Monday 31 March 2014

Falling petals

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scarf made by me
River Island dress
Zara hat
River Island boots

Every year I swear to myself I will take loads of photos with the blossom but things always conspire against me: rain, no camera, too busy, no cherry trees nearby. But this afternoon I had a dreamy twenty minutes under these blossom trees, twirling amongst the gently falling petals, and shooting upwards into a soft grey sky obscured by pink fluff. :)

Friday 28 March 2014

Face up

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Primark sweater painted by me
dress from Singapore
Cheap Monday boots
photographed next to E's work on the mannequin

My favourite thing to paint/draw is people and now I've become weirdly obsessed with prints of faces on clothing. I painted this sweater ages ago but it feels so relevant again. Maybe because I was doing something similar for my last project and am still doing faces for my current project. :)

Sunday 23 March 2014

Childhood delusions

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vintage velvet top (used to be half of a dress until I cruelly chopped it up)
white PVC skirt made by me
K's crown made by her
K's Lazy Oaf backpack
H&M necklace
Asos tights
Undergound creepers
old velvet scrunchie

My friend K is doing her project on childhood delusions so while in London, we took a trip to Hamley's. I don't think I've actually been there before but it was fun to coo over the Sylvanian Families and kiddie tutus before snapping some photos in the Barbie section. :)

Friday 21 March 2014

Folding Stars

ˆBiffy Clyro

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father's coat
mother's scarf
velvet dress from Thunder Egg
Asos tights
Underground creepers
Zara hat
K's Lazy Oaf backpack

mother's white turtleneck
American Apparel disco pants
old velvet scrunchie

Scrud life means packing light and wandering free. (As well as a lot of other things.) I've spent most of this week in London visiting art (and a few shops) for research for my project, of course. I always get super hot when travelling so I decided to pack super minimal.

Also BLACK LIPSTICK MAKES LITERALLY EVERYTHING LOOK TEN TIMES BETTER. :)

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Projections

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A peek at my current project on "Worship" which is inspired by religious imagery and its appropriation in kitsch, as well as Grayson Perry, Phiney Pet and other illustrative designers. I've been creating illustrations and here I have projected them onto a mannequin wearing some draped material, showing how my prints could be applied to clothing. :)

Saturday 15 March 2014

Grain

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second-(third?) hand lace top
American Apparel disco pants
Asos sandals
Ark coat
River Island necklace
earrings made by me

Um so… I have a confession. I used to profess a strong hatred for "grey lumpy things" aka conceptual fashion such as that by Comme des Garcons, but art school has worked its magic on me and now, as well as admiring the concepts behind such clothing… I kinda wanna wear it too. Anyway, yesterday, I wore a recent acquisition with always faithful disco pants, which somehow led to me feeling like a model in a Comme advert all day. Good stuff. Also, I spent probably a good twenty minutes playing elevator bingo-and-shoot with K to get these photos. :)

Ps. Also, the story behind this lace top: my sewing teacher, E, got a bunch of sewing stuff from a lady on Freecycle, including what looked like the top half of a wedding dress. E didn't want it so offered it to me and since I'm always up for wacky clothes, I happily accepted (even though I got rid of a similar lacy top a few years ago… although in my defence it was too small). A new zip and some hemming later, I had a new, perfectly-fitting, lace monstrosity! Thanks to the lovely E and the mysterious kind lady on the internets.

Thursday 13 March 2014

Heart's a Mess

^Gotye

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skirt from Singapore
mother's top
Topshop jumper
Cheap Monday boots
Tatty Devine customised necklace
Topshop earrings

You can see some of my studio space, although the work in the background is actually my friends', not mine. My desk is in an awkward space to photograph (damn you 50mm lens) but I promise you I was really well co-ordinated with my drawings today! Some days you just gotta dress bright to wake up the world. I also really love this skirt and especially the way the hidden pleats flare out when I kick the spilt open while walking. I should wear it more. :)

Monday 10 March 2014

Makin' Magic

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hat from Claire's Accessories
necklace made by me
H&M shirt
Gap denim jacket
skirt made by my mother I think
River Island boots

I found this childhood skirt when I was rooting around for fabric the other day. It must have been full length on me when I was a child, but luckily it has a very elasticated waist so it still fits! I went for a low-waisted and simple look today (well simple for me - I was wearing my fluffy rainbow scarf outside), partly due to the fact that if I wear this skirt high-waisted, it is exactly knee-length, a length I don't like on myself. I also wore a lot of white, in celebration of the sun we've been having over the past couple of days! I have decided it is officially spring. :)

Friday 7 March 2014

When swallows fly

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skirt, scarf and swallow tights made by me
L's denim jacket
chambray shirt from Topshop
Underground creepers

Took a little trip to the cathedral today as research for my next project, and promptly got distracted by the spring flowers outside. It really feels like spring; the sun's shining and … um, it's still cold, but it's now jacket weather rather than coat weather! If you're from the north of England that is. :)

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Alice in wonderland

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fake fur scarf made by me
Topshop dress
L's denim jacket
Doc Martens

I made this DREAM scarf inspired by the FEAR scarf from Hyein Seo's "Fear eats the soul" collection. Seo is a fashion student currently studying for her Masters (I think) at Antwerp's Royal Academy and presented a collection at NYFW a couple of weeks ago as part of the Vfiles show. I figured an homage was the perfect way to use the coloured fake fur I've been accumulating for funsies. :)

PS. I promise I wasn't trying to look creepy...

Monday 3 March 2014

Interlude

I think I understand now why Tavi stopped blogging at Style Rookie and instead went on to create Rookie mag. When I started blogging here, I was at school and spent most of the time intellectually and creatively bored so this blog was a way to express something - anything - personal. Since then I've finished school (and college) and am now at art school (not quite university, it's complicated and confusing I know), working full-time to realise my creative ideas. I tend to get totally consumed by whatever creative project I'm working on and my mind is so filled with ideas, possibilities, images and inspiration that I feel like I'm walking round in a euphoric daze. This is not to say that what I wear no longer matters to me; in fact I'm dressing ever more interestingly and in tune with my mood these days; but that it is only one part of my whole vision and sometimes I get more distracted by other parts and forget to blog. It's like my whole life is a piece of art now, rather than just this blog.

Fluxus. Or, whatever. Maybe just Monday thoughts that arrived while in the middle of trying to extract the essence of my next project from my mind into typed words. :)