Fashion (bitch) flowers

I spend half my life raging at flowers. Proper rage, ruing them, cursing the petal-y feckers and all their petals and funny shapes that often makes drawing them a pain in the kaboose. Luckily, they have a certain magic that keeps me from wanting to vomit all over them when I’m not doing textiles. Good work, flower magic. Good work flowers, being all petal-y and pretty. There was a discussion in the studio recently about favourites and I mentioned peonies as a forerunner for best one. They were deemed “fashion” flowers, in the way girls are deemed “fashion” – the “bitch” is silent, like the k in know. And the w, actually, now that I think about it…Anyway, bite me, they are gorgeous. And while we’re at it, if we’re talking fashion flowers, eh, like, everyone knows that chrysanthemums are the it flower for SS13, as seen all over Gucci and just about everywhere else. Pssssshhhhhhh.

Also, there are no real losers in this game. Flowers are pretty. End of.

link, link, link, link, link, link, link

link, link, link

See?!

Gucci, Etro & Dries Van Noten, Spring Summer 2013. All images via Style.com

Exhibition: Tim Walker

 

Given that this exhibiton has been open for a month, this is nothing that hasn’t been said before probably a million times and more eloquently and definitely more ebulliently.  However. Tim Walker’s exhibition in Somerset House is a must see in my book because….

He is dead good at colour – pink and blue are his thing. He like totally owns them. Like the way Jeurgen is a bit yellow. Cool colours, cold, dream like and a bit weird.

His use of light is also great. It is his own, and though much copied, rarely equalled. It’s fresh, but stifled. Diffused isn’t the right way of describing it, it’s like a dead sort of floating thing. I guess dreamlike, which is good, because that what he goes for most of the time, like a weird film full of broken dolly models or something. That’s it, his work is cinematic, not just two dimensional, but really visceral and imaginative and evocative. Yeah.

Walker really goes for exaggeration. He likes hammering his point home, making everything larger than life. Scale is for emphasis with him, like block caps “this is really important”. Again with the dreams thing I guess. Sometimes it might be fun if that was possible in real life. Like you know when you are really hungry and you want a MASSIVE sandwich??  But then I guess it would suck if you were really afraid of something and it was gigantic because it was a big deal…hmmmm. Digression aside, his scale plays with his love of fantasy and creating dreamy scenes. And he totally rocks it.
Anyway. He’s great. And the images are great. In fact, the only thing that wasn’t great were the little stickers accompanying the work – they looked so last minute and out of place (the typeface didn’t even match the blurb on the walls – morto). But that’s me being pedantic. Here are some of my favourite bits, snapped on my iPhone.

 

 

 

 

 

Navajo mood

Did I mention that I love my job? I love my job. That’s one of the most annoying things that people can say, ever. Sorry. To make up for my job smugness, here is some inspiration I have been working from recently. You’ll see why I am a smug cow.

I am having a cowboy moment, so what better to compliment it than a Navajo brief? Love the embroidery and hand stitching and beading on the garments, as well as the vibrant colours mixed with siennas and earthy browns. Festival wear sorted. Well, it would be if I wasn’t such a boring old fart not going to any festivals this year. Sob.

I think I’m going to get a feathered headdress and wear it around my house instead. Not weird at all, right?!

link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link 

Photo Story: Une petite histoire Parisienne

I am getting serious mileage out of last weekend’s trip to Paris – me + camera + very blogworthy place = millions of images. Did you know that it takes just 20 minutes to cross the channel on the Eurostar, and that it goes below the sea, as in, under the seabed? They are just some of the things that I discovered. Here are some more…

…and that’s just the start of it. I’ll give you a pound if you can tell me what that amazing building in the seventh picture is. Not everyone, just the first person.

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship

One of the benefits of working in a design studio is the amazing design & reference books lying around. I found one about Morocco the other day and I feel like it’s SO NOW. Wha? Mozaic prints, trompe l’oile geometrics, arabesques. And the COLOUR. I could get all zeitgeisty on it and delve into why I think Islamic art is having a moment in Western culture, but then I would have to formulate abstract thoughts into sentences and really, you’re probably more interested in looking at pretty pictures.

It all just makes me want to go to Marrakesh and nosey about in a souk. Sigh. But in an AbFab way, not an annoying, Sex and the City 2 way. That film offended me on almost every level. Like made my skin crawl and eye hurt. But that’s for another day. Here is why I wanna go ‘splorin in Morocco. Someone take me please. Thanks.

 

link  link link link link link link link link

John Stezaker, you two faced so-and-so…..

John Stezaker has a really boring first name and a reaaaalllly awesome surname. It’s like steak with a Z. Wow! So I guess it goes some way to explaining his innate understanding of juxtaposition.

I am fascinated by his images, the deconstruction and blatant disregard for faces is sublime subversion. It’s like he wants to use the face but not as a face. Or maybe as a face but just one that you will never fully know or understand, all duplicitous and full of different sides. I think I like that though, it’s a pretty good reflection of people in general – for all the friendly faces out there, there is a forest you will never truly get lurking underneath. Or something along those lines.

John Stezaker

John Stezaker

John Stezaker

John Stezaker

John Stezaker

John Stezaker

image sources here, here, here, here, here, here and here. phew!

Things I like more than Ryan Gosling

Things that are better than Ryan Gosling – please note this list is in no way exhaustive and is designed to be indicative only.

1) Civets

Civet!

Small Indian Civet

Banded Civet

LOOK AT THEM! LOOK HOW ADORABLE THEY ARE! They have spots AND stripes! Is Ryan Gosling this adorable? I don’t THINK SO.

2) Tidying my room

yea right, I live in none of these. all bedroom pics via pinterest.com

All of these rooms are warm, inviting, look like the place you wanna go to feel safe. Can Ryan Gosling make you feel like that? NO, NO HE CAN’T.

tidy…what…huh? Oh, I see. You thought this was gonna be pro-Gozzzz. It’s not. Ladies – I.Just.Don’t.Get.It
Well, like I get it, in the sense that a guy with good shoulders is pretty much a hottie. But I mean come ON. He’s a MOVIE STAR. REALLY? I feel that he is indicative of society, as with the rest of life, where we keep accepting less and less as our standard. We NEED to have aspirations, stanadards, things to strive for – even if we never attain them. Movie stars, nay, celebrities in general, should be perfect. Just proper, out of this world, inspirationally perfect. Think Dakota Fanning stunning, Johnny Depp gorgeous. People who, admittedly may make us hate ourselves a little, but I would rather set the bar high. Who wants to live in a “ah sure it’s fine” society. Ah sure it’s fine never invented anything, never moved forward, and probably squandered, withered and died in its own filth and antipathy.

So Ryan, I am sure you are a very nice young man, and in real life I would probably either swoon or punch someone to have a shot with you. But you do not represent real life, you are famous, and when it comes to being really really famous, you = not so much.

*ps no of course i don’t have pics of the gozz. A) He’s everywhere on the internet and i am not going to propagate his mug even further and B) This is a fashion/music/opinion/cute animal blog, not a cheap celebrity gossip site. I have standards, jeeeez.

Naturally

Having a bit of an uninspired slump at the moment. When I am feeling like this, the best thing for me to do is pick up a National Geographic and flick through. Within about a minute, I have a million colour and pattern ideas that get to work in my head to form thoughts and plans. Are you the same?

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

all these amazing, inspiring images via nationalgeographic.com

Nature Knows Best

I am a big nerd. Sometimes being a nerd is cool though. No really. Like, science for example, say physics. Honestly, I’m a bit shit at maths so I don’t really understand it, but some of the models from particle physics make really awesome patterns. And the inside of CERN is really cool looking. Don’t know what CERN is? Yea, see, I’m a freaking nerd alright?!

a model proposing the appearance of the Higgs Boson

link

Large Hadron Collider

Large Hadron Collider

See, isn’t it COOOOOL?!

Also, Natural Geographic. It’s not as nerdy science-y as New Scientist (another super cool science magazine that i, ahem, have seen in the shops….), it’s more like Nature Class in junior school to New Scientist’s leaving cert physics. But it’s jam packed full of amazing shit, which, as a designer is amazing for colour inspiration. And you know, nature’s deadly and all that jazz.

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

National Geographic

See it’s not just all FASHUN, you know. Although I love the way nature can evoke a mood that you can translate into fashion. Like the last image, it just screams WOOL. And the one above it, silk. Ok, so maybe it’s almost always FASHUN. And what of it?

Inspiration Interlude

This week has been MENTAL in college, I have deadlines coming out my ears. So here’s a collection of things that have caught my eye over the past little while I think they are pretty and hopefully so might you! Happy Weekend, hope you are taking it easy and not tits-deep in dreaded thesis work…..FAIL!!!! Have i mentioned that it’s due on Valentine’s day too? HA!

images via behance.net, designsponge.com, and patternobserver.com

The brand above are called Seneca Rising, and images from their lookbook were on Pattern Observer. I think their aesthetic is really strong, and I love the way they make graphic prints look quite soft. And the colour and styling is really gorgeous too.

So, there you go. Little mini post til I sort my life out!

xx