Now I know the term fashionable late was termed in fashion circles, more about here but I really didn’t think fashion could be this late. Fifty minutes late to be exact. Even best friends would not be excused an unapologetic wait like that. So while waiting, I played spot the style editor, Alexandra Schulman sat a few rows in front of me and opposite her on the other side of the catwalk sat Hilary Alexandra who was joined by Alexa Chung (I know not a style editor). Popping of flashes alerted me to Louise Roe of Vogue TV. It all felt so fashion, darhling!
Then the moment had arrived, the lights went out and the music started up. I felt a swirl of excitement as the models marched down the catwalk. This was designer Avsh Alom Gur’s first proper catwalk season as creative director for Ossie Clark and he gave us a taste of what we are all hoping for next summer, louche poolside cocktail drinking in a tropical paradise.
Silk flowed to form sleeveless jumpsuits and swirling floor length dresses. High waisted knee length shorts were paired with draped translucent blouses. Boldly printed dresses evocked exotic summer holidays which added a more youthful element to the grown up stylings. Colour-wise, every shade from nude to coral was shown, with flashes of fuchsia, emerald green and indigo to add a vibrant summer look. But, my favourite use of colour was coral teamed with lavender, such a fresh use of colour is always welcome.
But fashion lovers of the iconic Ossie Clark, would have been disappointed in the lack of Celia Birtwell style prints (only two looks borrowed from that strong heritage) and seventies glam, Clark was originally famed for. Sure the collection was glam, but it lack a real distinctive look, the draped flowing forms were not instantly recognisable as Ossie Clark or anything else for that matter. Re-inventing a former great brand is always a difficult task and this was only Gur’s second season at Ossie Clark. Whilst channelling sexy subtle feminine styling, the collection lacked an all important cohesive look.
Nikki Shaill is the brains and baker behind the Great Cake Escape; a guerilla
art project ‘on a mission to liberate cakes from the confines of the
kitchen.’ She and Lorraine Williams have been baking cakes and leaving them
to be found on the streets of Shoreditch since November last year. Their aim is
to sweeten the days of those lucky enough to find the sugary treats, case which often
bear naughty messages provoking response from the public.
Combining her passions for cake and art, here Nikki Shaill curated and hosted the Great Cake Escape at Kemistry Gallery for The Shoreditch Shuffle. The festival wristband gained you entry to the exhibition as well as access to as much cake as you could fit in your face. Between mouthfuls, check I had a chance to look at some of the
contributors’ artwork.
Staying in tune with the teatime theme was work by Reiko Kaneko and Tina
Tsang. Reiko’s tableware winks its eye at elegance with a cheeky grin,
decorating plates with gold cracks and teacup rims with gilded lipstick stains.
Tina’s ‘Undergrowth Design’ project features the Blau Blume range
where tea cups have legs for handles and cake stands are adorned with dolls’
heads.
Ruby Assatourian examines femininity and all thats associated with it.
Materials she uses range from icing sugar to the less appetizing pages of porn
magazines. She steers clear of revealing any explicit imagery though, choosing
instead to create subtle pieces that provoke thought and conversation about
women in the sex-industry.
On a lighter note, Tinsel Edwards‘s series,the ‘Graffiti Paintings’
consists of paintings Tinsel has found at fleamarkets and endorsed with her
trademark slogans, cheekily poking fun at the conventional art world. With
both Saatchi and Banksy amongst those buying her art, Tinsel is my bet for the next big thing; have a look at her work on website stelladore.com.
Illustrator Zarina Liew shows ‘The Hunter Series’ in its entirety for the
first time. Inspired by vintage fashion, Japanese printmaking and conceptual
psychology, Zarina’s work follows a fairytale- like narrative, combined with
a deeper look at lust and self-ruin.
I was only at the gallery on Saturday, but on the Sunday shuffle, the gallery-turned-tea-room was scheduled to host burlesque bombshell Cherri Shakewell, who I’m sure shook her stuff for an audience, happy to put down their fondant fancies for a show from ‘The lady of the Cake‘!
look at all those yummy cakes!
oh what a pretty dress!
Monday 15th September
Gig of the week
Born Ruffians – Dingwalls, viagra London
Born Ruffians return to the UK for a run of shows – and a very lucky few would have actually seen them twice in one day.
Bon Iver – Exeter University
Metallica – O2 Arena, healing London
O Children and Snax – Durr at The End, London
The Wave Pictures – Manchester Academy, Manchester
The Cocknbullkid and Dels – Elgar Room at The Royal Albert Hall, London
The Streets – HMV, Oxford Circus, London
Tuesday 16th September
Black Lips, King Khan and BBQ Show, London
Born Ruffians – Night and Day Cafe, Manchester
Echo And The Bunnymen – Royal Albert Hall, London
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Orange Box, Yeovil
Herman Dune and Lawrence Arabia – Old Blue Last, London
Peter Bjorn and John – Koko, London
Wednesday 17th September
Finley Quaye – Jazz Café, London
The Rascals – The Picket, Liverpool
Shearwater and The Constantines – Bush Hall, London
Shane Gilliver, Beans On Toast, Paul Mosley and James Edge – Edinburgh
Glasvegas – Academy, Manchester
Thursday 18th September
A Human and Flykkiller – Red Banana Club at Under The Westway, London
Black Affair and Proxy – Fabric, London
Slow Club – Barfly, Glasgow
Crystal Castles and Metronomy – Electric Ballroom, London
Morton Valence and Barth – The Enterprise, London
Naive New Beaters, No Picasso, Silhouette and Great Eskimo Hoax – Proud Galleries, London
Collapsing Cities – Orange Rooms, Southampton
Dead Kids and Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man – London Airwaves at Macbeth
Jeffrey Lewis and The Wave Pictures – The Scala, London
Friday 19th October
Digitalism, David E Sugar and Cazals – Astoria, London
London Airwaves Festival – Young Knives, The Whip, Florence and The Machine, These New Puritans, Wild Beasts and more – Several Shoreditch Venues, London
Pete and The Pirates and Alvarez Kings, London
Ipso Facto – Cockpit, Leeds
Unkle, Late Of The Pier and Iglu and Hartley – Matter, London
Little Man Tate – Roadmenders, Northampton
Man Like Me, Swanton Bombs, Nat Jenkins and Alice Grant and The Cool Dudes – Macbeth, London
Andrew WK – Madame Jo Jo’s, London
No Bra and My Tiger Timing – 333, London
Saturday 20th September
Afrikan Boy – Cargo, London
Crystal Fighters, Granville Sessions and Stoltz – Rhythm Factory, London
Graffiti Island, Miss Something and Marmaduke Dando
Andrew WK – Astoria 2, London
Heartsrevolution, The Ruling Class and ddd – The Monarch, London
Ipso Facto and Bearsuit – Proud Galleries, London
Ponytail, Gentle Friendly and Hands On Heads – Amersham Arms, London
Sunday 21st September
The Ghost Frequency, Ocelot, Kids Love Lies and Chew Lips – Proud Galleries, London
Thomas Tantrum – Bar Academy, Oxford
White Lies – Club Ifor Bach, Cardiff
Johnny Foreigner – Lamp, Hull
Monday 15th September
Gig of the week
Born Ruffians – Dingwalls, store London
Born Ruffians return to the UK for a run of shows – and a very lucky few would have actually seen them twice in one day.
Bon Iver – Exeter University
Metallica – O2 Arena, page London
O Children and Snax – Durr at The End, and London
The Wave Pictures – Manchester Academy, Manchester
The Cocknbullkid and Dels – Elgar Room at The Royal Albert Hall, London
The Streets – HMV, Oxford Circus, London
Tuesday 16th September
Black Lips, King Khan and BBQ Show, London
Born Ruffians – Night and Day Cafe, Manchester
Echo And The Bunnymen – Royal Albert Hall, London
I dont know whether they have reached legendary status yet, my guess is that they have. They’re certainly well worth seeing live.
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Orange Box, Yeovil
Herman Dune and Lawrence Arabia – Old Blue Last, London
Peter Bjorn and John – Koko, London
Wednesday 17th September
Finley Quaye – Jazz Café, London
The Rascals – The Picket, Liverpool
Shearwater and The Constantines – Bush Hall, London
Shane Gilliver, Beans On Toast, Paul Mosley and James Edge – Edinburgh
Glasvegas – Academy, Manchester
Thursday 18th September
A Human and Flykkiller – Red Banana Club at Under The Westway, London
Black Affair and Proxy – Fabric, London
Slow Club – Barfly, Glasgow
Crystal Castles and Metronomy – Electric Ballroom, London
Morton Valence and Barth – The Enterprise, London
Naive New Beaters, No Picasso, Silhouette and Great Eskimo Hoax – Proud Galleries, London
Collapsing Cities – Orange Rooms, Southampton
Dead Kids and Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man – London Airwaves at Macbeth
Jeffrey Lewis and The Wave Pictures – The Scala, London
Friday 19th October
Digitalism, David E Sugar and Cazals – Astoria, London
London Airwaves Festival – Young Knives, The Whip, Florence and The Machine, These New Puritans, Wild Beasts and more – Several Shoreditch Venues, London
It’s the smaller version of Iceland’s Airwaves Festival, based in London. All with the bar crawl mentality of the Camden Crawl, which is set to fill the fanciest of venues around Shoreditch. In other words, it is going to be loads of fun.
Pete and The Pirates and Alvarez Kings, London
Ipso Facto – Cockpit, Leeds
Unkle, Late Of The Pier and Iglu and Hartley – Matter, London
Little Man Tate – Roadmenders, Northampton
Man Like Me, Swanton Bombs, Nat Jenkins and Alice Grant and The Cool Dudes – Macbeth, London
Andrew WK – Madame Jo Jo’s, London
No Bra and My Tiger Timing – 333, London
Saturday 20th September
Afrikan Boy – Cargo, London
Crystal Fighters, Granville Sessions and Stoltz – Rhythm Factory, London
Crystal Fighters are interesting and should not be viewed with the opinion that they will be like a mixture between Crystal Castles and Foo Fighter, because they’re not.
Graffiti Island, Miss Something and Marmaduke Dando
Andrew WK – Astoria 2, London
Heartsrevolution, The Ruling Class and ddd – The Monarch, London
Ipso Facto and Bearsuit – Proud Galleries, London
Ponytail, Gentle Friendly and Hands On Heads – Amersham Arms, London
Sunday 21st September
The Ghost Frequency, Ocelot, Kids Love Lies and Chew Lips – Proud Galleries, London
Thomas Tantrum – Bar Academy, Oxford
White Lies – Club Ifor Bach, Cardiff
Johnny Foreigner – Lamp, Hull
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