Here at the Amelia’s Magazine HQ we are experiencing a surge of competitive spirit (making up for those miserable schoolday afternoons stood around in rugby shorts in the rain – now that’s certainly not fashion) and featuring our second competition of the week. This time it’s provided by Oxfam, recipe remedy tying in with their new store Oxfam DIY on Camden High Street , which opened its doors on June 6th and is being touted as a bespoke fashion destination, where the shop asks its customers to let loose their inner creative.
With the recent arrival of the new TRAID store, Camden is fast becoming a recyclarama heaven – just take a look at the pictures of this spangly new (yet old) space.
Oxfam DIY is also the organisation’s new online fashion resource and is pretty damn rad, with handy tips for the fashion beginner, with step by step guides to customising shoes and making your own jumpsuits, to name a few.
Now, to the serious stuff. For the competitition, entrants are invited to use materials from their own wardrobe or an Oxfam store and submit a photo of their customised item, modelled by themselves or a friend, to the competition page on Flickr. The winning designer will have a one-of-a-kind item created especially for them by super stylist Mrs Jones.
The top five shortlisted designs will also be featured on the Oxfam DIY website, and is more than anything a chance to get your work out there and noticed. Mrs Jones recently styled a photo shoot featuring Joe Public (gasp! Get back) modelling unique looks created entirely using garments from Oxfam’s recycling facility, Wastesaver.
She was also responsible for Kylie’s white catsuit from the video for ‘Can’t Get You Out of my Head’ and if that’s not an incentive to get your creations down there, I don’t know what is. Heavens! You could get a catsuit of your very own, taking singing in your bedroom with a hairbrush to an astronomical new level.
For inspiration and information on how to enter visit www.oxfam.org.uk/DIY. Entries close on July 15th. Come on boys and girls – let’s play ball.
Peaches n’ Cari goes together like Peaches n’ Cream.
Strolling through Brick Lane this previous Saturday, buy the baking sunshine tried to tempt me to cast aside my plans and do what most Londoners were doing; sprawling, pill lazing, cialis 40mg diving into lidos and lounging in parks. But I was not to be deterred. I had a date with Peaches and I intended to keep it.
Oh, and when I say ‘date’, let me clarify that she was being shared with around 50 excited fans, who clamoured for her attention as she held court in Amelia’s Magazine’s favourite East End jewellery shop, Tatty Devine. For those who need reminding of the teaches of Peaches, this avante garde, post feminist provocateur is back with a new album, “I Feel Cream” doing what she does best; pushing boundries and challenging tired gender stereotypes in her own inimitable manner. Much more than just a singer, she is both a performance artist and social commentator – and funny as hell with it. (Any doubters can refer to her 2006 album Impeach My Bush for proof)
As befits such a multifaceted talent, those who turned out to spend their afternoon with Peaches were a cross-generational bunch. Many were fans, some were friends, and Peaches was pleased to see them all. Hugging the girls, posing happily for photos, chatting away about topics that most female singers would shy away from (Case in point, a proud mother approached with her twelve year old daughter and announced “We love your body hair!” Explaining that she is encouraging her daughter to embrace all aspects of her body, Peaches cheered along and threw up her arms in solidarity. “Yay for body hair!” she exclaimed.) Surveying the rambunctious scene, I was curious to see how this had all come about. “I’m good friends with the girls at Tatty Devine” she explained, “And this is where my hairdresser, Charlie Le Mindu, who has created my most recent hairstyle, and designed the hair earrings that I am wearing now has his pop up salon.” (See the below photos for the hairstyle in action and please excuse the pose!)
Noting that many people around us seemed to know her personally, I asked if she knew London well. “Absolutely, I have lots of friends here, and I recorded part of my new album in London last year, so it’s nice to catch up with everyone.” Wanting to discover more about her new album “I Feel Cream” which has remained in the ‘most played tracks’ on my ipod for a couple of weeks, we discussed the sound and production of the songs. Revealing that she had collaborated with Simian Mobile Disco and Soulwax for part of the album, she explained why it was something of a new direction for her. “For this album, we didn’t use any guitars. I was curious to see how that would sound, and wanted to make it more dancefloor electronica; I am really pleased about how it has turned out.”
Turning to another aspect of the afternoon, which saw droves of customers handing over cash in exchange for a Peaches designed necklace (which yours truly just had to have), she revealed it’s inspiration. “A friend of mine had made me a belt in this exact lettering. She had designed the letters to look like Def Leppard‘s logo for their albums”.
After getting a couple of photos out of her, we chatted about upcoming festivals that she is playing, including Benicassim where I will be throwing myself around in the sun scorched mosh pit, so I made a definite date to watch her performance. Then it was time to leave her to her friends and fans, so I bid farewell to her. It was only fair – everyone wants to get the Teaches of Peaches, and I can see why.
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