Thoughts from the Bus Stop

Inside Out: Psychology and Fashion took place on 12 October 2005 at the Royal Institution, and is now available as a webcast. It was organised by the Ri and Miss Selfridge, the speakers are Hilary Alexander, Dr Ali Guy and Dr Nigel Marlow, and the Chair is Baroness Susan Greenfield:

"Most of us, when we’re feeling truly honest, will admit that what we buy on Saturday trips to Oxford Street isn’t really essential to our survival. But the stuff we carry back home with us in shopping bags is a big part of our self identity, and says a lot about where we see ourselves in society...

Your brain is on the lookout for ways to reward itself. So why does it choose to do it with a pair of shoes? Perhaps nothing else we buy contains as much of our self image as our clothes. We all have an idea about what clothing images work for us, and most probably have stories about times we made style mistakes! How can fashion take your personality from the inside out? This event (brings) together a unique mix of two psychologists and a fashion editor to look at the vibrant life of the fashionable brain."

Amazon.co.uk: Through The Wardrobe: Women's Relationships With Their Clothes by Ali Guy, Eileen Green & Maura Banim
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Popaganda: The Fashion and Style of JC De Castelbajac is on at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1 February – 1 May 2006:

"A Campbell’s soup can dress, a ‘fur coat’ made of teddy bears, giant Snoopy T shirts and inflatable ponchos – the witty and flamboyant designs of French fashion maverick Jean Charles de Castelbajac will be on show… the most prolific fashion designer who emerged in the 1970s, his idiosyncratic designs a mix of bright colour, pop culture and humour."

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Sixties Fashion is on at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London from 6 June – December 2006:

"40 years after Time Magazine’s famous 1966 ‘Swinging London’ cover, the V&A explores the Swinging Sixties. The display looks at the influence of Mary Quant on other designers who retailed in Carnaby Street and the Kings Road, including designs by Jean Muir, Ossie Clark and Barbara Hulanicki’s Biba. Iconic pieces by Paco Rabanne, Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent will represent responses of the Paris couturiers."

V&A Museum: 1960s Fashion and Textiles
Sixties City: Sixties Fashion and Design
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Anna Piaggi, Vogue Italia

Anna Piaggi: Fashion-ology will be on at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London from 2 February – 23 April 2006:

"An exhibition on the life and work of Anna Piaggi, the influential Italian journalist, stylist and editor. Piaggi is best known for her work for Italian Vogue and has been muse to designers and photographers including Karl Lagerfeld. This V&A display is drawn from Piaggi’s personal archive, stored in her Milan home, and will highlight her extensive collection of clothing."

The Blitz Kids: Anna Piaggi '90s photo gallery
The Observer: Rebel de jour
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Well Fashioned: Eco Style in the UK is on at the Crafts Council Gallery in London from 23 March – 4 June 2006:

"Two rooms of fabulous fashion from the UK’s hottest young designers who make clothes that don’t cost the earth... Twenty-one fashion labels present their ecologically and ethically sound clothes and accessories. If this sounds more worthy than groovy think again: this gear is chic and sassy.

Well Fashioned is the first comprehensive survey of the UK’s blossoming eco-fashion industry and introduces the cutting-edge designers from this young and emerging discipline. Exhibits range from customised denim and multi-functional streetwear to compostable wedding dresses and recycled evening wear...

Well Fashioned exhibitors include: B.Earley, Barabara Lee, Sarah Ratty of Ciel, Gracie Burnett, Enamore (by Jenny McPherson), Kate Goldsworthy, howies, Junky Styling, juste. (by Tamsin Lejeune), Keep and Share (by Amy Twigger), Dr. Emma Neuberg, Osvo Mode (by Jeanette Osterried and Thomas Voorn), red mutha (by Lize Curtis) Professor Dai Rees, Sari (by Sital Haria and Sam Cook), Benjamin Shine, Beyond Skin (by Nathalie Dean), Suitcase (by Edson Raupp) Terra Plana (by Galahd Clark),Ting (by Ingua Ting) and Alison Willoughby...(more...)"

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Via 24 Hour Museum:
"A 16th century bed in the house’s crimson bedroom was used in some particularly steamy scenes and Sharon had to make sure that the romps caused no damage to the valuable antique..." (more)
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Photographer: Ola Bergengren for H&M

Thanks to Fluxuries for mentioning the new jewellery collection which Solange Azagury-Partridge (whose stunning top-of-the-range jewellery I heart very much but could never afford) has done for H&M - click here for the full press release, and images.

"The collection Solange has created for H&M mixes passionate red with decadent smoky-grey metal. One theme features glittery 'discoball' party jewellery and hair accessory, while another is made of red metallic lace decorated with red 'crystals' and includes a necklace, bracelet and tiara. The third theme shows chains in elegant red or smoky grey which have been fashioned into necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets. Some of the pieces are shaped to look like little metal cages with sparkly strass stones."

The rings look gorgeous but darn it, I can't wear base metal - it's just asking for excema. At the moment I'm enjoying a particular fine breakout on my left hand - blisters, splits, craters - my thumb looks like the surface of the moon (except in pink, yellow and red). Even my usually effective Protopic ointment is not getting rid as fast as it usually does. Still, I have an excuse to get my colleagues to open jars for me.
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On till January 22, 2006 at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (part of the Smithsonian) in Washington, D.C. is Style and Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey:

"The first international exhibition devoted to sumptuous and graphically stunning imperial Turkish robes (kaftans) from the 16th and 17th century - the embodiment of the maxim that 'clothes make the man'... robes that dazzle with their audacious play of colors, bold designs, and rich finish. At the core of the 68 objects on view is a group of opulent imperial robes from the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, the largest repository of Islamic textiles in the world."

It like me you're too far away to visit in person, the exhibition's website has an online interactive with lots of beautiful photos to drool over.
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Isn't it pretty?



Show Me: Bone-Eating Snot-Flower And Other Animal Discoveries
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Clearing out my flat in preparation for our move, I came across these shoes, which were part of my work on my Art & Design foundation course (twelve years ago, when I was 18!). They've been on display in most of the places I've lived since then, but they'd been in a crate for two years and our new place doesn't have much shelf space, so I thought it was time to snap them for posterity and bin them.

If you'd like to try making these at home, kids... get some old shoes (preferably suede or fabric, although leather does work) and paint them in layers of acrylic paint. The 'tea and biscuits' pattern was applied in acrylic paint, the monochrome pattern was added with a black bullet point permanent marker over a white acrylic background. The monochrome shoes were coloured inside with black marker. Varnished the finished articles with PVA glue. Once dry, you can't walk in them as the paint cracks, but they look do nice on a shelf.
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Have been meaning to write this post for months. In August I went to stay with my best friend from school in the Medway area of Kent, and she drove me out to Dungeness, to visit the cottage where the late artist and filmaker Derek Jarman spent his last years, and created an unusual garden full of found objects. I'd wanted to go for years - since getting hold of the book, Derek Jarman's Garden.

Dungeness is a strange and beautiful place. We visited on a sunny day and the light was just amazing - have a look at this 360 degree panorama of Prospect Cottage and Dungeness by Bruce Hemming. Prospect Cottage's garden has been maintained by its current owner, and is totally in keeping with the atmosphere of Dungeness - small pockets of life nestling in a seemingly barren place. (Apparently, Dungeness is officially the UK's only desert).

There was a wonderful surprise waiting for me a couple of doors down from Prospect Cottage - another garden full of found object assemblages, which I became really engrossed in and ending up loving even more than the garden I'd come to see (no disrespect, Mr J). I took loads of photos of both gardens and after I'd got them loaded onto Flickr I was contacted by another user, who told me that the garden was his father's - an artist called Brian Yale - and pointed me in the direction of more of his dad's artwork - I love it when stuff like that happens!

If you fancy a nose round these gardens, my photos are in my Derek Jarman's Garden and Dungeness: Brian Yale's garden Flickr sets.

By the way, avoid the "legendary" Pilot pub for lunch - I knew chips could be disappointing, but hadn't realised they could ever be revolting. Ours tasted of stale cooking oil and we could taste them for the rest of the day... yeeuk.
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This and many other questions answered in last night's Emmerdale, when Ashley and Laurel finally got married!


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As Bonfire Night approaches, thought I'd flag up Gunpowder, Treason & Plot, a new website for kids explaining the story of Guy Fawkes & co's failed plot to blow up Parliament, 400 years ago (by The Parliamentary Archives and 24 Hour Museum / Show Me). There's also a version for grown-ups.


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