Art-iculate: Simeon Farrar's Of Rainbows and Halos

Last weekend I went down to the heart of London’s Carnaby district to view the fantastic new art installation by esteemed designer and established painter Simeon Farrar. Having caused quite the stir with his LFW stand back in September, Farrar displayed a rainbow paint splattered shed with an endearing cloud covered roof to embody the theme for his SS12 collection, Great British Weather.

Best known for his iconic portraits of Kate Mouse (of course based on supermodel Kate Moss), which get updated each season (this time with a Ziggy Stardust vibe), Farrar puts his other creative streak to good use, decorating his garments with his trademark iconoclastic prints.

In this new exhibition entitled Of Rainbows and Halos, Farrar take his magical shed into a kooky basement, where it is placed alongside dozens of works which utilise a variety of media; from screen printed t-shirts and paintings to lino prints on paper and what appear to be resin casts of bottles.

One of the most versatile and colourful artists I’ve had the pleasure to meet, Farrar continues his exploration of the dire British summer with panache and fervour, giving fans and shoppers alike the opportunity to explore his perspective.

With new works being added to the exhibition during its duration and old ones taken away, Farrar builds up a rapport with his visitors, keeping them engaged and leaving them wanting more – a canny move which has led to a near sell-out show.

An innovative use of an awkward space, Farrar’s wit and creativity come to the fore and this really is a musty-see exhibition.

Of Rainbows and Halos is showing at The Basement Gallery, 10 Newburgh Street until tomorrow!!

Mossy pouts for Topshop!

I'm still undecided on what I think about Ms Moss' new advertising campaign for her eponymous SS10 Topshop collection. I like the music, but am not so convinced about all the pouting and retro dance moves... should she stick to the day job?! I do however like that it was shot by SHOWstudio founder/director Nick Knight.

Supermodel Kate Models Malaria Net Dress in aid of Sport Relief

Supermodel and fashion icon Kate Moss has shown her support for the Sport Relief 2010 campaign by modelling an intricate one-off dress designed exclusively for Sport Relief by one of the UK's established young designers; William Tempest.

With the unique dress being made partly from recycled mosquito nets, to highlight Sport Relief’s commitment to tackling malaria, this is one ettical design that will hopefully raise a lot of money for a great cause! Both the supermodel and the designer are urging the UK public to get involved and raise money for Sport Relief which could be spent on a life saving fabric you won’t see on the catwalk – long-lasting, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, one of the easiest and most cost-effective methods of preventing the spread of malaria.

The dress has been sculptured and corseted in William Tempest’s signature style with individual panels sewn together for a mosaic effect inspired by architecture set against the skyline - shimmering in the sun.

Of her involvement Moss said: “I was shocked to hear that one child dies from malaria in Africa every 30 seconds, that’s why I was happy to be involved in this important project for Sport Relief. William Tempest’s dress, which incorporates recycled malaria nets is absolutely gorgeous, I loved wearing it and working with William. It’s a great way of raising awareness of the seriousness of malaria, a disease which is both preventable and treatable. Donating just £5 can pay for a net which helps protect from potentially fatal mosquito bites that spread malaria.”

Tempest added: “I’m really proud and excited to have designed a dress for Sport Relief with the serious message of highlighting the power of the humble mosquito net as a lifesaving tool against malaria.To help raise awareness I designed a structured dress which incorporates layers of a malaria net in panels. Kate looks amazing in the dress and I hope its auction will raise lots of money and bring awareness to such a great cause."

To find out more about how you can help visit the official Sportrelief website.

Obligatory LOVE post

There's nothing more I dislike than people just slagging things off for the sake of it, or the complete opposite - claiming to love something just to jump on the bandwagon. So I guess I'm not too sure which category this post and my opinion fall into. I'll be the first to admit that I don't like LOVE magazine, although I'll also be the first to admit I didn't quite read every page of the Beth Ditto attention-grabbing debut – mainly because every other page was an advert. The second issue I did read in its entirety.

Long have I been a fan of Katie Grand’s work - as I don’t think anyone can deny that during the 90s it was iconic to say the least – however I’m of the opinion that Pop is actually thriving since Dasha Zhukova took the helm, and well LOVE has just failed to make an impression on me – yet. I was divided over the Beth Ditto cover as whilst I’m a feminist and huge champion of Beth Ditto (if only there were more women like her), I’m not sure I was completely comfortable about her bold image being used to sell magazines. Whilst I’m entirely sure Ditto can stand up for herself, something about it just sat uneasily with me and I couldn’t help but feel she was being exploited.

Imagery throughout courtesy of LOVE.

Now on the 3rd issue, ‘Fashion Icon’, LOVE is aiming to grab yet more headlines by sticking more naked bodies on the cover. Unlike last time they’re not attempting to champion the ‘average’ woman, instead choosing eight of the most beautiful and waxed women known to man, for us to objectify*. The fact that they’ve bothered to include each of the supermodels stats next to their naked airbrushed image, is just a bit crass. I feel it’s highly unnecessary and just cheap – if I wanted to know their stats I’d check with their model agencies.

Speaking of the issue in question editor-in-chief Katie Grand says: "We did this to show how much they differed physically from one another, which is why we also printed their measurements."

I’m hoping you’ll agree with me in that this is a great example of hypocritical, moronically charged hype that people seem to be lapping up! For me this bullshit is disappointing as quite frankly I expect more. Actually writing this now I’m annoyed with myself as whatever LOVE’s stupid plan, its working as I’m sitting here giving it column inches. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to express an opinion these days without causing mass offence or inadvertently publicizing something bad... Oh the woes of a blogger!

*The eight models are: Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Lara Stone, Daria Werbowy, Natalia Vodianova, Kristen McMenamy, Amber Valletta and Jeneil Williams.

All 'Fashion Icon' covers shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot.

Dress Me Up at Topshop- A-lister’s donate their dresses for party season hire and post Christmas auction

Image courtesy of Topshop website.

I think I’m a little late on this, but as it’s for a good cause I don’t mind being fashionably late! For 10 days (26th- 6th Dec) only Topshop are inviting shoppers to go into their Flagship Oxford Circus store to try on dresses donated by some of the hottest A-list celebrities of the moment. Dresses will be available for hire through the party season (7th- 23rd December). Dresses on offer include come from some of the most fabulous A-lister’s wardrobes including; Scarlett Johansson, Dita Von Teese, Freida Pinto and Kate Moss.
Prices start at £40, which is a bargain and with all of the money going straight to both Age Concern and Help the Aged. I honestly can’t think of a better way to wow your colleagues at the office Christmas party!!

Ellen von Unwerth at the Michael Hoppen Gallery

On Friday I popped down to the Michael Hoppen Gallery en route to the V&A to see the new Ellen von Unwerth exhibition ‘Fräulien’, which accompanies a new Taschen limited edition monograph. The exhibition features 20 of Ellen’s favourites and includes some previously unseen images from the past 15 years making it very exciting indeed.

The exhibition and monograph celebrate female icons in provocative poses: Claudia Schiffer, Natalie Portman, Kate Moss, Britney Spears, Eva Mendes, Dita von Teese, and Eva Green among many others.

As a big fan of Ellen’s body of work personal highlights of the exhibition included huge scale prints of a young Kate Moss pictured squatting beside an open fridge drinking milk provocatively with a cucumber poking out of her shopping bag. What I love about this image is the wit and cheeky playfulness that shines through.

Another of the Supermodel set also featured Claudia Schiffer. Whilst this is a simple portrait of Claudia I loved the graininess of the image for two reasons. Firstly it makes her look more curvaceous as the line of her body is blurred and secondly, it ages the image making it reminiscent to me of a young Brigitte Bardot or Ursula Andress.

All in all a great little exhibition which I feel captures the essence of why Ellen von Unwerth is such a widely renowned female subject photographer perfectly. For me she is a genius at juxtaposing strong female sexuality with this unique sense of vulnerability wrapped up in the form of a fashion image. I love that her subjects are never objectified and are instead captured dominating the image and having fun.

The only negative thing is that if you’re hoping to find someone on hand to ask questions or discuss the work with don’t bother visiting the Michael Hoppen gallery as the staff were very dismissive and rather rude. Very strange behaviour seeing that all the prints in the exhibition are on sale, you’d think they’d be jumping on everyone who walked through the door. Perhaps I just don’t belong in Chelsea?!

This exhibition is free and is showing until 21st November.

SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution at Somerset House

Earlier today I wandered down to Somerset House to see the SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution exhibition. I figured as I was having lunch with a certain sister on the Strand it made sense to pop in to while away my afternoon, and as luck would have it Somerset House also doubled up as a lovely shelter from the rain. Faced with a £5 entrance fee I was pleasantly surprised, as I was expecting to pay in excess of £10, but at the same time I was a tad sceptical that there wouldn’t be enough on display to keep me entertained for my money. To say that I was wrong would be an understatement and I can honestly say that this exhibition was a real treat. If you’re interested in fashion and are looking for an exhibition to get lost in- then this one is for you. I actually almost made myself late for drinks with H this evening as I completely lost track of time and spent in excess of two hours in there which is a record, even for me.

SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution, charts this rise of the iconic site from its creation in 2000 and was bursting with installations of some of the best videos, podcasts, interviews and most importantly their live projects. Split over two levels, as I entered I was greeted with a room comprised entirely of mirrors that were designed to make each person entering ‘really’ look at their reflection. Luckily as I entered there were two teenagers excitedly bounding around taking photos of themselves, so in order not to spoil their picture (yeah, right) I snuck through avoiding my reflection at all costs. As I entered the next room I was faced with the giant 3-D sculpture of Naomi Campbell. As impressive and imposing as it was I was a bit scared of saying anything near it as I knew that there were hidden microphones, however in hindsight it would have been good to get involved.

For me there were many personal highlights in this exhibition. I think the best was watching a loop of the project ‘More Beautiful Women’ which pays homage to Andy Warhol’s ‘Thirteen Most Beautiful Women’ screen tests of 1964. It’s such a simple idea where Nick Knight invited several iconic models from the 1960’s through to the present day and asked them to stand in front of a video camera for two minutes. Models involved were Twiggy, Marie Helvin, Kate Moss, Liberty Ross, Stella Tennant and Gisele to name but a few. The best one that I saw was that of Stephanie Seymour who looked rather bored throughout and remarked ‘This is the longest two minutes of my life!’ which I thought was absolutely hilarious!

Another project I really enjoyed, and regretfully was unaware of until today was the 2004 collaboration between Brad Pitt and SHOWstudio titled ‘Freedom of Love’. The short film showed Pitt frantically painting over an enlarged passport sized photograph of himself adding in captions and blurbs, whilst reciting Breton’s sixty line poem of the same name. I thought this was really original and something I would never have expected to see within this exhibition, and was surprised that Brad Pitt was the subject. In all honesty I wouldn’t have thought he’d be game for something like this- which just goes to show that you or at least I shouldn’t always judge celebrities.

Near the end of the exhibition by the gift shop there was a small section dedicated to Fashion Film, which was comprised of a reel of 16 short films created for SHOWstudio. My favourite one was titled ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’ and saw a topless and rather energetic Kate Moss doing some sort of frantic dancing which was quite punky and saw her head banging. I really enjoyed this as I feel it showed much more of her personality than you would usually see in a still image and also had a funny moment at the end where she started ripping the red paper roll background and gets so into it that she suddenly drops, and well it was one of those classic buckle moments that for me makes her even more endearing... Watch it now!

Any fans of SHOWstudio.com would absolutely love this exhibition as it was great to see highlights of the work together in one place, but most importantly it was humbling to see how fashion in general has progressed during this past decade which I feel can partly be credited to Nick Knight, the wealth of contributors and of course the unsung heroes that are the SHOWstudio team. Everyone and anyone will comment on the wonders of technology and how its advancements have done so much for many industries, but I truly believe fashion is a completely different ball game to what it was ten years ago when SHOWstudio.com was a mere idea.

I feel that as a keen fashion enthusiast and frequent visitor of SHOWstudio.com even I didn’t realise until seeing it laid out tangibly before me, just how much this project has achieved to date. It has really pushed the boundaries of what is possible and helped guide fashion into the mainstream sphere by applying and manipulating all the modern technologies to bring it to the masses, most importantly looking forward to new and innovative ways to make fashion accessible to anyone and everyone who has even the slightest interest.

Whilst any of the things on display (bar the garments) can be viewed (on a smaller scale) on the SHOWstudio.com website, it was definitely a whole other experience seeing everything collated together on such a large scale. The best thing I thought about the exhibition, and is coincidentally the primary reason I would urge people to visit; is the interactive element that is impossible to get from our computers at home. This exhibition truly stimulated my brain and several senses as there was so much to see, hear and touch, that if anything it was almost overwhelming. I realise until I’ve been getting so excited writing about it, but I honestly believe that this is the best exhibition I’ve been to so far this year, hands down. Take a look at some of the extra pics...

SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution is running until 20 December.

Kate Moss for Topshop FW09 collection

For decades I have long been a fan of the legend that is Kate Moss. I have always shied away from writing about her in the past as I was so enamoured with her in my youth that even now I’m tempted to write a gushing essay about not only her beauty, but the tangible presence that I feel as a fashion lover, enthusiast and consumer- she brings to each and every one of her shoots, which is why I feel that she is a British style icon who will always be a household name.

My love for Kate Moss aside, originally I was sceptical about her collaboration with Topshop back in 2007, but after watching each collection from a safe distance I feel that she has gone from strength to strength. What started as a fashion collaboration not more than two and a half years ago has seen one of the biggest names in fashion partner with one of the UK’s leading high street retailers, Topshop. It is also Kate’s widely publicised friendship with Topshop owner and retail guru Sir Phillip Green that has caused so much media attention and endless speculation as to what they will produce together in the future.

Today sees Kate launch her 11th- yes 11th collection for Topshop and it is by far the best. Great for any British woman aspiring to have the laissez-faire style and nonchalance of Britain’s most celebrated supermodel. As with every collection, Kate has drawn upon the eclectic style that she has become famed for and has cited her extensive wardrobe as a source of inspiration for her range.

When it was first disclosed that Kate was using her own wardrobe as a base for her designs I like most people wrote her off and waxed lyrical about models trying to be designers without the intrinsic skills of both design and cut which are honed to perfection by professional designers who have learnt their craft. However when you actually read or see interviews with Kate and hear her referencing some of her favourite garments, they are mostly one off pieces that are from thrift stores or vintage shops which encapsulate the fashion and spirit of the 20th Century throughout the decades. Taking this into consideration I believe that Kate is actually doing something really great for British fashion and let’s face it our failing high streets. It would have been all too easy for Kate to create a diffusion line with one of her celeb fashion friends such as Stella McCartney or Karl Lagerfeld, so for her to team up with such a renowned and well loved British store to bring great pieces to the masses is something which cannot be snubbed.
For the highly anticipated new collection Kate offers high voltage glamour at high street prices. Interestingly Kate references the ‘flamboyant ‘80s’ as her inspiration for the collection; however as a huge fan of the 1940s I would say that the glamour depicted is more reminiscent of the Noir heroine. From the beautifully iconic black and white campaign photography you get the sense that there is more to this collection and that Kate is playing the role of heroine in her own film. For example my favourite of the campaign images is that of Kate in the Jacquard bandeau dress in gold (pictured left). This is a very evocative image as it bears a striking resemblance to the iconic scene in Gilda (1946) where Rita Hayworth is performing a striptease in a Buenos Aires casino bar.

Brimming with vintage inspiration Kate uses a variety of fabrics from chiffon, faux fur and wool to create a range which brims with elegance, sophistication and sexiness. Key pieces include the delightful Butterfly dress, which retails at £65.00 and the tribal looking Butterfly long scarf which retails at £40.00 (pictured left).

My favourite piece from the collection is the limited edition Double Layer dress (pictured right). For me this £120.00 dress is a stand out piece inspired by the late 1920s-30s and features beautifully constructed beading on the outer slip of the dress. For me this is a runaway winner as it reminds me very much of the fashions described by one of my favourite authors F.Scott Fitzgerald in his 1926 novel ‘the Great Gatsby’, which could well have been the inspiration as I know (very ashamedly) that Kate also rates Fitzgerald among her favourite authors.
The new collection by Kate Moss in on sale today!

All imagery courtesy of Topshop.com.