Bonjour Paris! Dries rocks the beautiful city of romance

Paris Fashion has begun, forget John Galliano and his stupidty... Dries Van Noten has exhibited ANOTHER magnificent catwalk show for AW11. A Psychadelic, mixed up wonder of print.Take a look and j'adore too...

Vogue Dot com for the entire show...

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/show.aspx/full-length-photos/id,10561# 

The BOX Nightclub, Soho. THE Nightclub to go to.

Dita Von Teese first opened our eyes to contemporary cabaret, and now we have the London nightclub to visit at the moment come over from New York City; The BOX

In the heart of Soho you will find the extremes, the diverse and the entertaining. All of which as an abundance of reviews recently have stated, this club epitomises, it really is worthy of a visit. Kate Moss has graced the place and as The Sunday Times states 'It's the most risque nightclub these shores have seen for a while'. And 'It's Friday night and things are steaming up at the hottest burlesque club in London. Fragrant ballerinas - skip nimbly from table to table - Welcome to the Box, the latest New York import that everyone is talking about'...
 
It is a real stage show, with not only the tantalising burlesque but puppets, acrobats and many more freakish beings. Excellent, I cannot wait.

The Box, 11 Walker’s Court, at Brewer Street, W1F 0ED

http://www.theboxnyc.com/

Milan Fashion Week: A nice surprise from Emilio Pucci; Elegance...

Aside from the obvious misdemeanor within the collection, which i will no longer acknowledge; as Gucci, the majority of Emilio Pucci's AW11 catwalk collection was absolutely stunning. With a wonderful surprise of lace, print engineering, a considered palette and touch of optimism, Pucci have delivered a key collection for the season with rich tapestry tones and alchemist inspired hues of full length or iridescent pattern. The collection has a stiff upper lip (and collars), high necks, with exposed bosoms. Perfectly humorous and Victorian inspired.

 

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/show.aspx/full-length-photos/id,10542# 

For all the collection.

MIlan Fashion Week: Hideous! Fraggel Rock fur. Gucci: I can't even see the collection beneath the grotesque.

Watercolour at Tate Britain. Exhibition of the year?

As the reviews indicate, its supreme and schizophrenic. Has the exhibition proved it is not just a quintessential medium? I for one, will certainly be going to see it, to find out. I'm curious and i cannot resist a Turner.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/feb/20/watercolour-tate-britain-review-cumming?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/watercolour-tate-britain-london-2222897.html

Best lamp ever!

'Pineapple Table Lamp' at Graham & Green...

http://www.grahamandgreen.co.uk/product.aspx/table+lamps/pineapple+table+lamp+base/lighting/lighting_table-lamps/-/jse7983.htm?source=cj

Also seen in the Stylist http://www.stylist.co.uk/fashion/style-list/822/this-weeks-style-list#item-29

and The Guardian; most wanted pages.

London Fashion Week: Mulberry beauty.

Want. To. Post. Every. Picture. Damn it.

If you haven't already seen it; Mulberry's AW11 catwalk show was enchanting. Glance over these beauties...

Link to Vogue.com catwalk images and overview.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/show.aspx/full-length-photos/id,10151#

London Fashion Week: Underwhelmed by Aquascutum, utterly enlightened by Erdem...

Highlights from London Fashion Week for AW11.

Aquascutum relied on the most retro ceramic tones of colour blocking to attempt to sway us, a brand so synonymous with colour, sadly failed to deliver a beautiful bouquet of originality, as previously seen through so many seamless seasons of late. I also fear, from the Sesame Street style Muppet hues of long-haired fur gloves accessorising almost every outfit, that we are moving back wards with regards to our vulgar use of fur on the Catwalks.

While Paul Smith recently put out a press statement that fur will no longer grace, or disfigure in my opinion, Paul Smith's collections, elsewhere in Ready To Wear AW11 Fur has simply amplified in luxury usage that is like some show of attempted verbal satire that borders on the ridiculous, this is a step back for the reasons of the humane.

Erdem, however, adorned the models felicitously, beyond prettying exception. The red velvet sea of flora against deep trance-like midnight garden tones, tapestry inspiration, chiffon's, and eerily stunning; captivating, pond-like utter sheer submergence in to the lake; Ophelia depictions and romantic silhouettes. The room was filled with a melancholic ambiance of the orchestral seance. Like poetry in motion, or a dream like state. Here we have a British designer who epitomising the sublime, and a metaphorical stately aura. I was drawn into a subconsciously dark but beautiful world.

More updates and overviews of the best, and the rest from London Fashion Week AW11 to follow...

LCF: Is that a Banana in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

No, it is definitely a piece of concealed fruit. Yes, the latest fashion trend gaining momentum is a quirky, venturesome - if you have the balls - irrefutably satirical take-on what we had presumed was style. I liken it to a hysterical laughing fit with friends, an in-joke, then, publicly aired completely out of context. That sense of ‘oh no, did I really just…’ The statement is ‘conversational’ fun. SS11 is all about expressing yourself, thinking outside the proverbial box and bearing fruit. Quite literally.

Stella McCartney drizzles us in all things citrus this season, bold lemons and oranges tantalise the taste buds on the porcelain backdrops of overly eccentric and engineered, catwalk dresses. 

Prada unwrapped bananas… I know, bananas. Bazaar. I think sometimes trying to be original can lead to the absurd. But oh did we enjoy it. Muccia Prada herself wore these barmy yellow submarine-come-boomerangs hanging ironically from her ears - like ripened fruit, desperately tempting to pick from the tree with our primate like hands - whilst presenting the winner of The Turner Prize 2010 at the Tate Britain. She really has the ability to not take things too seriously; maybe it was her feelings on the night as a whole, who knows. But as Jessie J sings: "why is everyone so serious?" So lets all act a little more delirious quite frankly, go bananas i say. Enjoy it, its a 'not on your nelly' to the up-tight, restraining expectations of the recession.

A bit 'fruity' is your next trend mission London, should you choose to accept it - "Does this count as one of our five a day?..." I ask behind me.

Fear not we’ve already leap frogged through these ‘crazy’ trends-

• Jill Sander made us colour block from head to toe in neon brights for AW10. Quite a feat I think you’ll agree. 

• We’ve had Stella’s pineapple prints for SS10. Prada gave us fairies in AW10: Enchantingly illustrative, but complete ‘only on the catwalks…’ attire.

• We have wholeheartedly embraced the play suit; the all in one, for Christ’s sake. Did the Seventies not teach us anything?

• And printed trousers. How and when did printed trousers/leggings become so integral to our daily dress codes? How on earth did I ever/ would I cope without them now? It’s not worth the trauma of thought to even consider it.

•Lace, who’d have thought a fabric reminiscent of a doily, could be just so contemporary chic.

(Piece aimed at the daily Metro commuter)

LCF: 'Commando'. When a picture tells a thousand words.

Photographer David Sims. Paris Vogue, March 2010

Here we have this extraordinary example of the species; you see its proud posture, with masculine exhibitionist connotations. Like a plumped up bird; in its most sexually advantageous and provocative state. Poised, feathers emerging, growing in girth, driven by that: the most primal instinctive urge any species possesses: reproduction. The subject’s obsession is to allure a member of the opposite sex into a helpless state of submission, reminiscent of a Dandy, for the most desired coital state. Albeit, this image eludes us to a fearful realisation, ultimatumatly an instant taking of flight post-coital will occur. Wings are back, poised and ready for immediate aerodynamic airlift; leaving the female waiting for a return, or offspring. 

A narrative of David Attenborough‘s epic proportions, could not evoke a clearer intention of her mood, as her stance in this photograph does. Here the photographer and model are joined in a heightened experience, reverting back to the most basic of primitive instincts and proven Darwinian evolution from our feathered ancestors. The photographer and viewer are merely an audience, willing observers to her suggestively charged, but commanding, theatrical display. The photo screams of Corine Roitfield’s iconic ‘Porno-Chic’; turned peacock.

This Neanderthal, monochromatic, bare chested, overt female dominates the portrait with a pose of a heightened sexual nature. Dirty and dishevelled she depicts bed head connotations. Shadows: appearing as illusive feathers, flaunting from her head; where hair and feathers merge wildly. The lack of colour to the picture encourages the extensive exploration of the contours of her body for mere contrasts of light. A bullet belt acts as a chastity belt to her fertility. Her position and clothing add sexual dominance, yet the appearance of her tied hands and naked breast contrive her vulnerability as the weaker feminine sex. But she is perfectly practised to deceive, parading with fetish play and pert lips as a sexual object of weakness to attract and catch a mate.

 Titled ‘Commando’ she is survival diligent, agile, aggressive and highly desired; a prime specimen of the species for model offspring.

Contemporary social understandings of the term ‘Commando’ are juxtaposed here with the covering of her intimacies, replaced by a narcissistic, nude, upper body only, nipples brazen - which is sadly considered a far less perverse and outrageous ‘front’ today -  as nature intended.

Just sat in a room at the National Portrait Gallery in the audience of a strong, articulate, Fashion and the visual demands put on women debate, panelled by among others Editor of ELLE Lorraine Candy. It was honest, personally reflective and reaffirming for my own views. Fashion photography is art, beautiful art, and advertising.

Blooming Marvelous! Botanical Falabella lush at Stella, New Bond Street

Afternoon Tea at Ladurée, Paris. Everybit as chic and delicious as you might expect...

Bursting into Winter life. Roses in Manhatten blooming takeover

A beautiful art installation in New York City sees oversized flourishing Roses in full bloom add a little warmth and beauty to a cold January city.

See link for Will Ryman 'The Roses'

http://www.paulkasmingallery.com/exhibitions/2011-01-25_will-ryman/

DKNY's Times blog draws attention to this for fellow New
Yorkers.

http://dkny.donnakaran.com/dkny-times/notes-on-a-city/418a2039-1af2-437d-bbf3-b976a0ee41f0/giant-flowers-have-invaded-manhattan

The Southbank SkyArts Awards

"A restless man of remarkable vision" can only and quite simply be the greatest comment you could hope to achieve. 'Restless' for me is the most important gift to any artist.

Gauguin leaves on a high note. Well a ground breaking note actually...

See this fantastic article from Vanessa Thorpe at The Guardian on the last Weekend of the superb exploration of the full colour spectrum portfolio, that was Gauguin at the Tate Modern. Enlightening.

Which left the Gallery under no illusion any longer at just how popular this exhibition of an artist of such genius was to become.

'Rage'.... brilliant. I just love it. And you all clearly love a bit of culture too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/16/gauguin-tate-modern-crowds

2010/2011 Veolia Wildlife Photographer Of The Year... If you go down to the woods today you're sure to be... blown away quite frankly. If this is anything to go by. Sensational.

I cannot recommend this annual exhibition enough. It is just visually stunning, impactful, thought provoking and not only genuinely warms the heart from such a momentary exposure of environment, sometimes quirky, but always rendering the viewer in awe, staggering the impact throughout like a beat and achieving astonishing inner reactions, drawing out our personal emotions or what can only be described as 'identifying with', distinguishing between, such solitary photographs and seemingly unconsciously. You can not perhaps preempt what moves you. As individual a response to each visitor as taste buds.

For natural yet reputably hyper real scenes beyond the brink of your imagination or any preconceptions you thought you had about the capabilities of our environment, i can only say 'misplace these at the door'. Allow yourself to be elevated and sincerely confounded. Polaroid moments this truly is.

Every year i go i find a myself particularly moved by a different category. Or there is an, often many, images i just can't, quite, yet, walk away from. My feet become set in stone and i linger. Which makes it exciting and unexpected. The level of the photography entries are both highly advanced and technically skilled. Exceptionally talented artists in their field are found to submit for this original showcase, but also many amateurs, lucky enough to capture a moment or persistent enough with faith that they have something special before them for the world to see.

I find myself uncomfortable at some photo's. They pull on the heart strings undesirably because they are honest. They are a fact, an unjust, inhumane act we have put upon nature and/or other species. It is all through the faults of man the environment and everything in it suffers, this you cannot question, justify anymore or ignore when it is immediately and uneasily put in front of you. Many plights have been brought to my attention through this exhibition, which is important. It is respectfully portrayed with the aim to make an impact, that one should hope would make a difference to you at least as an individual, at least as a compassionate human being.

Staring at an over sized photo, a canvas of light and depth contrasting, taking up your full horizon, that of a Blue Whale floating enormously a few feet above the bottom of a clear sea level with a diver so inconsequential and insignificant in size in comparison to this heavyweight, the juxtaposition so exaggerated but truly real is humbling. A baby penguin staring intently and curiously at a set of human footprints in the sand is beyond delightfully charming. A silhouette of a species nesting, living, eating, functioning through the intense chlorophyll green of a leaf, outstanding. It is nature at its best, it's most dynamic, graceful and honest.

I am in awe of this yes, but for good reason i assure you,. Currently on at The Natural History Museum until April 2011.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/index.jsp

@Burberry. A consuming colour palette washed away, flooded, at the finale. Amoungst a sombre, showering & nostalgic soundtrack we bathed in glory.

Hmm... Maybe i should be working in Men's Fashion...

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/style/articles/2011-01/14/gq-style-news-watch-burberry-prorsum-autumn-winter-2011-menswear-catwalk-video

Why didn't i think of this sooner...

Burberry Prorsum Live Men's AW11 Catwalk Show. Ladies Enjoy. Fashionaters... Be inspired.

Dame Vivienne Westwood wears the infamous 'Chaos' headband on Radio 4's 'Any Questions?'

Renouned Fashion Designer and more recent attributed environmental and humanist activist Dame Vivienne Westwood who herself protested during the G20 summit, wears the same headband branding 'Chaos' (for the audience granted) whilst taking a seat amoungst a current and political panel.

Insightful.

Her sweet natured voice does however, and do not be fooled, muffle an incredibly hearty, dedicated and opinionated woman who will not soften her words or take any prisoners when a strong and defensive voice needs to be heard, or a presence felt.

If you missed the show... Listen in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00x45c7/Any_Questions_07_01_2011/

Last weekend for the Fashion Illustration exhib. @SomersetHouse. How could you not feast your eyes upon these inspiring 'little peices of heaven' illustrations...

Has everybody been to see the Gauguin exhib. @Tate Modern. Lose yourself in an unfamiliar world of colour, landscapes &endeering portraiture...

Finishing tomorrow Sunday 17th January. If i can recommend one visually stimulating exhibition to see currently in London, it's this one. Last day at the Tate Modern, so act swiftly.