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Amelia’s Magazine | Fashion on Film: L’Amour Fou

Yves Saint Laurent by Krister Selin

The relationship between a fashion designer and his business manager-cum-lover isn’t a new concept to cinema. Anybody who has seen Valentino: The Last Emperor will have already witnessed the trials and tribulations when two men – one a rare, creative genius, the other a businessman, have to work together on a daily basis for fifty consecutive years.

Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge by Karolina Burdon

L’Amour Fou is a little different, however. For starters, where The Last Emperor was a celebration of Valentino‘s illustrious career, L’Amour Fou doubles as a celebration of Yves Saint Laurent‘s life. This film is more of a romantic tribute to the designer through the eyes of his partner, Pierre Berge.

Yves Saint Laurent A/W 1965 – the ‘Mondrian‘ dress – by Cruz

From the opening credits, I was hooked. An homage to Yves‘ ‘Love‘ cards that he designed and produced for staff (many on display at the Majorelle Gardens, Marrakech), flashes of colour and geometric shapes flood the screen. I saw the film at the ICA, and its diminutive cinema with old fashion red velour seats and dusty projector make the experience even more apt.

Yves Saint Laurent at his final show by Mitika Chohan

When the title sequence has rolled, we see Yves at a press conference declaring his resignation, juxtaposed with Berge‘s touching eulogy at Saint Laurent‘s funeral. We’re only about 6 minutes into the film here, and already I’m in pieces.

Yves Saint Laurent at Dior by Cruz

The film features archival footage of Yves Saint Laurent, from his days at Dior through to his greatest collections during the 1970s and 1980s, pieced together by Pierre‘s narration. The film skips between Yves Saint Laurent the fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent the art collector, and Yves Saint Laurent the tempestuous lover. The film culminates with the dramatic, poignant and record-breaking art auction of 2009 in which Yves and Pierre‘s entire art collection was auctioned for AIDS charities.

Yves Saint Laurent Wedding Dress S/S 1999 by Janneke de Jong

The film explores the early relationship between the pair – they met at Christian Dior‘s funeral and it was pretty much love at first sight. You can tell by how Pierre talks about Yves that this was not an easy relationship. Yves‘ crippling depression, substance abuse, morbid insecurities and changeable state of mind have taken their toll on ol’ Berge. But through all this, a glint in his eyes remains, as his relates countless stories about one of the world’s greatest, creative men.

Yves Saint Laurent for Zizi Jeanmaire by Joana Faria

Amidst the drama of the relationship, fashion fans won’t be disappointed. The film features never-before-seen photographs of Yves at Dior, adjusting hemlines and admiring his creations on models. There’s film footage of his most celebrated collections, from bridal wear to Russian-inspired collections in the mid-seventies. We see Zizi Jeanmaire dancing in one of Yves’ most spectacular creations made of feathers.

Opium advert (1977) by Katrina Conquista

Wondrous footage of the original Opium ad is one of the film’s many highlights – and Berge describes how controversial this was; not so much the advert but the name (the controversial adverts would follow, with Sophie Dahl naked and spread eagle for Opium and the first ever fully naked man in a print advertisement for M7). The irony, as Berge describes, was that Yves selected a name with a narcotic reference, when it would be alcohol and drugs that would almost destroy their relationship. Berge talks about this at length, and how Yves would only ever be happy moments after a show; Berge would have to wait another six months to witness that same level of happiness.

Opium advert (2000) featuring a naked Sophie Dahl by Katrina Conquista

But it is the couple’s love of art that dominates this film. After Yves‘ death, Berge decided to sell the collection that they had tirelessly put together over twenty years. Why? Because, after Yves‘ death, ‘the collection had lost the greater part of its significance.’ There are less sombre anecdotes in the film: ‘When Yves designed the Mondrian dress, we never dreamt that one day we would own one,’ Berge says with a smile.

Yves Saint Laurent A/W 1965 – the ‘Mondrian‘ dress – by Mitika Chohan

And so at the end of the film, during the auction, we see Pierre sitting backstage clapping his hands and marvelling at the record-breaking sales prices. Finally, he’s the last to leave the auction and we see him walking down the stairs of the Grand Palais. It’s a poignant ending to a pretty poignant film, and there’s something a bit sinister about it that I couldn’t really put my finger on – the endless shots of empty rooms? Christies‘ employees, the ‘undertakers of art’, boxing up paintings? Berge‘s willingness to openly discuss every facet of Yves’ personality, at the risk of seeming a little bitter? I’m not sure. But I loved it, nonetheless. It’s a sombre tribute, but a colourful one.

Written by Matt Bramford on Monday November 21st, 2011 6:47 pm

Categories ,AIDS, ,art, ,Christian Dior, ,Cruz, ,Dior, ,fashion, ,film, ,france, ,ica, ,illustration, ,Janneke de Jong, ,Joana Faria, ,Karolina Burdon, ,Katrina Conquista, ,Krister Selin, ,L’Amour Fou, ,M7, ,Majorelle Gardens, ,Marrakech, ,Mondrian, ,Opium, ,paris, ,Pierre Berge, ,Pierre Thoretton, ,review, ,Russia!, ,The Last Emperor, ,Valentino, ,Yves Saint Laurent, ,Zizi Jeanmaire

Amelia’s Magazine | Fountain of Youth: A profile on photographer Lucia Pang

Looking at the work of Lucia Pang will no doubt bring you to the conclusion that this photographer has an incredible eye and talent. When I tell you in earnest, this that she is a mere fifteen years old, you might spit up your tea upon the screen and sit with your mouth agape for five minutes or so. That’s what I did.

Trying to remember what I was doing at 15 didn’t produce much, so I can assume I was producing nothing of importance aside from a colourful disciplinary record at school on account of my aptitude for building bombs out of the Science cupboard supplies. Lucia Pang, however, who was born and lives in Australia is fast producing a portfolio of work that could rival her older and professional contemporaries. It’s pretty exciting to think what this girl is going to be doing in ten years time.

But perhaps what makes these photographs so remarkable is her youth. Girls floating in rivers, dancing in the sunlight and playing in the forest authentically captures the spirit of being a young teenager, enamoured with the simple pleasures of life. Which isn’t meant at all to be patronising, fashion photographers are constantly on a quest to capture the abundance of youth and failing for the inherent lack of authenticity in their work, whereas for Lucia Pang, none of her photographs appear to be contrived or pre-meditated. The scenes unfold organically. Technically, the work is flawless which is all down to a prodigal talent on behalf of the photographer.

“I grew in Australia in a beautiful environment and I was surrounded by inspiring scenery. Come to think of it, I’m quite lucky to have places that will satisfy my photographic thirst.” Lucia tells me by email. “I loved the idea of art when I was younger. I like the fact that you could express any emotion without the use of words and that interested me. I’ve had a camera around my neck for a while before I got into photography seriously.”

For someone who is already so proficient, what does Pang want to do next? “In the future, I want to inspire lots and lots of people to do what they love. I want them to hopefully turn to my photographs and think they can achieve their dreams too. I want to shoot for various labels and companies but I’m still young. I dream a lot. Right now, I’m just enjoying what I do.”

Lucia’s website can be found here

Written by Amica Lane on Tuesday April 6th, 2010 7:55 am

Categories ,australia, ,fashion, ,landscape, ,lucia pang, ,photography, ,teenagers, ,water

Amelia’s Magazine | Free Range Art & Design Show 2013: Middlesex University Fine Art, Fashion, FDSP & Photography Review

Strange and wonderful prints by Tomas Soltonas. Futuroid
Futuroid by Tomas Soltonas.

Middlesex University took over the upper floors of the Truman Brewery a few weeks ago to display the work of all their graduating creative arts students in one fell swoop, and I went along to discover the best of the crop. Here’s what caught my eye from fine art, fashion and photography.

Esther Evans Middlesex
This Memphis-tastic sculpture is by Esther Evans in Fine Art – I think it’s a commentary on gender stereotypes, but I like it purely from an aesthetic point of view. Call me shallow, but hey, I respond to curvy pink shapes (whoops, there I go following my gender’s supposed predispositions)

Spooky skull teddy installation by Danielle Crawford-Lugay
Spooky skull-faced teddy was part of an installation by Danielle Crawford-Lugay – again, not sure what it meant, but it was certainly eye-catching.

Faces from Haggerston Estate by Rosie Fowler
These backlit faces from a Haggerston Estate were made into an intriguing installation by Rosie Fowler.

Joshua Pageb
There’s always someone being clever with china in a Chapman-stylee at the Free Range Shows – this year fine artist Joshua Page took on the mantle with this traditional icon being afforded a large penis.

Colourful intarsia knitwear by abbie ridler
Knitwear by Abbie Ridler.

I sadly missed the fashion show (wrong time, again) and instead perused a gallery of wooden stands adorned with look book photos of the graduating designer’s collections, some accompanied by samples of fabrics. The photographs were all beautiful and promoted the clothes in an exciting and contemporary way, but there were no clues as to who had created which garments, and no look books on display. What a shame, since for many visitors this would have been the only place they would have seen the student’s work. Here are snapshots of two students’ collections which I know well because I converse with them on instagram – both are knitwear students who are destined for great things.

Kirsty Anderton‘s amazing oversized skull jumper will be familiar to those who have read my coverage of the internal Middlesex fashion show, and I was excited to see that she had been inspired by the floral headdress I made a couple of weeks ago (and posted on instagram), adorning some of her catwalk models with similar flowers. (I am not imagining this by the way, she left a comment saying as much!) Her close friend Abbie Ridler (see above) is equally talented, this time creating colourful intarsia knitwear for men who like lairy clothing (an increasingly common sight, I think you’ll agree).

Middlesex Fashion Promotion
Last year FDSP had a great website, but this year I cannot find anything similar to showcase the students’ work – Fashion, Design, Styling and Promotion is a constantly changing discipline, which was reflected in the variety of work that was on display in the Truman Brewery. I was drawn to a few very different projects, including the interesting installation above.

Jessica Easting Middlesex
This #hashtag artwork by Jessica Easting would be ideal for a cool brand of some kind: product, clothing, anything really!

Eleanor Vait has a thing for glasses: displaying this intriguing sculpture alongside photographs of girls, in glasses. No idea what it means but I like it.

Brunswick Centre by Jack Lee
Free Range shows 2013-jack lee
Middlesex photography degree produces some excellent work – these portraits of residents of London’s Brunswick Centre shot by Jack Lee are all posed against the backdrop of the building’s instantly recognisable brutalist windows. Shooting all your portraits in the same position is an idea that never gets old, and in this case serves to highlight the huge differences between each resident’s abode.

Part robot part human with a serious 80s bent. By Tomas Soltonas at #middlesex
Clipboard head, by Tomas Soltonas
My favourite artworks by far were this Futuroid series of strange and wonderful prints by Tomas Soltonas. These collages successfully merge portrait photography with slabs of technology to disturbing effect. One Robert Palmer-esque lady appears part robot part human, and this Clipboard head, looks a bit like a Dr Who baddie in the making, no?

Check out my review of Middlesex University illustration and graphic design graduates here and my review of Middlesex University jewellery BA here. If you are graduating this year don’t forget to check out Amelia’s Award, in collaboration with the Secret Emporium. Enter your details and you could be in with a chance to kick start your creative career by receiving a scholarship worth £495 to sell your wares at Wilderness Festival this summer. Deadline: 2nd July 2013.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Saturday June 22nd, 2013 8:58 am

Categories ,2013, ,Abbie Ridler, ,Brunswick Centre, ,Chapman, ,Danielle Crawford-Lugay, ,Dr Who, ,Eleanor Vait, ,Esther Evans, ,fashion, ,Fashion Design Styling and Promotion, ,FDSP, ,Fine Art, ,Free Range Art and Design Show, ,Futuroid, ,Haggerston Estate, ,hashtag, ,Jack Lee, ,Jessica Easting, ,Joshua Page, ,Kirsty Anderton, ,Memphis, ,middlesex university, ,review, ,Robert Palmer, ,Rosie Fowler, ,Tomas Soltonas, ,Truman Brewery

Amelia’s Magazine | Ctrl.Alt.Shift – Current Affairs & a Double Shot of Tequila

When Owen Pallett, pharmacy the man behind the erstwhile Final Fantasy moniker, announced in December 2009 that he was abandoning the name in favour of recording under his birth name, it came not without a sigh of relief – for years the slightly-embarrassing recording name had led to a kind of stigmatization within Pallett’s fans – including numerous inside jokes envisioning bleary-eyed, pock-marked RPG nerds, stumbling from their houses, giddy with the promise of an evening devoted to their favourite video game – only to be faced with a devastatingly hip young man playing sumptuous, violin-looped indie pop -impish, Pallet may be, but he ain’t no fairy – although, considering Pallett’s own, infamous devotion to the video game, he may have been more than happy to accommodate said nerds at his concerts.
As endearing as such stories may be, they still led to Pallett becoming slightly belittled in the indie community – rather than garnering the fervent praise and respect he deserved, he was slotted lazily into the male folk singer-songwriter category, along with Sufjan Stevens and Andrew Bird – Pallett’s sprawling, endlessly cinematic compositions bears far more similarity to Van Dyke Park’s work with Joanna Newsom rather than Bird’s compact little folk ditties.
Having said that, it is ironic that Pallett chooses to dump the whimsical Final Fantasy recording moniker on the album that is by far Pallett’s most fantastical yet – ‘Heartland’ is an unbelievably opulent record, each chord blessed with a kind of extravagant, sprawling luxuriousness, almost to the point of indolence. Even by Pallett’s decorative standards, ‘Heartland’ is goddamn flowery – in fact, the gently curvaceous, coalescing melodies of ‘Lewis Takes Action’ are so feather-light that when Pallett delivers the blunt violence of the ‘I broke his jaw, he’ll never speak’ line – in his wan, fluttering soprano over endless, fluffy stratums of dizzying strings, it seems almost devastatingly incongruous.

And thus we are introduced to ‘Heartland’s main protagonist – ‘Heartland’ is written in the character of brawny, alpha-male farmer Lewis, who spends most of his time lamenting his broken family (‘Left my daughter and my wife’) and getting into various scrapes and hijinks with a mythical creature called, interestingly enough, Owen (‘I drove the iron spike into Owen’s eyes’) who he also, bizarrely, appears to be in love with (‘I’ve been in love with Owen since/ I heard the strains of Psalm 21’).

The more you delve into ‘Heartland’s chasms, the more you realise what a bizarrely warped world it is – although this is no error of communication on Pallett’s half, indeed, you get the feeling Pallett may have wanted it that way – as though he relishes the idea of his fans poring over ‘Heartland’s lyric booklet, their foreheads knitting and eyebrows raising in quick succession.

For however straight-laced and oppressive ‘Heartland’ may appear on first listen, Pallett is yet to descend into stern-faced baroqueness – there’s still a gentle, self-effacing humour shot into Pallett’s epic panorama, especially in the casting of Pallett as a kind of hulking monster – Pallett fans will know that the line ‘I drew a bruise on his brawny shoulder’ is highly incongruous with Owen’s corporeal, slight frame – and it’s almost prognosticated that any record which includes a song called ‘Lewis Takes Off His Shirt’ (which seems to ring more of a gossip than a symphony piece) is destined not to take itself entirely seriously – right?
When Owen Pallett, cialis 40mg the man behind the erstwhile Final Fantasy moniker, page announced in December 2009 that he was abandoning the name in favour of recording under his birth name, it came not without a sigh of relief – for years the slightly-embarrassing recording name had led to a kind of stigmatization within Pallett’s fans – including numerous inside jokes envisioning bleary-eyed, pock-marked RPG nerds, stumbling from their houses, giddy with the promise of an evening devoted to their favourite video game – only to be faced with a devastatingly hip young man playing sumptuous, violin-looped indie pop -impish, Pallet may be, but he ain’t no fairy – although, considering Pallett’s own, infamous devotion to the video game, he may have been more than happy to accommodate said nerds at his concerts.
As endearing as such stories may be, they still led to Pallett becoming slightly belittled in the indie community – rather than garnering the fervent praise and respect he deserved, he was slotted lazily into the male folk singer-songwriter category, along with Sufjan Stevens and Andrew Bird – Pallett’s sprawling, endlessly cinematic compositions bears far more similarity to Van Dyke Park’s work with Joanna Newsom rather than Bird’s compact little folk ditties.
Having said that, it is ironic that Pallett chooses to dump the whimsical Final Fantasy recording moniker on the album that is by far Pallett’s most fantastical yet – ‘Heartland’ is an unbelievably opulent record, each chord blessed with a kind of extravagant, sprawling luxuriousness, almost to the point of indolence. Even by Pallett’s decorative standards, ‘Heartland’ is goddamn flowery – in fact, the gently curvaceous, coalescing melodies of ‘Lewis Takes Action’ are so feather-light that when Pallett delivers the blunt violence of the ‘I broke his jaw, he’ll never speak’ line – in his wan, fluttering soprano over endless, fluffy stratums of dizzying strings, it seems almost devastatingly incongruous.

So…my first post as editor of the Earth section at Amelia’s Magazine! I’ve been preparing some posts for the listings page, overwhelmed with news of meetings and events, but here’s an overview of some of the Climate Camp gatherings going on in the next week.

People’s Assembly outside the gates of the Bella Centre in Copenhagen
(All photographs courtesy of Amelia)

Copenhagen may have been a predictable let-down, but it is also a wake-up call to creative and motivated individuals everywhere. Environmental decisions cannot just be left to politicians – any real change in our economic system, which at the moment is gnawing away the ground beneath our feet, has to come from the roots up. The real climate ‘experts’ are the creative people on the ground learning about and participating in environmental and social initiatives, setting up meetings, and taking practical steps to move away from fossil-fuel consumption (such as the Transition Towns springing up left, right and centre).

Lilo bridge built by climate campers crosses the moat at the Bella Centre, Copenhagen

It would be convenient to believe the hype of the green-wash advertising that surrounds us, but any real success has to come from individual and collective creativity and hard work, not from glossing over issues and adding 1% of ‘natural organic ingredients’ to endless environmentally-harmful products. After the media circus that was Copenhagen, the focus now has to be firmly on local groups, meetings, film screenings, courses, and above all creative people using their skills to build and inspire a more sustainable way of living.
Meeting at the school in Copenhagen

This weekend I’ll be going along to the Climate Camp regional gathering in London on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th January, at Tottenham Chances, 399 High Road, Tottenham, London, as well as some of the weekly meetings at SOAS later on in the month. Since the first meeting in August 2006, Climate Camp has quickly gathered a huge level of participation. This means that that the gatherings are now regional, and not national as they have been previously, allowing an even greater number of people to take part. To check out your nearest gathering click here. The meetings in London this weekend will address the failure of Copenhagen and the debate and action it should now inspire. They will include:

* What was good and what was bad in 2009, from the G20 to Copenhagen?
* What should the climate justice movement do next – in London, the UK and internationally?
* What are our goals for 2010?
* How should we organise to meet them?
* What should we organise together?
All the proposals for the regional meetings can be seen on Climate Camp’s discussion board.

The London meetings will go on from 10.30am to 6.30pm Saturday, and 10.30am-5.30pm on Sunday. There will be a KidSpace at the gathering so parents can leave their children to play while they attend meetings. If you want to help out in the KidSpace, email london@climatecamp.org.uk – the more people help the more can attend meetings! Vegan food (and cake) will be available for a donation for Saturday lunch and dinner and Sunday breakfast and lunch. It’s best to email if you plan on coming, that way the organizers can get an idea of numbers for food. Amelia’s brilliant band Green Kite Midnight will be performing at the London gathering on Saturday, 8.30pm, and there will be more music afterwards!

Tomorrow, Wednesday 13th Jan, the Workers Climate Action meeting is taking place in the Grafton Arms, Grafton Way (nearest tube is Warren Street) at 7.30pm. The group aims to add a firm working class perspective to the debate and action. Find out more at their website.
Bike Block at the Candy Factory in Copenhagen

There is wide disagreement on whether we should be protesting or working through the already-established political route, but I believe this misses the point. Without everyone empowering themselves with knowledge on how environmental problems can be solved and taking it upon themselves to be creative, we will only be taking symbolic pigeon steps while political and publicity campaigns continue swirling around us with empty words and soft-focus pictures of countryside scenes. Going to meetings and sharing ideas is a great way to realise we can stop relying on other people to make decisions for us, so I’ll hopefully see you this weekend and at future events!

I’d like to profile groups and individuals working on sustainability from the roots up, so please contact me on earth@ameliasmagazine.com with information if this is you, or if you’d like to contribute to this section with articles and interviews.
Photograph courtesy of Ctrl.Alt.Shift.

Ctrl.Alt.Shift is a seriously cool experimental youth initiative dedicated to politicising a new generation of activists for social justice and global change. Last time I heard of them, healing they were organising a comic book themed talk at the ICA Comica festival. Using creativity, salve photography, more about film, stories, illustrations and music, it aims to give a voice to the silent majority- meaning you and I, dear artistic and socially motivated Amelia’s readers! On January 7th, experimental youth movement Ctrl.Alt.Shift will become the first charity to venture onto newsagent mainstream shelves with the release of its own bi-annual magazine – Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue.

Photograph by Luke Miley

It’s hot stuff! Spanning 84 pages, the launch of Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue will focus on corruption as both a key cause of poverty and the barrier to overcoming it, and represents an ongoing attempt by the organization to bring a marginalized social and political agenda back into mainstream rhetoric. Including a satirical fashion shoot inspired by Guantanamo Bay, and drawing on comment and work from contemporary artists such as V V Brown and Sarah Maple, the magazine taps into popular culture to provoke debate and counter apathy amongst its audience of 18 – 25 year olds.

All other photographs by Adrian Nettleship

Highlights of the issue include the artist Sarah Maple; described by The Independent on Sunday as ‘the heir to Tracy Emin‘s throne’, Maple unveils a bespoke piece of work influenced by corruption and sex. Richard Shoyemi looks at how Asda’s new Asian range will inspire a generation of fashionistas for the Culture club section of the magazine. There is an interview with Tim Westwood as the Radio 1 DJ talks marrying music, activism, and why he wouldn’t take Pimp My Ride to Palestine. Freelance journalist and Middle East expert Ben White is the author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide. White breaks down the language of corruption for the magazine. There is also Riz Ahmed; fresh from appearing alongside Jude Dench in the movie Rage, the actor and MC finds time to give his take on the effects of corruption. Ctrl.Alt.Shift’s Face the Music unearths the sounds which are making it big in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and beyond. There will be a goody two shoes feature on how Brazilian shoe company Melissa and designer Vivienne Westwood have met in ethical style heaven. And there is ‘Murder he wrote’, an investigative feature into honor killing in India.

We love the fact that the magazine puts what it preaches into action. It’s well known that magazines add to the pollution issue we all now face; printed on completely uncoated paper using vegetable ink, the magazine is completely biodegradable and has a cover price of £3.95. It is available from most WHSmith stores, as well as www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/magazine

Katrin Owusu, Head of Youth Marketing and Innovations at Ctrl.Alt.Shift and Chantelle Fiddy, Editor of Ctrl.Alt.Shift Magazine tell Amelia’s art editor Valerie Pezeron about their exciting new venture.

Valerie Pezeron: It’s a very brave act of faith to launch a magazine at a time when the industry is experiencing economic problems. Why should people buy your magazine?

Katrin Owusu: Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue is inclusive, broad and at times controversial; with content ranging from a fashion-shoot inspired by Guantanemo Bay, to Sarah Maple creating art inspired by sex and corruption, to the music which is making the charts in Afghanistan. We hope the magazine will reach out to people who wouldn’t traditionally be interested in politics or current affairs, and encourage those people out of their comfort zones and into action.

VP: I love Ctrl.Alt.Shift and you guys are really setting the bar really high!

Chantelle Fiddy: It’s a real accomplishment to have produced a magazine that takes on board third sector objectives yet sits happily alongside consumer titles. Having had the freedom to explore new ways to package stories on global and social injustice, from Tim Westwood talking about activism to looking at the work of ethical shoe company Melissa and highlighting trends from around the world, we’ve resulted in something of a first (for the charity sector).

VP: So the new year is commencing with a bang?

CF: It’s the icing on the cake for what’s been an amazing eighteen months for Ctrl.Alt.Shift!

Run to the shops now, there aren’ t that many original magazines with a conscience out there…besides Amelia, of course!

Written by Valerie Pezeron on Thursday January 14th, 2010 1:38 pm

Categories ,art, ,brazil, ,Ctrl.Alt.Shift, ,Culture, ,fashion, ,ICA Comica festival, ,magazine review, ,Melissa, ,music, ,politics, ,popular culture, ,publishing, ,Riz Ahmed, ,Sarah Maple, ,shoe comapny, ,Tim Westwood, ,Tracy Emin, ,Vivienne Westwood, ,vvbrown

Amelia’s Magazine | Art listings Sept 28 – Oct 4 – Big shows roll into town

Gustav Mertzger at The Serpentine

From tomorrow

Gustav Metzger’s “auto-creative” and “auto-destructive” art involved antics like spraying acid on nylon and building objects only to tear them down, dosage each shape the materials made on their way down forming new works. A bit theoretical, although interesting, but he also engaged in art activism, displaying work to do with the Vietnam war. His work is even said to have influenced the guitar-smashing meme in rock music, started by The Who. This retrospective covers almost a lifetime of work.

Now You See It at the Cafe Gallery

This lovely little gallery tucked away in the middle of Southwark Park is squeezing lots of new artists into its show “Now You See It”. Works from Cecilia, Bonilla, Jemima, Brown, Lucy Clout, Timo Kube and Katy Merrington among others explore the tricks a camera can play on you and quite what can be considered real.

Focus on the Rainforest at Kew Gardens

From Wednesday

Award-winning photographer Daniel Beltrá is exhibiting his stunning photographs of the rainforest in the fitting surroundings of Kew Gardens, starting Wednesday September 30. It seems like our generation has been trying to save the rainforests our whole lives and yet the counter on the homepage of the Prince’s Rainforests Project shows how quickly it’s still being destroyed. The exhibition is designed to raise awareness and is also extremely easy on the eye. Rainforests are actually quite frightening and full of spiders, and getting there pollutes the atmosphere, so this is the best way to appreciate their special beauty.

You must also check out Vivienne Westwood’s contribution to the project:

Once Viewed From Afar at Gallery 27

There was a time in the arts when work on the British countryside was the main source of inspiration for artists and writers. It has since become viewed as either twee or been used mainly as a counterpoint to urban environments. Artists Sarah Crew and Chris Holman are returning to the appreciative mold of artist, revelling in the idyllic, the beautiful, the nostalgic about the countryside. Using paint and photography, they create characters – think an updated Animals of Farthing Wood. There’s a story being told here, by the most familiar creatures inhabiting the country we live in.

Pop Life: Art in the Material World, Tate Modern

From Saturday

The artists on display in Tate Modern’s “Pop Life: Art in a Material World” exhibition are so influential on the world of advertising and prevalent in any satire on art, that sometimes works by artists like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin can seem a bit over-familiar. This exhibition acknowledges the way our recent art has wormed its way into popular culture and happily taken its place there, with bright, bold images that are easy to co-opt into the material world it contends that we live in.

Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy

All week

This mega-artist’s new exhibition works with the actual fabric of the building to create mind-bending works like his “Svayambh”, shown above in France, a long path made of wax. There are lots of new works for dedicated fans and the grand scale makes this a brilliant way to introduce yourself if you are a recent convert.

ShowStudio: Fashion Revolution, at Somerset House

Fashion Week is over but this stellar exhibition, also located in Somerset House, scampers on. Garnering rave reviews, especially from our own fashion section, this mix of video, mannequins and allsorts celebrating nine years of the Showstudio.com website. Some of its content has appeared online before, but much is new and everything is fashion inspiration incarnate.

Written by Satu Fox on Monday September 28th, 2009 2:42 pm

Categories ,Anish Kapoor, ,Cafe Gallery, ,Chris Holman, ,Damien Hirst, ,fashion, ,Kew Gardens, ,Prince’s Rainforest Project, ,rainforest, ,Royal Academy, ,Sarah Crew, ,Showstudio, ,Tate Modern, ,Tracey Emin, ,video, ,Vivienne Westood

Amelia’s Magazine | Art Listings

Time and Place

Bridget Macdonal
New paintings and drawings from the artist’s new figurative and landscape work.

Art First, online abortion 1st Floor, 9 Cork St, W1S 3LL
Apr 28 – May 21, 2009

Where Eagles Tremble

Vic Reeves
TV comedian Vic Reeve’s art work mixes the surreal and the mundane in an amusing way,
the exhibition features a new series of paintings that focus on aviation.

Mews of Mayfair, 10-11 Lancashire Court, New Bond Street, Mayfair W1S 1EY
2nd April – 29th April 2009
Weekdays 10am – 6pm

Optimistic Immigrants

Performances and films from a group of London based immigrants as Part of the East End Film Festival 2009.

Vibe Live and V Gallery, The Vibe Bar, The Truman Brewery. 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL
Main event: Tuesday 28th April 7-11pm

Tickets £7. £5.50 concessions.

Avoision

Dan Mort
This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with Museum 52 gallery.

Museum 52, 52 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DP
20th March – 30th April 2009, Wednesday – Saturday 11am – 6 pm or by appointment

Still Life

Robin Conway
An exhibition of stunning underwater photography.

Red Gate Gallery, 209a Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8RU
24th- 30th Apr 09, Monday – Saturday: 2.30 pm – 6.30 pm
Free

Swedish Fashion: Exploring A New Identity

This exhibition showcases fashion and jewellery from a group of Swedish designers.

Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, Tower Bridge, SE1 3XF
6 February 2009 – 17 May 2009, from 11am – 6pm
How Much: £5 tickets, £3 Concessions

Written by Violette Nlandu Ngoy on Monday April 27th, 2009 11:08 am

Categories ,Art First, ,Aviation, ,Avoision, ,Brick Lane, ,Bridget Macdonal, ,Dan Mort, ,Drawings, ,East End Film Festival, ,Fashion, ,films, ,Identity, ,Jwellery, ,Landscape, ,London, ,Mews of Mayfair, ,Museum 52, ,New Paintings, ,Optimistic Immigrants, ,Performances, ,Red Gate Gallery, ,Robin Conway, ,Still Life, ,Surreal, ,Swedish Designers, ,Swedish Fashion, ,Textile, ,The Truman Brewery, ,The Vibe Bar, ,TV comedian, ,Underwater Photography, ,V Gallery, ,Vic Reeves, ,Work

Amelia’s Magazine | Calling all illustrators, budding illustrators, or just people who like drawing, and wearing clothes …

If you try to describe this to someone (which you shouldn’t, this web sales don’t give anything away), doctor medications you will sound like you are conjuring from memory a nonsensical and fantastical dream; not something remotely tangible that actually happened in a 25-minute journey through a Shorditch warehouse.

Enter the ride and find yourself wheeled through 15 distinct scenarios with over 70 artists acting out micro-performances. “Designed to mentally and visually astound”, check; “leaving you overwhelmed and exhilarated’, check and check; and finishing the ride “in a totally different emotional state from the one you were in when you embarked on the journey”, most definitely true: utterly elated, mesmerised, and psychologically discombobulated.

The You Me Bum Bum train represents a new branch of experimental live art where the line between performer and audience is not just blurred, but utterly turned on it’s head; interaction is integral to the experience, and how far you take this is up to you. It’s creators Kate Bond and Morgan Lloyd, intend to strip individuals of decision-making, giving passengers the would-be ordinary experience of somebody else’s shoes. You are left with fleeting slices of alternate realities, one moment you might be a drummer, the next a translator (I really don’t want to say much!). It’s real human experience through the prism of the utterly surreal, and it will take you some time to reclaim your grasp on the two, a most marvellous and novel experience.

The venue is essential to the experience, and they describe Cordy House as their dream venue, lending itself to the most ambitious event they’ve held yet.
There isn’t much time to go, and I whole-heartedly recommend it as an unforgettable experience. It runs every Saturday from now until the 20th of December between 7pm and 11pm.

Hip Parisian fahion and electro label, buy Kitsuné, what is ed are fast becoming as well known for their associated music as they are for their fashion. In fact, there is a clear cut three-way divide at Heaven tonight: scenesters, dressed for the fashion blog photographers collide en masse with those who know Kitsuné for the music and are quite unprepared for the additional rooms full of said scenesters, and with the regular Heaven clubbers, used to G-A-Y Camp Attack on Friday nights and probably the most bemused of everyone here.

Within the four rooms there’s a frustrating mix of real djs and acts like Autokratz, whose Pet Shop Boys go big beat set was a joy to behold and left me humming ‘Stay The Same’ for the rest of the night. Hearts Revolution, Punks Jump Up and Kitsuné house band Digitalism all turned out in force to impress and did so, although at times the acts felt a little repetitive. Alas, alongside these quality acts, we also got a number of vanity djs, including various models and boutique owners, which all blurred into the same set as the night progressed and seemed to play to rooms full of people aiming to get to the bar and move on.

It transpired that the ‘Don’t Panic’ room was the place to be. Inspired by K-Tron, blasting bass heavy No-Wave, they held me and the room in near divine rapture. The highlight of the night however, was Matthew Stone who dragged us back to 1985 via The KLF, his effortlessly sublime musical compass taking us on a seemingly random adventure, fitting perfectly with the tone of the night. There were some true high points tonight, but Kitsuné are probably best enjoyed via one of their compilations than live, based on tonight’s evidence.

Global Day of Action is a direct action environmentalism initiative that started in 2005 Global Climate Campaign to focus world attention on the anthropogenic effect that humans are having on global warming.
Actions take place on this day to coincide with a Climate Change convention; a meeting of world leaders from 189 nations, viagra dosage that meet every year to discuss climate change.
We have the listings for the actions taking place on the 6th in London, viagra 100mg for a list of other cities actions click here.

Global Day of Action
6th December 2008
This will be the Saturday midway through the next round of UN Climate Talks and our best chance to influence the decisions of delegates ahead of the critical UN talks in 2009 at which a post-Kyoto treaty agreement will be decided.

LONDON

Climate Bike Ride 2008
Assemble 10.30 am Lincolns Inn Fields for a mass bike ride around Central London joining up with the National Climate March at Grosvenor Square (see next listing for National Climate March info)
The three stops on the route are:
-Outside Greenergy, 198 High Holborn – for an agrofuels protest organised by Biofuelswatch
-Outside E.On 100 Pall Mall – for a speaker on NO NEW COAL
-Outside the Department of Transport – for a speaker on sustainable transport
Everyone welcome; decorate your bikes, bring whistles, bring music!
Want to help out for this action? Contact Jeremy Hill on 07816 839883 or jeremy.hill1@btopenworld.com

National Climate March and Global Day of Action on Climate
The march starts at 12noon at Grosvenor Square and will move via Carlos Place and Mount Street to Berkley Square and Berkley street to Picacadily, Picadilly Circus, Lower Regent street, Pall Mall and Cockspur street to Trafalgar Square and Whitehall to Parliament Square.
We will bring the UK issues of Aviation, New coal and Biofuels to the streets of London, along with a call for more investment in renewable energy, more energy efficiency and more green jobs.
Speakers will include Nick Clegg (leader Liberal Democrat Party), Caroline Lucas (leader, Green party), Michael Meacher (ex-Environment Minister) and George Monbiot (Honorary President, Campaign against Climate Change).
Contact: 020 7833 9311
www.campaigncc.org

There will also be an After-Party in the Synergy Centre from 5.00 pm till late.

The March on Parliament has four main themes –
1) NO to a 3rd runway at Heathrow and the runaway expansion in aviation expansion.
2) NO new coal – no new coal-fired power stations as planned at eg Kingsnorth in Kent
3) NO to the expansion of agrofuels – with negative impacts on forests, the climate and world food supply.
4) YES to a renewable energy revolution and green jobs – a “Green new Deal”
Come with your own banners, costumes on one of these themes and join up with others pushing that theme……

The March on Parliament for the Climate marks the Saturday midway through the UN Climate Talks in Poznan, Poland and we make our demands on the UK government in solidarity with the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities that will suffer worst and most immediately from climate change caused overwhelmingly by the rich long-industrialised countries.

We need the government to act now on climate, to stop building coal-fired power stations and new runways – and to begin the renewable energy revolution. We need a tidal wave of people outside parliament to make them act to stop climate catastrophe now! Be part of that tidal wave, be there! Next year may be too late.

for more information:
http://www.globalclimatecampaign.org/ – for a list of cities and actions!
www.campaigncc.org

BUST Magazine Christmas Craftacular
6th – 7th December, St Aloysius Social Club, 20 Phoenix Road, Euston, NW1 1TA
craftacular-uk@bust.com

BUST is a magazine devoted to the female. Providing an unapologetic view of life in the female lane, they break down stereotypes! Based in the US and established in 1993, the magazine addresses a variety of different issues within pop sulture, including music, fashion, art & crafts and news.
Editor-in-Chief, Debbie Stoller, decided to call the magazine BUST, because it was “aggressive and sexy and funny… It was a title that could belong to a men’s porn magazine.”
For Women With Something To Get Off Their Chests!
Click here for the Christmas Craftacular’s Facebook Page

Jumble Fever
Under the bridge on Beck Road, E8
Saturday 6th December
Midday-4pm, Entry £1
A fabulous jumble sale with a boogie twist! There will be a great deal to see and do and buy.. See you there!

ETSY
An online shopping bazaar; Etsy is a cross between eBay and Amazon with a humble handmade twist. Launched in June 2005 by Robert Kalin, for sale Chris Maguire and Haim Schoppik, the site has grown to be incredibly popular, with tens of thousands of people selling their handmade goods (90% of whom are women!).
As Christmas draws nearer and greener, we have chosen our favorite handmade things to inspire your presents list.
www.etsy.com

pleated%20clutch.jpg
“The Kelsey”; a pleated clutch in paisley mocha
This handmade clutch is one of many adorable bags created by GraceyBags; get in touch through etsy.com to custom order a clutch and choose from a rainbow of fabrics.
Featured is ‘The Kelsey’ in a paisley mocha print on the outside in greens, blues, pinks, yellows and browns. The inside has been sewn from a silky brown fabric and the bag closes with a small magnet.

Recycled Journal – handbound
Find a lovely selection of hand bound recycled books by Rhonda; bookbinder and book artist.
This particularly wonderful journal is made with a variety of recycled scrap papers ranging from large envelopes, posters, junk mail, blank paper, lined and graph paper, covers from old sketch books, old maps, discarded photocopies, misprints from the computer printer to paper bags.
Perfect as an art journal, the book is covered with an old map of the world, the one pictured above showing the islands of Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
There are 256 pages (when you count both sides of each sheet). The pages are handbound using green and brown linen threads, visible on the spine in 4 rows of chain stitches.
The book size is approximately 4″ x 4¼” and 1″ thick (or 10.5cm x 11cm x 2.5cm).

French Bulldog cotton tote bag

This adorable cotton tote is the perfect carry-all for any occasion. BellaBlu Designs signature French Bulldog silhouette has been cut from Heather Bailey‘s ‘Sway in Brown’ Pop Garden print and appliquéd to this cotton canvas bag. It is 100% 10 oz. cotton, measures 15 x 13 x 3 inches and can be customized with most other dog breeds.

TREEFORT
http://treefortkids.myshopify.com

We’ve also had a browse round treefort.myshopify.com, for some gift ideas for those of you with little ones in your life!

Dreamlets Dolls
These cute little creatures would make an adorable gift this season, and as a product that gives 1% back to Artworks, Bridges to Understanding , or Poncho, they’re doing a lot more than making a loved one happy! The dolls come in a variety of shapes and colours, each with their own quirky personality. You are also able to choose which organization will benefit from your gift by registering your doll online.

Nikki McClure’s Mama & Baby Things
Treefort also sell many of Nikki Mcclure‘s prints, books, cards, and calendars. Nikki McClure creates complex, yet natural designs by cutting away from a single piece of black construction paper with an x-acto knife. Her works are printed on 100% Recycled, 100% Post-Consumer Waste, Processed Chlorine Free paper that was manufactured with electricity that is offset with Green-e® certified renewable energy. Her work is printed by a small family-owned press in Portland, Oregon, US- and uses soy-based inks.

Kids On Roof “House”
is made of Eco friendly-100% recycled cardboard and is 100% biodegradable. These houses are the perfect gift for creative children, as they’re meant to be decorated and personalised! (see below for examples from treefort) Kidsonroof donates 5% of its profits to specific Unicef projects; €24,000 has now been collected for the Unicef project for building better, small-scale housing for HIV/Aids inflicted orphans in Russia.

Beyond Retro Christmas Party!

This evening Beyond Retro is throwing it’s annual seasonal gathering – in both it’s shops, viagra buy the original Cheshire St warehouse and new sibling store in Soho – from 6pm – 8pm, there’ll be lots of exclusive goodies for you to browse through and they’ll even throw in some mulled wine and mince pies. Good times.

Made In Clerkenwell

This evening and all weekend, the Clerkenwell Green Association open their studios for Made in Clerkenwell, an event that showcases the work of over 70 designers they support through providing them with studio space, mentoring and business advice to help them create their work.

The fruits of their labors are exhibited and available for purchase, so you can hunt out that unique Christmas gift and buy all kinds of original and creative wares – ranging from fashion designs to jewellery, accessories, textiles and even ceramics.
What makes this shopping experience so different is that you can mingle with and chat to the designers and find out about their craft, inspirations, working method, becoming a designer, anything you want to know! So pop down, get a great gift and support new designers.

Open 6pm to 8pm, Thursday 27th November 2008 and
12pm to 6pm on Friday 28th, Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November 2008.
£2.50 entrance – free to the under 16s.

It’s no secret that Brooklyn’s the place to be for smart indie pop these days, view but look a little closer to home and you might be surprised. Take tonight’s superb support acts, advice for example. First up is Pens, erectile a cute lo-fi local trio who, despite playing to only a handful of people, put on a wonderfully frantic and ramshackle performance – think Karen O‘s kid sisters gleefully bashing at snare, guitar and synths.

Fellow Londoners Chew Lips are up next and are nothing short of a revelation. The threesome cater in captivatingly melancholy electronic music and boast a bona fide icon-in-waiting in singer Tigs; she prowls and creeps around the venue, all black bob and wide eyes, unleashing powerful vocals and jumping on the bar to serenade us, while the boys whip up a glitchy synth and bass storm in the background. ‘Solo’ is the band’s set-closer and an undeniable highlight – scuzzy and danceable yet strangely sad, it will be one of your anthems of 2009, no question.

This bunch are hard to follow, but Telepathe just about manage it. Dave Sitek-produced debut ‘Dance Mother’ is on the way in January, and recreating its majesty live is clearly still a tricky undertaking for the Brooklyn duo. They do their best, unleashing a stream of cluttered soundscapes, layered harmonies and clipped rhythms, and while the effect is hypnotic at times, barely a word is uttered between songs – resulting in a distinct lack of atmosphere. This could of course be due, in part, to the fact that they are playing to a room full of typically disinterested Shoreditch types. Whatever the reason the performance falls a little flat, until final effort ‘Chromes On It’ that is, its spine-tingling beats waking the crowd from its stupor and climaxing with speakers shaking and half the band hanging from the ceiling as the hysterical throng down the front excitedly punch the air. It’s just enough to convince us that we’re not quite prepared to give up on Telepathe as a live proposition yet. More like this please.
Nuclear: Art and Radioactivity
discount -4.064941&sspn=16.764146, visit this site 39.418945&ie=UTF8&ll=51.524712,-0.079694&spn=0.008598,0.019248&z=16&g=E1+6PG&iwloc=addr”target=”_blank”>Nicholls and Clarke Building, 3-10 Shoreditch High Street, Spitalfields, London E1.

‘Half-life’
Chris Oakley, 2008
High-definition video, 15 minutes

‘The Nightwatchman’
Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou, 2008
Installation

The Nicholls and Clarke Building hosts an exhibition that explores the changing perceptions of nuclear power. In our rapidly deteriorating climate, the effects of nuclear development from the past have come to haunt us. ‘The Nightwatchman,’ by Simon Hollington and Kypros Kyprianou, captures this disturbing predicament.

As we entered the installation there was something immediately unsettling about it. A board-meeting table situated in the centre of a large dilapidated storeroom indicated recent activity, and as we crept further through the exhibition space there was more evidence of some night watchmen. But they are no where to be found…

Together with the film ‘Half-life’ by Chris Oakley, there was a sense of being caught in a crossfire of two different eras: the naïvely optimistic 80′s and the knowledgeable cynicism of the present day.

The film showed a series of paradoxical images of nature vs. technology, and through it we were reminded of how our idea of what is progressive has been turned on it’s head.

If you’d like to have something of yours across the chests of music aficionados throughout the country, viagra you might like to apply for this. 100% music, cheap 100% recycled paper (well done), sildenafil Bearded Magazine is preparing for the re-launch of the printed magazine on January 29th, and they’re throwing in a t-shirt as well.

T-Shirt%20Design%20Template.jpg
When it came to deciding what should go on the front of said t-shirt, they mumbled gibberish into their beards and drew blanks, and so they’ve put the task out to you the reader to help them out. In fact, they might be so filled with indecision that there could be four winners, so better chances for you! Have a look at the criteria and send in a design soon, you have until the 15th of December.

Written by Luisa Gerstein on Thursday November 27th, 2008 6:14 pm

Categories ,Art, ,Bearded Magazine, ,Competition, ,Fashion, ,Music, ,Recycle

Amelia’s Magazine | Christmas Gift Ideas 2012: Best Design Gifts For Women

by hand london elisalex dress
The Elisalex dress from By Hand London.
Looking for some last minute gift ideas to please the lady who loves good design, handmade goods and occasionally creating her own? Well go no further…

It was with much happiness that I ran into Elisalex de Castro Peake at the recent East London Design Show – daughter of ethical fashion doyenne Orsola de Castro and one time creator of ethical shoe brand Nina Dolcetti – Elisalex is back with a brand new project based on her love of hand sewing. Easy to follow patterns come in a lovely box designed by business partner Charlotte Hintzen.

by hand london charlotte skirt
The first two patterns available are classic shapes named after the founders, and they will be adding to these soon. In the meantime if someone is kind enough to buy you the fab peplum skirt pattern, then why not join the Charlotte skirt sewalong in the New Year? For those who are novices to sewing the site includes ace tutorials such as how to make a DIY skirt.

Lauren Baker skull Frankie
Some of Lauren Baker‘s more extravagant creations might require you to remortgage your home, but this artwork is reasonably priced. Frankie, above, was inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead. He is cast from a human skull and then painstakingly hand decorated with beads and acrylic.

TOFT crochet_hippo_amigurumi_pattern
At the Toft Alpaca Shop find a one stop shop to buy the yarns and the designs to create cute crocheted Amigurumi toys – or commission their crafters to make one of the little guys for you.

Bianca Green BOLD iphone cover
On the gadget front this gorgeous abstract BOLD design by Bianca Green fits perfectly into our ongoing love affair with all things tribal.

dom and ink iphone skin ophelia
Or go for something a bit more illustrative: how about contributor Dom & Ink‘s fabulous portrait of Ophelia on an iphone skin? It’s bound to be a talking point.

Batter My Heart Dom and Ink
dom and ink batter my heart zine

I’m also loving Dom & Ink‘s Batter My Heart zine – chock full of great illustrations, wry observations and insights on the theme of relationships. It’s guaranteed to appeal to anyone who is or has been heartbroken.

Rebecca Desnos Petal Scarf Wrapped
On an eco conscious tip take a look at these beautifully crafted bamboo scarves by Rebecca Desnos: each geometric design is handmade with plant dyes using a Japanese technique called Shibori.

lowie fingerless gloves
And I adore these eye catching merino wool fingerless gloves by ethical woollen brand Lowie. They are decorated with an interesting thistle design and are long enough to cover your entire wrist area for extra warmth.

chelsea doll Red Heart Bobble Trapper Hat
On the more affordable front, I really love this cute woollen trapper hat with fleecy lining at Chelsea Doll.

thriftola lola hanger
Leona runs Thriftola, a website dedicated to bringing you the best in vintage gems. She was formerly the brains behind much loved jewellery brand Lady Luck Rules OK and she has finally decided to make a new product: meet Lola. Lola is a stylish hand illustrated clothes hanger designed to showcase your favourite garment to perfection.

COCO BOHEME RECYCLED CARDBOARD ANIMAL HANGER
Or if you fancy something a bit sillier you could look to these Coco Boheme hangers, made out of strong recycled cardboard and printed in environmentally friendly ink.

Fashion brand äelska specialises in beautifully made collars, and I absolutely adore this buttery soft sequinned version that would look great with a party outfit, here modelled by creator Emma Hamshare, who once upon a time helped make Amelia’s Magazine in print.

carmen woods clutch
For bag fans look no further than the new range of British made goods by Carmen Woods, all made using the finest leathers. I love the bright pattern on this clutch.

And for the serious photography fan, check out these newly discovered Kelly Moore camera bags: incredibly stylish totes to keep your equipment safe. Above is the Kelly Moore Libby Camera Bag. So want one to cart my SLR around in during LFW!

pumpkin sputnk notebook betty
Thinking about some luxury stationery? How about this gorgeous hand stitched journal, which comes with a timeless photographic hydrangea design, by Pumpkin Sputnik.

Melly bee notebookswrapped
Or something simpler: Mellybee makes slim pocket-sized notebooks, screenprinted by hand onto 100% recycled card with a delightful anchor design.

Who Runs the World Girls by Studio Her
Finally and by no means least, may I draw your attention to this genius screenprint from Studio Her? It first caught my eye at Sarah Julia Clark‘s graduate exhibition and she was kind enough to send me one in all its golden feminist glory: now you or your loved one can own your very own version for she has finally set up an online Studio Her shop. Hell yeah: Beyonce for the wall!

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday December 19th, 2012 6:42 pm

Categories ,2012, ,äelska, ,Amigurumi, ,art, ,Batter My Heart, ,beyonce, ,Camera Bags, ,Carmen Woods, ,Charlotte Hintzen, ,Chelsea Doll, ,Christmas, ,Coco Boheme, ,Day of the Dead, ,design, ,Dom & Ink, ,East London Design Show, ,Elisalex de Castro Peake, ,Emma Hamshare, ,fashion, ,Frankie, ,gifts, ,Kelly Moore, ,Lady Luck Rules OK, ,Lauren Baker, ,Leona, ,Lola, ,Lowie, ,Mellybee, ,Mexican, ,mosaic, ,Nina Dolcetti, ,Ophelia, ,Orsola Castro, ,Orsola De Castro, ,Pumpkin Sputnik, ,Rebecca Desnos, ,Sarah Julia Clark, ,Shibori, ,SLR, ,Studio Her, ,Thriftola, ,Toft Alpaca Shop

Amelia’s Magazine | Christmas Gift Ideas 2012: Best Design Gifts For Women

Lauren Baker skull Frankie
Some of Lauren Baker’s more extravagant creations might require you to remortgage your home, but this artwork is reasonably priced. Frankie, above, was inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead. He is cast from a human skull and then painstakingly hand decorated with beads and acrylic.

Bianca Green BOLD iphone cover
On the gadget front this gorgeous abstract BOLD design by Bianca Green fits perfectly into our ongoing love affair with all things tribal.

dom and ink iphone skin ophelia
Or go for something a bit more illustrative: how about contributor Dom & Ink’s fabulous portrait of Ophelia on an iphone skin? It’s bound to be a talking point.

Batter My Heart Dom and Ink
dom and ink batter my heart zine

I’m also loving Dom & Ink’s Batter My Heart zine – chock full of great illustrations, wry observations and insights on the theme of relationships. It’s guaranteed to appeal to anyone who is or has been heartbroken.

chelsea doll Red Heart Bobble Trapper Hat
On the more affordable front, I really love this cute woollen trapper hat with fleecy lining at Chelsea Doll.

carmen woods clutch
For bag fans look no further than the new range of British made goods by Carmen Woods, all made using the finest leathers. I love the bright pattern on this clutch.

pumpkin sputnk notebook betty
Thinking about some luxury stationery? How about this gorgeous hand stitched journal, which comes with a timeless photographic hydrangea design, by Pumpkin Sputnik.

Melly bee notebookswrapped
Or something simpler: Mellybee makes slim pocket-sized notebooks, screenprinted by hand onto 100% recycled card with a delightful anchor design.

Who Runs the World Girls by Studio Her
Finally and by no means least, may I draw your attention to this genius screenprint from Studio Her? It first caught my eye at Sarah Julia Clark’s graduate exhibition and she was kind enough to send me one in all its golden feminist glory: now you or your loved one can own your very own version for she has finally set up an online Studio Her shop. Hell yeah: Beyonce for the wall!

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday December 19th, 2012 6:42 pm

Amelia’s Magazine | Circus Bookazine Launch and London Blog Slam

The crowd at circus bookazine blog slam, minimalist cake catering, Asahi etc. the awesome tights belong to Muireann Carey-Campbell of Bangs and a Bun.

Amelia judged and I sketched history in the making at the Rag Factory last week. Well, almost: the first event was in Germany the week before so this was not an actual first. The concept I’m sure already has your mind a-boggling. I’m allways fascinated by how random little scenes and pockets of interlapping creativity and culture come together in these sorts of things. Circus explore the rich territory between print and web, passion and fashion and er, people and other people. I’ll talk more about the beautiful bookazine itself a bit later.

The competing bloggers were somewhat of a motley crew, in that the content was a little inconsistently weighted, a lot of fashion and two examples of male dating based humour blogging, a genre of which I was previously unaware. This was fair enough in a sense, the theme of the Bookazine issue is fashion, but it did make the handfull of bloggers on other themes seem a little incongruous.

The slammers were judged based on the scoring categories of originality, concept, delivery and “blogability”, a made up word. Aside from our own Amelia the jury consisted of Wafa from Sketchbook Magazine, Ben from quality Sheffield based Article Magazine, and Chris Osburn from the Londonist. All small press stars of substance and style of course. The competing bloggers performed from an old school church pulpit – a nice touch I think, sort of makes you think about how we choose who we listen to and respect these days, or it just looked pretty anyway – and were also interspersed with some readings from contributors from the bookazine.

Marian Schembari telling it like it isn’t but should be.

First up was Marian Librarian, a high flying international proffesional social media blogger of sorts, who talked affectingly about why she refuses to censor her blog, even after she was detained at immigration for swearing. You can read the entry she read here She has a healthy and sensible attitude to the importance of reality and personality in online content.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - kate ironside
Next up was a brief reading from fashion haiku‘s Kate Ironside who was rocking a serious classy jersey and pearls type ensemble.

I cannot express the perfection of the fashion haiku as a form of art, it’s such the perfect medium for expressing the wry mix of beauty, meaning and superficiality that is fashion – anyway I can’t express it like I said so if you follow one link today, make it this one and go read some. Your day will be enhanced.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - toast and biscuit - thewedordeadwager
Toast and Biscuit from the Wed or Dead Wager.

Second actual competing slammers (btw, I can’t type the word slammers without thinking about pogs) were a blog double act who use fake names as a matter of neccesity since they write with warts and all accuracy about their manic dating life in a race to get married. It’s a bit like an unrealistic romcom, but much much longer. They were very funny with self deprecating anecdotes, definite crowd pleasers. I think they had the advantage too of having an actual real life story to tell in their blog, it’s engaging and sympathetic and fresh.

I’m so used to hearing the female perspective on the frustrations of dating from my friends, the cliches that men who are confident enough to come on to you are usually after just one thing, or worse turn out to be creepy stalkers seem all too often to come true. So it’s quite nice to get the male perspective and hear about women’s strange behaviours in the dating arena with some pragmatism, while still coming from what is essentially an aim to settle down with someone nice, which creates a sort of reverse cliche.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - godwyns onwuchekwa
The next blogger, Godwyns Onwuchekwa “We are united to say: Never again, at least not by our own action.”

Godwyns is a serious political and LGBT rights blogger who performed a very moving blog post he had written to mark world AIDS day this year. He began by saying that following the Toast and Biscuit performance he would be boring us with serious stuff. He wasn’t boring, but he wasn’t wrong that it was a contrast. Escpecially as the next to stand up was in a similar romantic comedy vein;

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - scalene
Scalene.

Alright, maybe this is not news to you, but if you thought that the Wed or Dead Wager was a dose enough of apparently brutaly honest but at the same time surreally romcomesque male dating bloggery, Scalene may actually take you a step further. His blog allows internet strangers (the same people who comment on youtube videos) to make multiple “choose your own adventure” style decisions about his actual real life love life. In the recent post he read out he ended up actually honest to goodness chasing a girl to the airport. If there’s any justice this project will end in him being voted into not showing up for his own wedding. That’s the other thing that always happens in movies but NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE. RIGHT?

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - tejasvi

Tejasvi looked particularly angelic in her floaty white top (sorry I lack the fashion nause to describe it accurately) in the pulpit. Her blog Clandestine Cigarettes is perhaps a more serious and romantic take on fashion, she read a very poetic piece but was sadly I think too nervous and lacked the projection to do it justice.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - lilly smiles Lilly Smiles of Laughter Lines, diary of a “fleet street fox”.

Lilly Smiles trod an interesting line between the serious and comic camps with her reading, which was from a blog post written at an extremely raw and hard time in her life – the details were hazy (understandably) but it was during an episode in which she was charged with attempted murder. It was heart rending, clear, honest and well written, but still witty. She almost painted tabloid journalism (her background) as a caring profession and she pre-empted her reading by telling us she burps when nervous. In a way this was the perfect piece for the evening: managing to keep the tone seperate and yet compelling, honest but sensationalist. Possibly this is what blogability means.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - bangs and a bun
Muireann Carey-Campbell or Bangs and a Bun.

Another reading from the Circus Bookazine; Muireann described herself as a humour fashion blogger but the piece she read was quite serious, looking at issues of the fashion industry’s epic denial the fatness of society. It was pretty interesting and she was a charismatic speaker, I’ve since started following her on twitter and she is an avid tweeter. She looked fabulous and clearly knew her stuff.

The final contestent in the blog-off arrived just in time to perform. She’d been in Norwich and rocked straight up to the pulpit and started channeling Lady Gaga, actually interspersing the reading from her blog ‘musings of an innapropriate woman’ with bouts of karaoke style singing.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - rachel hills
Rachel Hills with gold slit sunglasses – when they were down she was Gaga.

This is the blog post she read, but like all of the night’s blogs, it’s the tip of an iceberg. Rachel’s blog is a smart mix of gender, popular culture, creativity and general life observations; I like her because she’s not afraid to mix pop culture references with theory and critique. If I didn’t have an essay to write I might spend my whole weekend reading her back catalogue.

So with that the blog slam was concluded, there was some complex vote counting while I mused on the variety of performances. Really the variety of different styles and subject matters didn’t lend itself to a fair comparison, ideally there could have been a number of bloggers from certain categories and an award for each. But it wasn’t the Oscars, it was an experiment and to have done so might have made the whole thing seem overworked. In the end we were treated to a slice of a mix of what the blogosphere has to offer.

ameliasmagazine - blog slam - circus 2
the four minds and bodies behind the event and circus bookazine, preparing to award the prizes.

Rachel nabbed third place, probably as much for having rocked up at the last minute and being memorable in golden glasses and singing as anything else. The two top spots went to the romcom boys, Scalene in second place and Toast and Biscuit nabbing the top spot. There were a lot of qualities on show at the Rag Factory that night, but ultimately entertainment value probably bagged the biggest points. The number of people at the end of the night wearing the AIDS ribbons Godwins had given out is testament to the fact that the serious content was most surely not swept under the carpet.

The Bookazine (which, strangely, is somewhere between a book and a magazine) is a thing of beauty divine from a design point of view. You can see the love and thought that has gone into the project. The content is given room to breath and interspersed with sumptiously simple printed patterns. There are little nods to the web format of the blog that the book connects with, like the love you link page and tag cloud at the back. Part of the reason it’s so thick of course, is that all of the content is in English and German, which makes the project even more impressive – working with so many bloggers, writers, artists and translators must have been an epic undertaking. If only I had time to actually read it.

circus bookazine - Merily Leis
circus bookazine - Artikel von Digital Diamonds
images courtesy of Circus Bookazine

Written by Jenny Robins on Saturday October 2nd, 2010 12:07 am

Categories ,bangs and a bun, ,blog, ,blog slam, ,Bloggers, ,Circus, ,Circus Bookazine, ,design, ,event, ,fashion, ,fashion haiku, ,london, ,poetry, ,rachel hills, ,review, ,scalene, ,Sketch, ,Sketchbook mag, ,the londonist, ,the rag factory, ,the wed or dead wager

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