Monday 30 November 2009

Boudicca you rock my world!

I adore Boudicca. Not even necessarily the designs, but the whole brand philosophy which is based around major historical female figure... Boudicca aka Boadicea!... brain child of Zowie Broach & Brian Kirby

The website is called Platform13 because there are myths suggesting she is buried beneath platform 13 at St Pancreas, and their perfume 'Wode' not only contains an extract of Hemlock, the poison that Queen Boudicca killed herself with but also comes out blue!!... Legend has it that she and her tribe wore cobalt blue warpaint into battle... even the name 'wode' derives from woad a deep blue plant extract used for tribal markings by the ancient... it was seen as magical! The perfume sprays out blue but within minutes fades leaving only the scent behind.... how f**king cooool!





I just think their whole brand identity is amazing and inspiring. And the way they present this too... their website is a navigational maze of, well... Boudicca. There is not only archived imagery of their collaborations and projects, but if you look at their couture collections, they show you the whole inspiration behind them, music, films, quotes, collages.







Its really inspiring to experience the whole philosophy that informs the designs, i really like the use of collage to create new imagery which i am gonna adopt myself. Gosh i feel there is so much to tell you but i think you should experience it for yourself.... however you must must must look at their new couture collection essays... the film is incredible... well i love it... and again after you have watched it you can access information about all of their influences, books, quotes, music and even stills from the film!









P.s the password is essays...

Definitely check out the website www.platform13.com

Sunday 29 November 2009

Where ARE the wild things?


With the release of the film, Where the wild things are, coming up on Dec 11th. We are all reminded of the original illustrated story by Maurice Sendak.






Dazed and Confused has done an editorial inspired by the naughty boy who is crowned king by wild beasties!





You can also see the full spread at DazedDigital.com


I too am gonna use this as a source of inspiration for my own illustrations... watch this space!!

Saturday 28 November 2009

Karl is COOOOL!!!

I think Karl Lagerfeld, whilst coming across as a ridiculous genius... is actually really cool....


....he is an incredible drawer....


... has sympathy for us less fortunate, who want to wear his designs....



.....and clearly doesnt take himself THAT seriously!!.....

give your love to Karl too... T shirt by Naco and available at http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk

Friday 27 November 2009

Audrey Vs Nicole

I cant chooose!!


Did you know this is one of the most expensive adverts EVER!!




We cant forget Keira!!

Thursday 26 November 2009

Vous n'auriez pas vu Coco?

Coco Avante Chanel....is a beautiful beautiful film!... Fashion lovers you will adore it!



I am completely in awe of Audrey Tatous beauty throughout the film! and its made me love chanel even more than than i already did!.

Monday 16 November 2009

Seamless Queen!!

I am still trying to master the making of seamless tiles, this is the same illustration vectorised on illustrator. Instead of drawing an illustration, literally cutting it into quarters and sticking them back together in opposing corners to enable me to fill in the leftover space. I have scanned in the different elements of the tile separately.



The 2 separate illustrations...



After overlaying them together and repeating... the red square is the invisible tile outline, linked to the same 4 points on each illustration ... everything within this will make up the final swatch.



The final tile swatch!



The swatch applied to a shaped....

Saturday 14 November 2009

Seamless Kate!

Hmmm i tried to make one of my illustrations seamless... i thought it best to work with the ones i have already got, with the theory that once i have got the tile making process down it will assist my design process!!

This is the tile that i made into a swatch...


And this is the swatch showing the repeat pattern... I like it but think that the colour and quality of the lines would maybe make the illustration work better on its own.

Friday 13 November 2009

AHHH Tiles...... Now I Understand!!

So i spoke to my tutor today... hes is amazing! and he introduced the idea of tiles to me! These tiles eventually create a print when made into a swatch on illustrator... im not very good at explaining but take a look at these ...


can you see how the fish on in the top left hand corner goes off the tile.... well look at the top right, thats the missing part of him! so when placed together they will repeat without looking like they were drawn within a square!

Again the same principal... the mushrooms around the top and left hand side of the tile... all connect to those on the right and bottom sides of the tile.... magic!!

i know these are simple but best to walk before you can run eh!

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Repeat Prints!

I have changed some of my illustrations into repeat prints.... they really arent the best and very basic repetition but its a start, im am just discovering the art of repetition and actually think some of these illustrations would look better on their own not as a repeat. lookey lookey....




Sunday 8 November 2009

Julie you minx!

At SHOWstudio i witnessed Julie Verhoevens sexual toile print in her interactive, multi-layered wallpaper... the user has to scroll over/stroke the sexual imagery with the cursor to navigate to the next, more explicit level, cheeky cheeky!






This sordid affair took place within a small shack like installation within the exhibition, complete with metallic curtain entrance!

As much as i love the illustrations and the parody of the provocative scenes within a traditional historical textile/ print.... im slightly gutted as i had this idea too but didnt realise it had already been thought of ... not the sex... but the juxtaposition of contemporary imagery in a classic toile! boo!

Friday 6 November 2009

Fashion Film Whore!

Basically i have become obsessed with fashion film.... here are some of my faves i saw at show studio just for your viewing pleasure, i hope you love them as much as i do!


Gareth Pugh A/W '09-10 - Ruth Hogben 2009


Maison Martin Margiela, Make up Your Mind - Nick Knight & Ruth Hogben 2008


Lily's - Nock Knight & Ruth Hogben 2008

SHOWstudio...Fashion Revolution!

Today I went to SHOWstudio, the current Fashion Revolution exhibition is incredible and really demonstrates how the borders between art, music and fashion are dissolving into one big orgy of creativity!! The exhibition brings attention to the more recent emergence of fashion film, the whole idea of SHOWstudio is to bridge the gap between designer and consumer, artist and viewer, and fashion film gives us a deeper insight into what the designers want to portray with their collections!.... besides they're just f**king cool!!

Transformer: The Bridegroom Stripped Bare



Amazing, Alexander McQueen transforms this bridegroom into a bride by cutting, draping, pinning directly on the garment whilst the model is wearing it... its not only fascinating but beautiful to watch and gives a real insight to a designer at work!
......................

We also saw a live shoot by the man himself... Nick Knight.... it was a bit of a scrabble to get to the front of the mirrored glass barrier... but well worth it! we were so lucky to see Natalia Vodianova at work and two changes of outfits....

Apologies... the photos arent amazing!



The whole shoot from where we were standing.



Cheeky bit of editing!




ooooh stylists at work!



Definitely check out the exhibition.... and bookmark the website! http://www.showstudio.com/