "Colefax and Fowler on Acid" are a team hailing from a fashion background who have turned their hand to applying print in their home. Motivated to create an alternative option to products currently available, the couple conceived the quirky concept "House of Hackney". The range has been integrated into their own 3 story town house in Hackney which serves as the showroom and now for one week been gutted and reinstated in a location house for this pop up presentation. The all encompassing line of wallpaper, bed linen and furniture has been dressed in a Casa Vogue editorial style with misplaced mirrors, cluttered crockery and bleached out / dip died eider down. Its right on trend with distorted lampshades and curtain pelmets akin to a Katranzou creation or Diana Vreeland feel of luscious luxury in gilt gold and warm scarlets.
Javvy M Royle and Frieda Gormley have made the most honest and pure creative decision to design for their own vision which results in something that ultimately will appeal to others looking for the same missing link on the market. They have also made the sacrifice of volunteering for one of the most stressful events in a lifetime, by moving house a few times in a matter of days. Make sure you honour this devotion of their direction by attending the pop up shop now open to the public ........... and sample one of Lily's hand painted pistachio éclairs whilst you're there!
(For High Tea bookings, contact 180@lilyvanilli.com or just turn up....... tickets are £10 and include cake and ice cream. Entry to the Pop Up Shop is free).

Thursday 31st March - Sunday 3rd April 10am-7pm
76 Stoke Newington Road, Hackney, N16 7XB
243/ 149/ Dalston Over ground/ Dalston Kingsland
www.houseofhackney.com

(Here are host Gwendoline Christie with guests Louise Gray and Ashley Fletcher, Marawa the Amazing showing me a mini version of her fruit salad of death act, Lily Vanilli and her fortune cookie teller)

AJ6 "South Beach" Customs by El Cappy

Just hitting the internetz is the AJ6 "South Beach" customs designed by El Cappy. El Cappy made these customs for Detroit based blogger Juan the blogger where he transformed the AJ6 "Oreo" into this beautiful creation you see before you. Me being a non Lebron fan, his South Beach colorway was the best in my opinion. I have seen the South Beach colorway on other silhouettes but on this shoe is by far the best. Even the box is dope! Awesome work El Cappy!






pics and info via Nice Kicks

Bob Clampett Hand Drawn Maps of Warner Bros. Cartoon Studio

Rob Clampett, (Bob's son) generously gave me scans of these interesting maps Bob drew of the Warner Bros cartoon studio.I haven't totally deciphered everything on them yet. I like all the little anecdotes Bob added of where funny stuff happened and what stars peered in the windows.I'm guessing Bob drew these to help Mike Barrier and Milt Grey for the research they were doing for a book about the

FRANCIS ALYS, MELANIE SMITH, LAUREANA TOLEDO: WORKS FROM THE PETITGAS COLLECTION AT THE MEXICAN EMBASSY LONDON, CURATED BY PABLO LEON DE LA BARRA

Laureana Toledo, Delusion, 2011, acrylic on found newspaper posters, (Who is to name our dream- no river, not the rain). Special commission for the exhibition.


Laureana Toledo, Untitled, 2009, two photo collages


Melanie Smith, Pink Tianguis, 2002, C-Print photograph


Melanie Smith, Spiral City 13, 2003, Acrylic on acrylic


Francis Alys, Sunpath, Mexico City, 1999
Four photographs and sunpaths: 01.11.98, 11:10am; 12.11.98, 11:45am; 20.05.99, 5:45pm; 21.05.99, 1:15pm




Francis Alys, Untitled (dog and railings), 2004, Diptych, Oil and encaustic on canvas on wood


Catherine Petitgas, Catherine Lampert and Pablo Leon de la Barra in conversation.


I was invited by the Mexican Embassy in London (for the first time after being here for 14 years), to organize an exhibition and conversation regarding the artistic relationship existing between London and Mexico. I decided to invite curator Catherine Lampert and art patron Catherine Petitgas to participate in a conversation around the topic, and to curate a small informal exhibition within the spaces of the Embassy with some works from the Petitgas collection that could illustrate this ideas. For the conversation I traced a prehistory of exhibition of Mexican arts in London (see previous posts), and presented the work of the artists in the exhibition, while also creating echos with the work of Mexican artists Helen Escobedo in England in the 50s and 2000s and Felipe Ehrenberg in London in the 1970s. Catherine Lampert talked about her work as director of the Whitechapel Gallery from 1988 to 2001, where she was a pioneer of exhibiting non American and non European contemporary art, including the work of Francis Alys, Francisco Toledo and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Catherine Petitgas talked about her exemplary labour as a patron of Latin American art, and about how she began to collect art from Mexico. Afterwards artist Laureana Toledo discussed the work she has been developing during the last three years in England, while demanding the need of friendly artists visas for artists visiting the UK. We also discussed the urgent need to create an independent and bilateral programme for the support of residencies for artists and the visits of curators from London to Mexico and from Mexico to London.

Weds 30th March: "Paris" Piers Atkinson AW11 by Zaiba Jabbar

Paris from zaiba jabbar on Vimeo.

Last night I saw Piers and Zaiba's film for the first time......... and I want to share it here so none of you miss out........... its so lovely. Kim Howells recruited an iconic cast to model the collection in this Brassai inspired work .......... watch it and see who you can spot .......... (hint: although its black and white you don't need the pink hair to recognise Zandra Rhodes ........)

Weds 30th March: The Resee

The ReSee is chance to literally "re-see" a selection of fashion films from the season put together into one presentation by Anna Walker. For AW11 the one night event brought together Alex Mattsson (Chris Murdoch), myself (Elisha Smith Leverock), Henry Holland (Sarah Chatfield), J.W.Anderson (Ben Toms), Les Chiffoniers (Marcus Werner Hed)) and Piers Atkinson (Zaiba Jabbar). Here are some shots of these various films from the projection and a portrait of Ella and Ash who are the mastermind team that is Ella Dror PR who incidentally represent three of the labels shown.
Here is the text from my interview in the program which accompanied the event:

1. Tell me about your inspirations for AW11.

The palette of the last two seasons has been silver and gold metallics, so A/W 2011 is a return to my signature psychedelic spectrum of colour. I’ve stripped back use of layering materials and concentrated on the purity of paper and paper folding. Shapes and silhouettes employ a new technique developed in my ongoing exploration into origami. On a recent trip back to my favourite haunts of China Town NYC, I realized that origami is an infinite craft of possibilities with no limits. My new collection is an experiment in pushing these boundaries utilizing both the top and bottom conflicting surfaces of structures for contrast in texture.

2. Why did you want to make a fashion film?

Since I first received sponsorship from New Gen to make a film in 2009 I have been collaborating with Elisha Smith-Leverock on a further four. I would love to make a film for each season! We are really enjoying building a body of work together. It’s a joke but the idea of having a DVD box set one day would be fun!

3. You have made fashion films for previous seasons, to what extent is film a tool to express your creativity?

I’ve always been interested in crossing disciplines to present my work. My catwalk show at Graduate Fashion Week was choreographed with dancers to a soundtrack composed for an animated film I made projected onto the backdrop. That was 2003! Absolutely anything is possible to convey a concept using film as a vehicle to capture a narrative. The process of compiling a moving image clip is a whole bonus outlet to carry on exploring ideas of a collection. By working with Elisha I get to discover and execute a secondary realm of creativity in addition to just designing the accessories. It’s a dream.

4. Why do you think so many designers are turning to fashion film at the moment?

It’s cheaper! Runway shows and presentations are an enormous investment for emerging designers. Organising a film is a far more accessible option. Also, the medium translates so well to social media now. Once you have the embed code you can share the film across all blogs and forums. This is the perfect tool of self promotion for young designers to showcase their work to an international audience. Equally, more established labels have picked up on the immeasurable success of reaching new markets with online presence. Hence larger businesses are testing out the assets and avenues of fashion film.

5. What do we have to look forward from Fred Butler in 2011? Are you working on any projects at the moment?

We would like to keep pushing the film work and make our 5th for S/S11. I’m also exploring options of producing my accessories at a lower price point through collaborations to expand on the high end range. Meanwhile my blog is opening exciting opportunities with a guest editorship on a music entertainment platform..........

Weds 30th March: Birthday

I had the most amazing birthday ever! Even better than the big number last year!
Here are some highlights.......... Saskia Wickins rainbow surprise tied to the gates of the studio (which i turned into a necklace), one of the many choco cakes, collage card by Andy Macgregor and Teo Connor with an Anthony Burrill badge, Kirsty McKenezie's butterfly feet and cosmic cat card, various rainbow gifts including Verity Keefe's CMYK canvas bag, more home made cards by Lyndsey and Saskia, my V.I.P guests - Lorri and Mable.

Great Britain stamp: King George VI coronation, 1937

Great Britain stamp: King George VI coronation, originally uploaded by karen horton.

"c. 1937, in honor of the coronation of King George VI at Westminster Abbey on May 12th, 1937

designed by Edmund Dulac, based on portrait photography by Dorothy Wilding

rejected designs and sketches by Eric Gill"

ABC Wednesday: K for Kilt

New Zealand is a country of diversed ethnicity. The Maoris came, then the Pakehas meaning foreignors. Among the British stocks are the Scottish. My Sisiter-in-law Karen originally from Christchurch has Scottish ancestry. Dunedin proudly claims to be the the most Scottish city in New Zealand.

New Zealand is one day ahead from and yesterday, we celebrated St Andrew's day with Scottish Bagpipes, Drums and men wearing Scottish Kilts.

St. Andrew's Day is the feast of Saint Andrew, celebrated on 30 November each year. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and St. Andrew's Day is Scotland's official national day,

Very little is really known about St. Andrew himself. He was thought to have been a fisherman in Galilee (now part of Israel), along with his elder brother Simon Peter (Saint Peter). Both became followers (apostles) of Jesus Christ, founder of the Christian religion.

St. Andrew is said to have been responsible for spreading the tenets of the Christian religion though Asia Minor and Greece. Tradition suggests that St. Andrew was put to death by the Romans in Patras, Southern Greece by being pinned to a cross (crucified). The diagonal shape of this cross is said to be the basis for the Cross of St. Andrew which appears on the Scottish Flag.

http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/scotland/standrew.html

*** A per-verbal question: What is underneath that Scottish Kilts? A news broadcaster Tamati on National TV refused to confirm or deny what was under it.***




http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/