Monday 23 September 2013

Internship | Jonathan Saunders | Fashion Week!

 Hi all! Once again its been a while..... :)

I have one week left of my internship at Jonathan Saunders, and the past three weeks have flew by.
The weekend before last was the Jonathan Saunders London Fashion Week show at the Tate Britain.
The venue was incredible and to see one of the galleries turned into a backstage frenzy surrounded by beautiful artwork was incredibly exciting! It was really great to be in the studio two weeks before and two weeks after fashion week as you get a really good understanding of how the studio works pre and post fashion show!

The pictures below some backstage shots and some of the catwalk, I have taken from the vogue website. I completely love the Louboutin's, the sunglasses and the backless purple poppy print shirt!



Friday 30 August 2013

Exhibition | Blumenfeld Studio

I must admit firstly that I have probably been the worst blogger on the planet.

But during the time I have spent not blogging, I have finished my placement with Anna Kompaniets (I am now one step closer to becoming an embroidery extraordinaire) and I am looking forward to starting at Jonathan Saunders on Monday!(Yay)
*** You may have also noticed that I have updated my ancient mobile and I now have instagram !!!!!
(There are some pictures on the side somewhere, I guess if you want to follow me you can just click on one of the images or something?)

I have been kind of thinking about stuff and life in general and going into my third and final year of my degree (I seriously can't fucking believe how fast time has gone) I have been getting questions such as 'So, what are you going to do when you graduate?' pretty often. :||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

But not to bore (In answer to the question, if you hadn't gathered already I have completely no idea),
I have something nice to share with you all.


On Wednesday Anna sent me and the other intern Treeney off to see the Blumenfeld Studio exhibition at Somerset House.
(This also involved getting slightly lost, some sightseeing and an hours walk in search of chocolate cake)
Basically the exhibition was incredible! My Mum told me ages ago about this documentary on C4 called 'The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women', I obviously took the title way too literally and never watched it.
But, it turned out they had a part of the documentary playing at center of the exhibition, evidently its about Blumenfeld and not the bludgeoning massacre of which I had imagined.

The exhibition has already finished............ I didn't actually know that when I started writing and it does make this who post feel find of pointless now but hey, here is a little about Blumenfeld and a selection of his incredible images!

"Berlin-born photographer Erwin Blumenfeld (1897–1969) was one of the most internationally sought-after portrait and fashion photographers in the 1940s and 1950s. America’s leading magazines, including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar hired him for his imaginative and highly individual shots. The show focuses on the little-known history of his photography studio at 222 Central Park South in New York. Around 100 colour photographs and originals of Erwin Blumenfeld’s works in fashion magazines provide insights into this key artistic phase in his life." Taken from here.


The Red Cross, Vogue March 1945

Eiffel Tower, Vogue Port Folio

Nude Under Wet Silk

Images taken from http://www.erwinblumenfeld.com
© 2012 - 2013 The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld



Tuesday 30 July 2013

VNA Magazine | Helping Crochet on its way to Cool.


I was planning on doing a post to show you all my creations from my current placement at Anna Kompaneits (which I am still doing, plus some), but then an unavoidable urge to show you my favorite topic related artist and then the realisation that I haven't (at least I don't think I have) shared with you all one of my favorite magazines on the planet right now! 

That magazine is Very Nearly Almost Magazine, I had been reading Juxtapoz for a long time ( being an American mag it teased me with way too many out of reach purchases and exhibitions) and fancied a change and thats how I came across London based VNA.

VNA is a Street Art / Graffiti / Illustration / Art Culture magazine and in currently in its 23rd issue (with the duo Faile gracing the cover), publishing 4 times a year since 2006. 
Regrettably, since I am only one year into my collection I missed out on a good few awesome artists including Shepard Fairey (yes, I know), Invader, Eine, The London Police and D*Face, but the artists that have come after have pretty much made up for my loss! 
If you buy this mag you sure to be introduced, through a selection of interviews, to some truly awesome talents and a read will leave you completely inspired and eagerly awaiting the next issue!

Four times a year is most certainly NOT enough.

One of the artists I was introduced to by VNA was Olek, I had seen some of her crocheted extraordinary work floating around in cyber space and a bike which I think she created near brick Lane featured on the blog a long time ago (when its main focus was pretty much visual, and along the way I somehow gained the courage to add some text), so to be able to put a name to the amazing creations I had seen was great.


And so, what does Olek have to do with my internship.....?

Well, basically for the past (almost) month while working with Anna and the other awesome intern Treeney we have been having an amazingly fun time talking about our guy crushes, death / morbid stuff, the soap opera in Anna neighbors garden, watching movies, eating LOTS of cakes (Anna is not just an amazing artist but also, unlike myself a pretty tricky cook! That's tricky in terms of an array of interesting ingredients and incredibly skillful and clever.) and CROCHETING!

We have been creating an array of little gorgeous plastic bag crocheted flowers (I don't think mine can be counted in this collection), and you can see my first (semi-successful) one below and another more ambitious one that I will get around to finishing as soon as I manage to buy myself a crochet hook!

I was also pleasantly surprised how much quicker and more fun crochet is that knitting (yeah, I'm serious), I am the worlds slowest knitter and knitting machines do a neat job of almost making my blood boil.
My Nan taught me how to knit about 245 years ago and I still haven't managed to create that tea cosy I promised her. Such a bad grand-daughter. (Wow, I actually feel kinda bad now)

We have also began decorating some of them with beads and other pretty things and they look incredible!




Sunday 28 July 2013

Internship | Anna Kompaniets

I recently started an internship at costume designer and jewellery designer Anna Kompaniets. 
You can have a look at some of her amazing jewellery and learn more about her here.
So far I have learnt the craft of crochet, and on Sunday 14th we held a crochet workshop in the Queen's House near Greenwich Cutty Sark.  
We then headed back to the Queen's House a week later on Sunday 21st for one of Anna's performances entitled Quedenraha. 

Also all this alongside work, and possibly a bit of being busy doing nothing (its needed after uni) has managed to keep me pretty far away from this blog..... apologies!

Here are some photographs from the workshop and the performance, followed by a video. Enjoy!



 Pictures taken from Here


Tuesday 2 July 2013

Life | Budapest's Pálvölgyi cave & Szemlőhegyi cave, Libegő & The Royal Opera House


 These few pictures are a pair of a lotttttt of pictures that I took in Budapest's Pálvölgyi cave and Szemlőhegyi cave, which were both incredible!
You can buy a combined ticket for both caves, I cant remember how much exactly, but was pretty cheap and they are both a short walking distance (about 10 minutes) from one another.
The weather inside the caves is a constant 10/11 degrees, and when we arrived in shorts and t-shirts and some other people waiting were wrapping themselves in scarves and putting on hats and coats we did begin to worry that we had somewhat underestimated just how cold it was going to be.
But, considering it was 37°C outside the cool was very much appreciated!


A short bus ride from the caves you can find the Children's Railway (which since the Soviets has been run by children)and then jump off and climb the rather steep and long walk up to Elizabeth Look-out tower.
The view from the top is incredible and the way back down via the chairlift or the Libegő as it is locally known is much less hard work.


Our last stop was to see a ballet production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in The Royal Opera House. The interior was incredible, and the production (also the first ballet I have ever watched) was really enjoyable. 
Excuse the fact that it is a production aimed at children.....its just as enjoyable for adults!
So if you want to have a look inside the Opera House, don't book the tour, just buy some tickets to see a show.... plus they were SO cheap! 
We were pretty far back, but you could still see everything jut fine, although it must be said the seats weren't exactly the most comfortable and they were considerably slim (and squeaky).



Wednesday 26 June 2013

Opinion | $686

I just got sent an e-mail about this from Vogue,,,,,,,,,


I find it utterly amazing.
I have to say well done to Marc Jacobs for his reaction first time around, which is detailed below, and leaves me eagerly awaiting to see if the same action is going to be taken this time around! 


I think most of you will already know what I am showing you, but those of you who don't....

"MARC JACOBS has been the target of another graffiti attack, this time covering his Paris store. French graffiti artist Kidult tagged the shop windows with "$686" in neon green paint.
The numbers reference the first run-in that the label had with Kidult in May last year, after he sprayed Jacobs' New York Soho store with the word "Art" in bright pink. Not one to miss out on an opportunity, and himself a huge art fan, Jacobs printed a photograph of the work onto a line of T-shirts and sold them for $686 (£446). Kidult's latest efforts are his personal way of fighting back against the designer - who the artist describes as a "capitalist thief".
"680? 689?...686?! How much are you going to sell this for? #kidultarmyparis #thisisnotart," Kidult tweeted about his work." http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2013/06/26/marc-jacobs-paris-graffiti-attack-by-kidult

Heres the T-Shirt,

Kidult has to be the worlds biggest hater of fashion and as you can see on his website here is is very erm,,,, how do you put it... evident?
I must admit as much as I adore Marc Jacobs, my inner appreciation of street art and graffiti (which has been fully evident here on my blog) has led me to admire Kidults perseverance.

 "Kidult is the problem child who paints in a righteous, primary and no-limit way with the use of an extinguisher.
I try to remain the 14 years old kid who paints his truth in a brutal and free-minded way. I aspire to keep the creativity, the honesty and the impertinence of a kid in spite of my age to send a disturbing message in a simple, efficient and no polishing way.
Societies and cities are always evolving and as a graffiti artist, I got to adapt myself to these evolutions of my surroundings. Efficiency is one of the most important traits in a graffiti artist’s skills. It starts from a concern that I have and I send a message to everybody by intellectualizing my reasoning and finding the best spot to be the most efficient.
no matter what other people are doing or what is considered “in”, and bring something new, ugly or not."

“All these retail outlets have once used graffiti as a commercial tool to get more money and be “cool” without knowing anything about the culture.
I didn’t simply say “hello” to them. If they really like graffiti, I just gave them what they love.”
www.kidultone.com


 


What do you think about all this........ should Marc Jacobs hit back with another t-shirt?
Possibly something more elaborate....
Or will this need to be settled on a more serious level?

I also would like to hear what you guys make of Kidults beliefs and ideologies?

And so since I wrote this post I have found this out on Twitter!


Hooray,,,, for it turns out Marc Jacobs also has rather good perseverance in dealing with Kidult.........

p.s. If you read all that,,,, you must be wondering the same thing as me.... where does this leave Eine?
(If you don't know what I'm talking about have a quick look here)

LIfe | Ludwig Museum \ The Other Half of the Sky


Hi all!  Quick little post :)

These few pictures I took on a trip to the Ludwig Museum in Budapest.... I went specifically to see the two works of art specifically (the fact they have a load of Picasso's added to it too), Andy Warhol's one of many, Elvis pieces and Lichtenstein's Vicki!

I also noticed that I have managed to hide my face from all of the shots,,,, but I am sure you have seen it enough times.... heres a break.
(Basically I lost my RayBan Aviators, which I replaced with a nice new pair of Clubmasters, sooo there was too much squinting going on. Not a good look.)

As I mentioned in a previous post while we were in Budapest they were hit with some floods, the last pictures show the road slowly being revealed as the water receded from the Houses of Parliament.

Monday 24 June 2013

Life | The erotic and the exotic.


While I was in Budapest the Museum of Fine Arts (Pictured above) was holding an exhibition 

"Continuing the highly successful tradition of the past years, in the spring of 2013 the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest is again staging a photographic exhibition. 
The show will feature around 250 shots by one of the greatest figures of fashion and advertising photography, Helmut Newton, reflecting his most significant creative periods.
The material will be assembled with the cooperation of the Helmut Newton Stiftung, the foundation taking care of the artist’s oeuvre in Berlin.
These selected works provide an offer a look into his most important periods through three of his key albums. PrivateProperty contains forty-five photographs from Newton’s best fashion, portrait and nude shots from 1972 to 1983. Newton published his provocative nudes between 1985 and 1995, among others in his own periodical, the four-volume HelmutNewton’s Illustrated
The fashion and advertising photos taken between 1983 and 2003 for the major fashion labels (Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Vogue) appeared in the album A GunForHire.
Helmut Newton, one of the greatest photographers of the twentieth-century, revolutionized fashion photography with the provocative style and erotic content of his work."  http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu

You can see some of his incredible work below taken from images on Tumblr. 
The photographs were incredible first hand and it was interesting to be able to come to your own conclusion on the much debated sexist/feminist argument around Newtons depiction of women.

I felt the aspect of which Newton argues that is images show empowerment in women, and the women shown in his images are incredible, empowered, strong and undeniably sexy.

I am in love with Newtons images and would love to hear what you all make of them, empowered females or an accepted sexism?


After the Newton exhibition and a quick look around the gallery we made our way for a well earned break in the South-east Asian Gold Museum Tea House.

This place wasn't listed in the guide books, but I came across it the internet. The garden was amazing and there was an amazing selection of tea (Served in the cutest tea pots, cups and saucers!), at amazing prices.  As you can see on the menu the prices are 990 Hungarian Forint, which are the most expensive teas on the menu and work out at around £2.80 a pot for two people sharing.