Rei Kawakubo puts Comme des Garçons' signature stamp on Barbie!!

How awesome is this? Launched in Tokyo last week, Barbie by Comme des Garçons arrives the UK this week and will be stocked exclusively at Dover Street Market, where it is on sale for £225.

SS10 PRESS DAYS: Part Two

Earlier in the week I attended the Replay press day held on the 31st floor of Centre Point. Not really a brand I like or have ever bought product from but there were a couple of things I liked including the view, which was mega. First off I loved this simple and classic black leather jacket with stud detailing on the shoulders.

Whilst quite hideous in its cut I also really liked the ‘idea’ behind the denim jacket pictured below. It had lots of great detailing and embellishment which I think is a great hint to how we can update and embellish our existing wardrobe staples for SS10.

Rather sadly I actually really enjoyed looking at all the racks of jeans and the lovely lady who gave me a tour explained that each pair have a different label to give them all a super-visible uniqueness as no pairs are the same. Thought this was quite interesting as everyone in the western world (at least) lives in and relies upon at least one pair of great jeans and as much as it pains me to say it, pretty much all of the Replay jeans looked really well cut and comfortable, so if you can afford/justify the cost I say go for it!

Check out the views from the top...

On the same day I popped into Dust PR’s press day and saw a few cool clients. One of their best in terms of commercial appeal is Eastpak who seemingly update their ranges every season to great effect. I actually learnt something- which was very interesting- all Eastpak mainline products automatically come with a 35 year guarantee so if you ever have any problems you can bring it into a store and if it can’t be repaired you’ll get a brand new one, for free. I think this is a great service and will definitely inspire me to buy an Eastpak when it comes to getting a new rucksack as it means I’ll only ever need to buy two in my lifetime– what more could you want?!

I quite liked the new leather bags they’ve made but was more interested in their collaboration with London based designer Christopher Shannon. This range of luggage, rucksacks and bum bags (or as the American’s would say fanny packs) are made from PVC and feature grey, turquoise and white colourways.

Barbour was another brand that caught my eye. Long have I been a fan of their traditional waxed jackets worn by everyone from The Queen to Guy Richie to farmers across the land. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the brand manager and being talked through the collection, and discovering that they also made clothes.

Loved the Union Jack jacket, which has been made so beautifully, designed to be low-key and understated in order to fit with the traditional English Barbour ethos.

Another item that I loved was the brown leather weekend bag. Absolutely beautiful.

Last week I popped down to the Agnes B press day and found a few pieces that were worth mentioning for their beautifulness. First off there was an adorable necklace which had a pendant in the shape of a purse, which upon closer inspection actually opens so you can put something special inside. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous and think it’ll be on my birthday list next spring.

Other great items were these chic and classic knickers which I loved and a gorgeous lilac tiered suede skirt which I think will look great next summer as its so versatile and can be worn virtually anywhere.

Lastly I found some great looking bras in orange and blue colourways which featured the same paisley/floral print as matching blouses and shorts, hopefully not to be worn altogether.

Last but by no means least I ventured East and attended the Tea and Cake press day. Whilst there were many great brands on display (too many to mention here) I completely fell in love with one in particular. Next year sees yet another iconic brand celebrate their anniversary, with French brand Lacoste Eyewear turning 30. To mark this achievement they are reissuing their first ever pair of original sunglasses.

What I love about these glasses is their retro aviator frames that were so popular in the eighties and have seen a huge comeback in recent years. I like that rather than having to buy vintage inspired glasses the 101's go one step further to recapture the essence of the real thing. I think it’s a really great thing for brands to do seeing as the past is where everyone is looking for fashion inspiration nowadays, therefore it makes sense to reissue the best iconic pieces rather than trying to redesign them altogether.

The ‘Lacoste 101’ will be extremely limited edition with only 1,000 pairs being produced and astonishingly only 20 pairs will be available in the UK, so you’d better get in there fast. If you’d like to get your hands on a pair head to Dover Street Market or the Lacoste boutiques in Regent Street and Westfield nearer the time.

JAMIE REID: IN CONVERSATION @ V&A- 24TH APRIL

Last night I had the great pleasure of attending another Friday night event at the V+A, and this week saw the turn of Jamie Reid in conversation. This wouldn’t have been my first choice, but H wanted to go so armed with the preliminary knowledge that he’s an artist and used to work with the Sex Pistols, off I went to learn more about him first hand.

Hate to say ‘I told you so’, but it wasn’t that great. I think maybe if you are a huge fan of the Sex Pistols and wanted to ask Jamie questions about them or Vivienne Westwood (which people unashamedly did) then it would’ve been great fun, but I guess I might have set my expectations of Jamie himself too high.

It started off really well with Jamie introducing himself as an ‘artist, anarchist and graphic designer, among many other things’. He passionately talked us through a slide show of all of his earlier and famed works using them to illustrate his life timeline. It transpired that Jamie went to Croydon polytechnic college with Malcolm McLaren (hence the Sex Pistols connection) whom he lost contact with after college. After leaving art college Jamie was part of a group of artists that started a collective called Suburban Press (see imagery below). This was a community led initiative which highlighted local issues, but also campaigned for increased civil rights and most memorably spoke on behalf of the miners during the strikes of the late 1970s. It was his experiences at the Suburban Press that really informed Reid’s artistic style and he went on for many years to create propaganda for and against numerous political campaigns. When the suburban Press closed after around four years Reid decided to move to Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and rather randomly received a letter from Malcolm McLaren telling him all about a great new band he’d discovered called the Sex Pistols. He requested that Reid move back to London to work with the Pistols on album artwork and promotional materials. After accepting McClaren’s offer Reid recalls moving back to London and ‘suddenly my work was in all of the newspapers before the Sex Pistols even had a record deal’.
Among the best of Reid’s iconic works with the Sex Pistols are ‘Fuck Forever’, ‘Anarchy in the UK’ and 'Never Trust a Punk'(pictured above and below).
The story of Reid’s life seems to get a bit blurry at the point where he claims that the lovely Dame Vivienne and Malcolm ripped him off when they opened their famed store on the King’s Road called ‘SEX, and used his prints on t-shirts and other merchandise’. As you might have expected after they parted ways the subjects of Reid’s work changed dramatically with him focusing several years (on and off) creating ‘repetitions of imagery and emblems’.

When the discussion had moved on from the Sex Pistols things got a bit confused and became quite philosophical and a bit too highbrow for me. At first I thought it was just me being a bit restless and grumpy (I blame the crutches!!), but the audience seemed a bit stumped to think of relevant questions so Jamie continued talking about his inspirations and motivations which is when I got lost.

Among his inspirations are druidism (an ancient Celtic religion where nature was worshipped), romantic poets such as Blake and the artist Jackson Pollock. Great insights were:
Who killed Bambi?
Colour is power- so always has a presence in his work. He believes in the healing powers of colour
Assertoric (a proposition in Aristotlean logic) lets him see the magic and order in things
So weird ramblings aside it was worth going to find out more about him and who he is. Recently he has done some great things such as his fashion collaboration with Comme des Garcon which launched in 2007 with his propoganda art plastered all over the exterior of Dover Street Market (see imagery below). Reid mentioned in the lecture that the Tate galleries have just purchased some of his early collages from his Punk series, so would be great to look out for them next time I visit the Tates. Whilst I haven’t written many positive things about Jamie Reid’s lecture I do really like his work and think he did great things for the progression of graphic design. I really like his early pre punk artwork as it was really relevant for the time period and admire that it had a political message. Another thing I really liked was his use of typography and that his best works were created largely by collage.

Images of Jamie Reid artwork courtesy of Google.