_Bear Cub!

This cape is Vivienne Westwood from 'Chaos Point' AW08. The inside is cut and slash, and the rest is faux fur.

_Christmas Day

Here are some photos from my christmas, I realise its New Years now, just been so busy working everyday. The last photo is of Rory opening his present that I made him. Its a squiggle cabinet!I used the Vivienne Westwood x Cole and Son wallpaper to upholster it. Am going to take another photo to see what its like without the wrapping on!

_Singer

I came home after work last night and got straight on it. On my sewing machine that is! After bringing it from home it has been sleeping in the cubourd downstairs, so finally I got it out, and made my two best girlies their christmas prezzies. I went to Leeds market to get some materials. And now Im gona be sewing non-stop!No-ones gona be able to stop me!!:)

_Self Service

These are photos from Self Service AW 09 Its the Juergen Teller issue. I love this second photo, the bedroom looks lush, with all the bookshelves surrounding the bed. The photo is taken by Maciek Kobielski of the designer Vika Gazinskaya.I like the jumper the model in the first photo is wearing its by Herbie Mensah. I researched what Herbie Mensah was, and found out 'Mensah' is a vintage shop on Portobello Road that stocks vintage clothes by labels such as Biba, Christian Dior, Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant and Ossie Clark. Seeing as I used to go to school on Pembridge road I'm surprised I haven't heard of it, must check it out!

_slish slash slosh!

We went sledging yesterday, its so lovely to be able to in this gorgeous country side! My excitement for christmas is pretty much the biggest its ever been!!! Not long now!!...

_Xmas

One more day left of work and then you'll be flooded with Christmas photos!!!Iv got all my shopping done now,think I may of gone way overboard this year! Leaving Leeds after work to go down to Northamptonshire - where the boyf lives, SOOOOO excited!! x

_Poploving

Finally walked all the way along the strand in the freezing cold to the 'Poplife' Exhibition on at the Tate! And it was well worth the freezing fingers and toes!! I feel so cheeky putting up all the phots from exhibitions where photos are prohimited!!!Oh well!Free advertising for the Tate!

_Westwood Christmas Party!

Last Friday (cannot believe its been a week already, and only a week till Christmas!!), We had our Christmas Party. It was in an Italian Restaurant in Chelsea. We were given a three course feast, and endless wine on the tables. That's why I have had to borrow some photos from a few photographers, because when I got home I realised I took hardly any photos, that and my skills aren't up to theirs,haha!! It was a really lovely evening, nice to meet with the rest of the company and all in the spirit of Christmas!Thanks Westwood and Merry Christmas!




These last four photos are by Xingi.

Photo taken by Rory van Millingen

These last two photos are important. The penultimate is of Murray- Vivienne's life long colleague-who has worked along side her for decades standing with Sara Stockbridge-a muse and model of Vivienne's throughout the 80s and her daughter. And the last one is of Ashlie and Rachel (two lovely girls I work with) and Vivienne herself.

_Baltic

Here are some photos from The Baltic, Newcastle, I went on a day trip with Rory to see the exhibitions that I spoke about in an older post. The first three photos are from Martin Parr's 'Parr World', In one huge room there were collections of different things that fascinated him (art, postcards, various souvenirs).

Written on the Wall were his words "I have a collective gene". After walking around the whole thing it did make me think about continuing with collections. All children start collecting, be it rubber bands, pogs, gogos, marbles, my little ponies, its something we've all done at some point! And in this exhibition the collections were of things from the past 20 years which if they aren't collected by someone could easily be forgotten forever! Humans love nostalgia. I thought these watches with Osama Binladen faces on are crazy! And the various American Obama paraphernalia. Loved the spice girls choc bars!!!

The last photo is in Damien Hurst's 'Pharmacy' Exhibition.

The Baltic is a beautiful space, would really recommend it, and the shop is amazing.

_Back soon...

Right so Ive come to London without my lead for my camera, so although I could post about lots of different exciting things, I dont think they'd have as much impact without photos. Alors, I'm back in Leeds tmw and then I will post my night away, about time I know!!Hope your all enjoying the snow! Bx

_Absense makes the heart grow fonder...i hope!

I'm sorry i've been so rubbish recently,i've just been trying to fit in everything as it's the last few weeks of term for me. Last Week I went home to Rory's house to make his Christmas Present, it took me two full days of hard work, and I'm SO pleased with the results, I cannot wait to give it to him. After I finished that project I whipped up a quick dress on Rory's Mum's beloved sowing machine. And then, I had a few ideas of a little business I might begin, Avant Dark would be its name, thats the label i'd sow into the items, and it would be casual, day-wear,mainly dresses. But this is just a little idea at the moment, we'll see if I can find the time to progress with it. I dont know about all of you, but I'm feeling really excited about Christmas this year! I'm going home home in a few weeks, which I can't wait for, and then I'll really start going crazy with the Christmas shopping!!! Something Im also really excited for is the Westwood Christmas Party, which is only about a week away!Will write soon, blondiex

_Keith Haring

I should of written this a long time ago, because its been at the forefront of my life recently, but He has been an influence since the 80s. The POP LIFE exhibition on at the Tate Mod has really highlighted his talent, and a book that has recently been released is one of the nicest books I've got on the book shelf. The materials used in manufacturing it just emphasize his creative style. This jacket which Jeremy Scott produced is AMAZING!! Rory was thinking of getting it for me for Christmas, that was before He saw the price tag!! Its now sold out but it was available to buy on Collette. These badges and patches you can buy from the Tate are ace too.

_ Warehouse Shoot

Hiya, finally done a quick shoot of me newest goodies i found at the warehouse sale. Have been so busy doing essays, but am finally on top of it all, so can get down to some blogging!

In this photo i've gone for a tribal, ethnic vibe, the eskimo boots and skirt are from a vintage shop called 'Story of O' , but originally from Mongolia. The tights are h&m, the bag and jewellery is from Marakesh, Morroco. The pirate shirt is VW.


This is my favourite piece, the dress is VW Gold Label from DIY SS08, also the shoes, they are a collaboration with Melissa. The glove is Topshop, all jewellery is vintage.

Dress is VW, necklace I found in a flee market in Barcelona.


The hat I'm wearing in these shots is vintage, the jacket is also, it was from a long goth coat (that was my sisters and she'd kill me if she knew I cut it!!), the top is VW 'La Femme' bought from Rellik, Shorts VW Gold Label DIY SS08, Bag is Army surplus store.


This top is Vintage bought from 'Ryan's Vintage' in Leeds, the skirt is VW Red Label, and Shirt is VW Gold Label.

In these shots im wearing mesh string dress (worn as top) by Helmut Lang, jacket is from Beyond Retro, badge is from Keith Haring pop shop at the Tate. Twisted Trousers are VW Gold Label, Shoes are VW also. Oh and Barbie and Cindy just really wanted to be in the shoot!

_Muse

Hey, I'm sorry I've not been posting recently, I've just been SO drowned with my uni work. I know I still need to do a shoot from the warehouse sale, but just haven't had time. My boyfriend is a photographer and he turned his projects into 'books' for his degree. He only made one or two of each one, so has used this online publishing thing to get his work more seen by more people. Muse was the 2nd project he did, so check it out above. (It's best viewed in full screen). I'll try post some more up soon. X

_My LOVE for warehouse sales!!!

I went to a warehouse sale yesterday and got so many goodies, sort of blown my budget a bit for November, but have no regrets!! So am going to post up some photos shortly...

_The Quarry

These are a couple of photos from a shoot I did yesterday up in the Yorkshire Moors. It was such a cold day so had to wrap up. It was so sunny when we left Leeds, but by the time we got up there it had disappeared. The afternoon Autumn sun gives photos such magic and unfortunately that wasn't present..! Maybe next time!Ha. Jacket: Vivienne Westwood Man, punk muslin: Boy London, Boots: DM's, Tights: Vivienne Westwood, Necklace: from Morocco.

_Baltic

I'm planned on heading upto Newcastle to the Baltic Art Gallery. It's got three really great exhibitions on all at one time. I swear that's pretty rare! Normally there's only one that you want to visit..! Anyway, it's Martin Parr's PARRWORLD, Malcolm McLaren's Shallow and Damien Hirst's Pharmacy. They all run from now until early Jan/Feb 2010.

It's the only UK date for PARRWORLD which is cool, normally artists choose to exhibit in London if only showing once..! He's shot under a new title of Luxury, which will be interesting to see as he's known for his more gritty social realist work.

McLaren's work for Shallow falls under the 'musical painting' moniker. He cuts and pastes clips from old movies, the footage shows the time before people have sex. I only really relate McLaren to Westwood, Pistols, Bow Wow Wow etc, so will be good to see this side of him.

The Baltic are simply showing Hirst's Pharmacy exhibiton from '92. I like that though as I was only 4 back then so gives people another chance to see these particular works.

I'll let you know how it is when I get back, I'll try take some photos for those who can't visit.

_PSS Shoot.

I'm back!!! Not that I've been away away, but haven't had time to blog for so long, sorry guys!!I've gone back to uni and this year is suddenly a lot harder and a lot more work. But the other day a friend from work asked if Rory and I could model for one of their projects. Their both fashion students in their final year, they photographed and styled the studio shoot and the clothes were all borrowed from Paper Scissor Stone, in fact the studio was out the back of the shop! Here are some snapshots I took, I'm sure their photos are a lot better!! They stock some interesting brands, these clothes range from Henrik Vibskov, Won Hundred, Something Else, Wood Wood.