Emma Summerton

I forgot to share this with you a while back. Which was really really stoopid of me, because she’s popping up loads at the moment, and we all love that feeling of “I told you so”. So, maybe, “I would have told you so earlier, only I got distracted and forgot?” Not quite the same ring to it. Either way, let’s have a little minute for Emma Summerton.

Kate Moss by Emma Summerton

I first started noticing her images a few years ago in i-D, for whom she works quite regularly. It was one of those things where I would come across an amazing image, and her name would be under it. Over and over, which is always a good sign. Her use of colour is really incredible, it’s kind of like Guy Bourdin mixed with Jeurgen Teller, stripped of Bourdin’s outright sex and Teller’s brash honesty, to produce something really interesting, and uniquely feminine. I feel like these images look like the work of a woman, which is no bad thing, given the dominance of male photographers in fashion. It’s that whole men creating our image buzz that is all deep and meaningful and I’m not really going to get into it now.

Emma Summerton, i-D magazine

Emma Summerton

Emma Summerton, W Magazine August 11

There is a sophistication and a softness to her approach that separates her from her male colour maestros. In some ways, there is more than a hint of Cindy Sherman, with a certain detachment permeating the images. Her work is striking but subdued, highly stylised but soft. She does the broken dolly thing in a sophisticated, powerful way – these dollies are anything but weak.

Emma Summerton

Emma Summerton

Her work is wonderfully constructed. I feel like it knowingly plays on the idea of The Gaze. It engages me, and makes me want to take more control over my image-making, and be less loosy-goosy-naturalistic-let-the-image-be-organic type thing. Unless I have her all wrong, and really all she wants to do is communicate how much like puppets & slaves we all are for falling victim to fashion. For some reason though, I doubt it.

Emma Summerton , Vogue Italia

Emma Summerton

 

RED RADAR!

I just did a lil post for the lovely folks over at Red Radar, about upcycling your old LBD for party season. If you are anyway near as, eh, financially challenged, then making the best of what you got is SO on trend this season! Here’s a little snippet of the article, click the LINK to catch the rest of it, with glorious pictures!

Jane Love, aka blogger Noisy Shoes, calculates her way out of a wardrobe culdesac to be ready for the party season.

With Christmas less than two weeks away, it’s safe to say we are well into the party season! We are also into the realisation that after presents and parties, the budget for your own fabulousness is limited! OH NO!

Luckily, you don’t need to spend a fortune on an amazing new dress to look stunning – although if you happen to have a fortune, go for it, you deserve it! Looking great with what you already have is easy-peasy when you take the time do a little bit of planning. It could be something you have worn to death, like your Little Black Dress, but with a couple of little tricks, it will look fresh and new for Christmas.

So go on, check out the Red Radar now! And don’t worry it’s not just me, there’s loads of other good fashion vlogs, music and fun stuff!

Merry Christmas Me Arse

It’s CHRISTMAS!!! And I am very very very excited this year. Something in the air has de-Grinched me and I am inviting Christmas playlists, mulled wine, and general merry making. Maybe it has something to do with work and how I feel a bit like an elf getting everything ready for all the people….

Anyway. It is TWO WEEKS til the Big Man brings us all some serious swag. In the meantime, if you are not feeling full of festive cheer yet, listen to these, and if you are still feeling ba humbug, then you should probably go to the doctor, because you are in fact dead inside.

 

Seriously Santa, help a sister out. I wanna bust a move.

 

Hipster Christmas legends

The best ba-humbug Christmas song ever!!!

and the best Christmas song of all time ever.

 

All Wrapped Up for Christmas

Christmas present shopping for the lovable dickhead hipster in your life can be traumatic. Clothes are a no-go, as they either already have it, it’s too mainstream/last season/all of the above. Music is also out, as the bands they listen to you’ve never heard of/only produce 45′s on white label/don’t even have a record yet. Gizmos are just like, so lame, and they have read every book worth reading. Basically, the only thing left is art.

Lucky for you then, oh friend of hipster, that the Talbot Gallery is hosting All Wrapped Up for Christmas. This show comprises of the work of many very talented* artists and designers, with all pieces the same size, priced at 200eu. Which, given the quality of the work, is a bargain. And Irish talent doing they thang in Ireland is only a good thing, so if you are looking to spend a lil bit of cheddar on someone (that someone could be yourself!) then this is definitely worth a look.

Yes, I sound like a cheesy salesperson. No, my work is not in it, but I do believe that things like this are a far better way to shop for people at Christmas – hipster or no. Because this time next year, when you still havn’t unwrapped that rubbish dvd, or assembled that novelty thing, or read that book you promised yourself you would, think how you could have a beautiful piece of art on your wall making you smile every day. And god knows, we can all use a little bit of happy these days. So, Art is for life, not just for Christmas!

 

 

 

*I know this to be a fact because I am fortunate enough to know some of them!