Redchurch Street’s reinvention as the area’s best shopping street seems unstoppable, both APC and Labour and Wait have moved in to join Aesop, Sunspel and Caravan. A.P.C is at number 5a and Labour and Wait further down at number 85.
A.P.C
5a Redchurch Street, London, E2 7DJ
T +44 (0)207 729 7727
Labour and Wait
85 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DJ
Telephone +44 (0)20 7729 6253
Posted in design, fashion, interior design, product design, trends
I know this has been out a while but I really love the prints in Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection. The mixing of lamé with pigment prints and appliqué creates such lovely contrasts of shiny and matte and of course the silhouettes’ and shoes are great too!
Just one of the interesting prints from the current Miu Miu collection
You can watch the fashion on YouTube
A fashion moment from the Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2011 catwalk show
I popped into the Royal Academy to see Art Fashion Identity, part of the GSK Contemporary season. It was really interesting and far much bigger than I was expecting. Exhibiting work, are artists and designers that have used fashion and clothing as a means for exploring our identities.
I was initially attracted because I wanted to see ‘Say Goodbye’, Helen Storey’s evaporating dress. A really beautiful piece, this bio-degradable enzyme dress slowly dissolves over time as it is dipped into a huge Perspex bowl of water, making the comment on society’s desire to buy clothing all of the time.
'Say Goodbye'. Image courtesy of the Royal Academy, (c) Helen Storey
The exhibition website also includes a film about her project.
But aside from Storey’s work, there was so much more I enjoyed seeing including films by Cindy Sherman, Yoko Ono, Marina Abramovic, Gillian Wearing and a mesmerising installation by Hussein Chalayan. I also particularly liked the layout and display of work by Marie-Ange Guilleminot, inspired by a visit to the Hiroshima Peace memorial museum. Her huge pink kimono with the cut –out stencil print really stood out.
Jack Frost has definitely come to visit and it looks like he’s staying for a while so, it’s time to get cosy. Over the last few years, knitting has really taken off, near our studio in East London you can easily stubble across knitting circles in cafes and pubs and there are a number of trendy knitting shops around the country, plus countless blogs.
I love Wool and the Gang, based in New York. They make gorgeously packaged knitting kits and the website contains loads of inspiration, encouragement and online video tutorials. It’s so cold right now so please let me finish my lovely Wool and the Gang scarf whilst the snow is here.
Here's my scarf, nearly there!
The other day when I popped over to trends and fabrics fair Premiere Vision in Paris I scribbled down a few observations I thought worth sharing.
The most noticeably recurring trend was for fabrics that felt very luxurious and soft, yet weighty at the same time – whether cashmeres, silks, shearling or boiled wool. And there seems to be less and less separation between textiles for interiors and fashion.
There were lots of surreal, fairy-tale inspired prints – artist Frederique Morrel combines this with another trend; tapestry.
Image © Frederique Morrel
She also has an exhibition on at the Galerie Chevalier where she’s using 18th and 19th century tapestries to create a series of animals, if you’re in Paris, I’m sure is worth seeing.
The inspiring thing about Premiere Vision is seeing the key themes brought to life in huge styled and curated spaces. These included ‘Disruptive Weaves’ (tight yet soft textures), ‘Deceptively Austere’ (antiqued looking super-soft boiled wools), ‘Luxurious Heaviness’ (faux fur and satins), ‘Fierce Softness’ (strong velvets) ‘Natural Knop’, ‘Beyond Tradition’ (contemporary, sculptural lace), ‘Strange Nature’ (spooky, leaf-less trees) and ‘Zoo’ (bizarre monkey and bird imagery)
Last time I was there, blues were a key colour and they’re still very much in evidence, especially turquoises – often combined with yellows and golds, and sky blues. The other colour that seemed to pop up a lot was a burnt orange as well as misty pinks and reds. A palette called ‘Candied Fruits’ summed this up. Here’s my take on the new colours, which I’m thinking of exploring:
A palette of colours I'm playing with
Posted in colour, design, fashion, pattern, review, textiles, trends
This week I’m attending Premier Vision, so trendspotting is at the forefront of my mind. When I recently posted about Leonora Carrington I mentioned the fairytale theme in her work and this new film by Luca Guadagnino fits the bill on both counts in terms of its surreal qualities and directional fashion.
A still from Chronology by Luca Guadagnino courtesy of Nowness
Called ‘Chronology’, it’s Guadagnino’s first fashion project and a collaboration between Nowness and Net-a-Porter to showcase the autumn/winter 2010-2011 collections. Definitely a must-see if you like your fashion inspiration with a bit of a twist.
Chronology's surreal take on the current season's collections. Courtesy of Nowness
At the weekend I popped into town to have a look at some of the 250 elephants that have been painted by well known designers and artists which are scattered all over London for WWF. It’s worth looking at the Elephant map there is an awful lot of them!!!.
I like this one by artist Patrice Moor called Josephine she looks beautiful wrapped up in a coat of flowers, you can spot her at Sloane Square.
Patrice Moor’s elephant ‘Josephine’
But if you miss seeing them in situ you can see the entire herd at the Royal Hospital Chelsea from 24th June – 4th July.
Again at the V&A, Grace Kelly Style Icon as the title suggests, traces her journey from actress, bride, princess to fully fledged icon by focusing on Kelly’s style with dresses, jewellery, hats and bags that made up her legendary look. Like Kelly herself, the exhibition is very well put together. There is some great film footage of scenes of her with Gary Cooper and Frank Sinatra, you can see more of her on Pathé of her early days as a model before her film career had really taken off.
The exhibition is very much about what she represented and her persona as opposed to just a series of garments. It makes you wonder about the meshing of her real personality with her starring roles and question which was more influential on how she dressed. Was Kelly’s style molded by Hitchcock and wardrobe designer Edith Head (after all, the studio even made Kelly’s wedding dress and honeymoon outfit), or was this Kelly’s natural look and they created the costumes and characters to match? Either way, the result was effortless and enduring – a style that was simple, understated and elegant, which she seemed to exude in her acting as well as her off-screen presence.
Very GK.
There are a few unexpected pieces to be seen. I loved the black floral dress (wearing pattern was untypical of Kelly) this is the dress she wore to the Cannes festival and on her meeting with Prince Rainer.
Although there are a few of Tracey Neuls’ shoes and a chair by Nina Saunders in the Fashion and Textiles Museum show, I would recommend a visit to Neuls’ store on Marylebone Lane to see more at ‘Most Curious’ a collaboration between Tracey Neuls, Nina Saunders and Sanderson. It uses textiles and wallpaper resurrected from Sanderson’s archive applied to footwear and sculpture. Anchoring the installation is an incredible ‘melting’ chaisse longue and the display also includes Neuls’ use of the wonderful squirrel prints by Sanderson for her fabulous spring/summer collection. It’s a playful, lovely installation.
Most Curious Installation
Tracey Neuls’ shoes made with a selection from Sanderson’s archives
I quite often talk to students and the digital versus conventional debate frequently comes up, mainly because a lot of the textiles courses seem to teach through computer-based design origination rather than learning the craft of repeat construction. Many students haven’t grasped the fundamental elements of repeats and screen separations (it may look easy but it does take a lot of experience and is time consuming) making it very hard for them to pursue designs for commercial production. It seems that there needs to be a revival in teaching traditional printing processes (with the added enlightenment of CAD and digital prints). There was something good about using the photocopier and playing around with collage; something that I don’t see so much in students’ work because they seem to be very much focused on the final digital A3 paper print-out, which tends to look flat and uninspiring. Honing your fine art and craft skills does lead to a more interesting result.
So how can we get from here to what we can see at Premiere Vision with designers such as Claudia Caviezel (see Claudia’s wonderful interview on Faces of Design and her website) using digital in an exciting and stimulating way?
Spring 2009 Collection of AKRIS designed for Jakob Schlaepfer by Claudia Caviezel
Perhaps the answer is to introduce drawing, collage, lino cutting, wax relief printing, mono printing and many others handmade skills to try and turn the young students’ heads away from their computers. Maybe even ban them in the first year! It may sound harsh but it could work, after all, in my first year at Camberwell we had to work solely in black and white from painting to printing!
Posted in design, fashion, pattern, printing, technology, textiles, trends
This summer, prints seem to have been very influenced by digital printing technology, with lots of examples which appeared in the catwalk shows now making their way onto the rails; Prada, the late Alexander McQueen and Matthew Williamson to name a few.
PRADA Summer 2010
Because of its flexibility and beauty of placement printing we will continue to see digital printing used commercially in fashion. Designers are willing to pay the price for the more expensive digital fabric but these are coming down and it is considerably cheaper than it was even 2 years ago.
I saw a lot more companies (mainly Italian) at Premiere Vision offering digital as well as conventional printed fabrics. The perfect product for this technique is the scarf. Sadly it’s often too expensive for small-scale designers to get involved in creating scarves as the quantities required to make the numbers work are too big, and unless you are a skilled printer they are very time consuming to produce oneself. I know because I have tried and although I was able to sell at great shops such as Paul Smith, Joseph and Bergdorf Goodman ultimately I couldn’t compete with the lower prices that manufacturers were getting from China. But as I said digital printing is becoming more affordable so look out for it on more scarves whether in Liberty or coming to a high street near you.
Posted in fashion, pattern, printing, technology, textiles, trends
The Pallant House exhibition included a lot of silk square designs by Moore and scarves are something I’ve become interested in again recently. Not only does Liberty have an entire room dedicated to the scarf but they recently collaborated with that quintessential home of the scarf; Hermes (and another icon less well-known for his accessories designs, Ronnie Wood). A couple of weeks ago The Guardian ran a 4-page feature on Hermes scarves coinciding in with the publication Thames & Hudson’s book on the same subject.
What’s great about scarves is that they can be like wearable paintings – their scale seems to offer a lot of creative possibility. And they are a more affordable way of having a little bit of designer luxury and a hint of pattern and colour in these grey times.
In the studio, we were discussing the merits of buying vintage earlier today. OK very old items might not be in perfect condition but in order to find really classic, unique pieces that express your own individuality and taste, it’s hard to beat vintage. Tomorrow’s ‘Passion for Fashion and Fine Textiles’ auction would be a great one to go to. Otherwise near our studio we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to vintage clothing (although the quality varies from shop to shop). Designer vintage pieces are best sourced at Rellik and One of a Kind in Notting Hill. If you happen to be in the States then Resurrection leads the field and stylists and trend-watchers always seem discover amazing pieces within the Clignancourt flea market. A great excuse to book that Eurostar Christmas shopping trip!
Getting out and about to absorb as much of the arts and culture available on my doorstep no doubt has a direct influence on my work but I also find a wealth of inspiration from online sources.
Now that all of Pathé’s newsreels are available online I’ve been checking a few out. They have an enormous archive covering news, sport, social history and entertainment from 1896 to 1970. The programmes about interior design and domestic life in general are especially fascinating. There are some great ones from the 1950s and 60s from which you can get a genuine insight into the materials, patterns, colours, furniture and other objects of that time.
Country Cottage – not sure if I like the final outcome of this but it’s fascinating to watch her striping the wallpaper in her finery , reminded me of seeing Gilbert and George recently blow torching the paint off a their front door in Spitafields all dressed up in their wonderful suits.
The Dome House – a great space to work in I wouldn’t mind one of these, I love how the windows open.
1953 Fashion Show – I love the stripey yachting outfit , how very NOW !
Carpets – Wilton and Axminster with some great shots of rural Britain and of hand knotting.
Another that I often delve into is VADS, the online resource for visual arts. It is managed by the Farnham Campus of the University College for the Creative Arts and is an extensive collection of images including fine art, illustration, advertising posters and textiles as well as including the Design Council’s slide collection and the London College of Fashion’s archive. Worth a look!
Posted in architecture, design, fashion, interior design, textiles, vintage
Saw Michael Clark’s Company perform the Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed et all last night at the Barbican, absolutely fantastic! The dancers, costumes by Body Map’s Stevie Stewart and sets totally mesmerising, Michael Clark is an iconic artisan and so inspiring.
Michael Clark Company © Jake Walters. Dancers Oxana Panchenko and Clair Thomas
I love his mix of punk with classical, it has an anarchical pulse to it. Memories of 1988 I am Kurious Oranj, Leigh Bowery and The Fall. It reminded me of the 80’s just left Camberwell and set up my print studio in Rotherhithe, a time in London that was full of negative influences on art and design beset by the Thatcher government. There was a growing movement of rebellion, art students holding sit ins at the Tate Britain in dispute with the forming of the London Institute which was to bastardise the London art colleges as we knew them, Nicholas Serota informing us that although he sympathised with our goal we would be carried out of the building by the police one by one, which we were!
It was a time when designers were challenging the craft aesthetic, following on from Punk, designers such as Stevie Stewart of Body Map the Hemmingway’s ‘Red or Dead’ at Camden market, John Moore’s inspirational shop ‘The House of Beauty and Culture’ in Hackney, Pam Hogg, with Tom Dixon, Judy Blame and Fric and Frack at the pivotal 1987 Crafts Council show ‘The Makers Eye’ that pushed the conceptual boundaries of craft and production methods.
“we were rebelling against the conservative, the bland….. We are striving for excitement” says Stevie Stewart of that time (Vogue UK, March 2003).
So seeing Michael Clark again reminded me of the movement – expressional, confrontational and non-conformist times which feels so different to the mass-production tribe of fashion of today. There may not have been much money around but there was the mentality of Do It Yourself which was much more inventive and personal.
Michael Clark mixes Punk with classical, creating a tantalising explosion in sound and colour especial in ‘COME, BEEN, GONE’ – stripy jackets over bright red body suits, against brilliant blue and orange backdrops with Jean Genie and Heroes blasting out loud from gigantic speakers… jaw dropping dance movements – it had a similarity to the Anish Kapoor I saw last week, the feeling of being immersed in to the deep rhythms of colour – pure genius! Thank You Michael Clark and team!
Go see at the Barbican till end of this week.
PS … forgot to mention great programme in the shape of a record sleeve designed by Malcolm Garrett.
BBC Michael Clark Interview
