Madame Butterfly

The world is very strange. I am currently studying Textile Design at Leeds University. Last week I had just come out of a Design Theory lecture when a girl ran forward and asked me whether I had been in the Madame Butterfly show 3 years ago. I responded really quizzically, as after all, it was such a long time ago, but discovered she had been in the exact same show. She was blogging about the experience and in doing so came across a picture of us both next to each other. How very very weird. I feel slightly bad in writing this blog as I'm almost stealing her idea, but I think that bizarre coincidences like this must be noted.

The dress that I had made for my A-Level coursework was selected to participate in a large fashion show in the Royal Albert Hall. The fashion show was based upon the themes of Puccini's Madame Butterfly. My dress tied in well with the themes of innocence, escapism, vulnerability and love. The Royal Albert Hall in partnership with the BBC and 15 colleges from London and the South East joined together to stage a massive fashion show on the incredible stage. There were a series of catwalks leading to Butterfly's house centre stage surrounded by water.

It was a really interesting and enjoyable experience. It was fascinating to see how the choreographers and directors managed all the 150 pupils to perform exactly how they wanted. It required immense amount of preparation and organisation but really came together. It was also really exciting to be apart of something so big and to be backstage at the Royal Albert Hall.

"Never put off until tomorrow the fun you can have today"

This morning I sat at my sewing machine ready to wizz through 12 cheerleading outfits, but instead just sat there, on my weird posture chair, staring at all my birthday cards. I really do love birthday cards. I think they're really special... well they can be really special...obviously depending on who wrote it and what they wrote. But it got me thinking about card designs and how many there are. There are cards for all types of occasions, some pretty ridiculous. There are the birthday cards, the thank you cards, the anniversary cards, the valentines cards, the weddings cards, of course the Christmas cards, the 'feel better soon' cards, the mothers and fathers day cards, the general congratulations cards, the baby's born cards, the good luck cards, the 'sorry you're leaving' cards, the sympathy cards and apparently sorry cards. And then there's the theme of the card - whether its a jokey one, a flowery one, a teddy bear one (yuck), a poem, an arty one, an embellished one...well it just goes on and on.

I wonder if I should get into card making...

The LookBook!

My friend has recently told me about the Lookbook. The lookbook is a website where people upload pictures of themselves daily to show you what they're wearing and their outfits each day. They also give you details of their outfit, and where each garment is from. Some people have obviously spent ages and ages taking the photo and deciding on what to wear and how to position themselves. And others have done a myspace style picture in front of a mirror. I find it fascinating, as I can spend hours and hours just scrolling down the lookbook and seeing all different types of people from different places and their styles. However I do find it slightly self-promoting and boasting, and when there are 13 year old girls posing in amazing outfits, quite sad really. But then it is really enjoyable and as the scroller just keeps scrolling and never ends, continuously reloading, one can waste hours and hours just watching people. Like a moving magazine. But with ordinary people.

Anyway, take a look.

www.lookbook.nu

Spring/Summer 2011

This time last week, we were driving up to Bradford for a talk about the annual textiles competition, which we had applied to the previous year. It was quite a long talk, and not all was completely relevant to us, and Bradford as a place was rather horrid, (a car crash taking place just outside the hall). But, what I did enjoy was seeing the winners work, as well as hearing all about Peclers Paris - a colour and trend forecasting company. Their job is to decide today's trends, to picture the future and to infuse added meaning to the product.

Anyway, I thought you may be interested in the trend forecast of Spring/Summer 2011. The forecast is divided into 4 sections. And in general, there is a lot about Print. Within each sub category there is always a section covering ethnic prints, floral prints, cheerful prints. Prints, prints, prints, prints. But here are all the trends:

Floreal - 'A romantic rock mood blows over a fresh flower bed. Spring.' It focuses a lot on flowers and soft, pale colourings, such as prairie green, periwinkle blue, candy pinks, pompadour bouquets with rose water, poppy red and bleached pastels; foamy pollen. Femininity, virgins, laces, bloomsbury and floral patternings are major themes.

Meanderings - 'Docker equipment for long haul travelers - an environment where a nomad lifestyle... takes us elsewhere'. Meanderings looks to army khakis and quite an earthy and ochre theme. Colourings, such as workwear blues and dusty grey. Some themes which will be focused on are workwear, transit, rusty, 50s and patterns.

Solaris - 'Away with grey! Lumino-therapy and renewable energy, use the sun to warm yourself. Splatter life with cheer and good will'. Solaris is looking to the sun, focusing on intense orange flashes, emerald foliage, and burned earth. It is inspired by images of India, and encompasses soft, gold rays, and the whole spectrum of beauty. Themes within Solaris are inferno cult, theatre costumes, nostal geek, hotmix, patterns.

Cheerful - 'Optimism and well being, regenerated simple modern graphics, structured silhouettes and ultra-fresh colours organise yesterdays chaos'. Cheerful encompasses nautical stripes, rosey cheeks and lipstick red. It is looking into pratical clothings, for an upbeat lifestyle. Flashy clashes under pure summer sky. The themes are mustache stripes, fun bondage, leather, sexy sport, padding, patterns.

I loved the forecasting journals - 'Pulse Generation', and spent most of the lectures reading them and flicking through them. The way the trends are laid out on the page is not only enjoyable to look through, almost like a magazine, but is very interesting to see how they describe and illustrate the upcoming trends. It will be interesting to come back to this blog in two years time and to see what exactly will be in the high street.

I hope you're inspired. Be inspired. Go.

Arielle De Pinto, Knitted metal

‘A fine arts graduate of Concordia University in 2007, Canadian designer Arielle de Pinto developed her unique style of metal work over the course of studies in print and textiles and a series of internships.
Launching a line later that same year Arielle is a regular participant in New York and Paris fashion weeks and her collection of hand-worked jewelry is presented by select specialty stores internationally.’

I've always been very interested in different, extraordinary, unique and innovative ways to create knit. Arielle De Pinto specializes in knitting metal to create really interesting and refined jewelry. I also love how her designs are presented within the photoshoot.

http://www.arielledepinto.com - check it out...

Grease is the Word

I am currently partaking in the Stage Musical Society production of Grease. Unfortunately I am not singing or dancing within the show, but instead I am sourcing and creating the costumes for the show. Also known as Costume Design. I am doing this with two other girls from Fashion Design, and the three of us have set out to produce a day wear outfit, a ball gown, a cheerleading outfit and a sparkly number for Beauty school drop out, for 44 cast members. Oh not forgetting the T-Birds and Pink Ladies Jackets. Although stressful at times, it has been an incredible experience and has really opened my eyes in Costume design as a plausible career. It combines two of my passions - Theatre and Textiles, and I love to see the final outcomes of the costumes on stage. I was meant to be documenting my experiences as I go along, but have now discovered that it is 2 weeks before the show, so most things have been found and completed - mostly found from charity shops and vintage stalls and markets. However, I have given myself the task today to make 12 cheerleading outfits. Excellent.

Texture

It was my birthday on the 18th, but I have been celebrating it for a week! (Which is amazing, but not too wonderful seeing as it is almost the end of term and I need to get back on top of my work). I am now 21! So officially a woman. The last big birthday til I'm 30.
My friends have been incredible and are the best possible friends a girl could have - so generous, amazing, kind, fantastic, beautiful and lovely. And they overwhelmed with my gifts and presents.
Anyway, the reason for writing this post, wasn't to brag about how awesome my party was, but is instead going to tell you about Texture - an ingenious restaurant where my parents took me for my birthday.


Texture is a restaurant set in the heart of London, in Mayfair. The chef is from Iceland and serves up Scandinavian inspired food. Focusing on the texture of different foods throughout. The combination of Xavier Rousset (one of the UKs most successful sommeliers) and Aggi Sverrisson (an award winning chef) created a concept for a restaurant where light, healthy food and exquisite wines would have equal importance. That concept became Texture, believed to be the first restaurant co-founded by an award-winning sommelier and top chef.

For nibbles we were presented with flavoured pop corn and fish skin, parmesan crisps. All with unique textures and flavoures. For my mains I had a venison, served with chocolate. And for desert they presented bowls filled with dry ice, pouring over our icecream - like a couldron. I was most impressed. What I found fascinating about this restaurant was the way the food was presented - everything was taken into consideration; the placement of the food on the plate, and the decoration on the food, the colour of the plate, the position of the plate. It was just like art. Art and design within food.

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

Amélie is wonderful and beautiful!

Amélie is the reason I love Paris, and probably the reason why I want to learn french. I just think the film is so beautiful. The whole film is like an art piece. Beautiful. From the music, to the cinematography, to the language, to the story line, to Audrey Tautou. It is the ultimate feel-good film; I came away warm hearted and ready to do good deeds for the world. It paints lovely images of Paris, filmed using vibrant colours to evoke a romantic and dreamlike sensation.

La Langue D'Amour

Oui c'est vrai, les Français est la langue d'amour!

Why? Because it's beautiful, charming, romantic, and one can say 'amour'. At the moment I'm studying French as an elective, as part of my degree, in order for me to successfully marry a VERY good looking and charming French man. But also, and probably equally unlikely, I'm learning french so that I can work in Paris for my year in industry next year. Well, potentially. I have visited France many a time, and Paris a few times. But, no surprise, I love it, and I love how it is photographed and illustrated and how it is just so elegant, and classic. Take Chanel for instance. Again, no surprise there. These are just a few photos that I have taken of the city myself...

...I do however want to go back and take millions more.

I am lucky enough to go to Premier Vision in February as an honorary textileser, amongst fashioners. But I'll find any excuse to go. I am inspired to use this blog to search through french related designers and artists, and will hopefully document on here, my qualms and difficulties with finding an internship in Paris. IF, I find one. We'll see.

Experimental Knit

Experimental knitting? I'm thinking Sandra Backlund (who I've already mentioned), Mark Fast, and now Pringle, who have brought experimental knitting to something of the norm; sold in high street stores...yes and by that I do mean Top Shop. Just as a quick aside, people love to mention Topshop.

Mark Fast.

Pringle of Scotland.

Topshop.

Other than just experimental knit in fashion, I have come across some rather amusing knitted things. And when I say things, I mean really really random stuff.

Look how wonderful these knitted cupcakes are! I absolutely love them. I really do! I just think they're such ingenious ideas. What knitter would hate knitted cupcakes. But what does one do with them? I would definitely squeeze them. I reckon they'd be really a good stress release.

A knitted chair. Yep.

Yes, most certainly a knitted bicycle. Obviously. No not a scarf, or a jumper...a bicycle. One may think it's pointless, and I'll probably agree, but it is fun. And we like fun.

How long do you think it took to make? A very long time.

And if it couldn't get any weirder. A knitted digestive system.

It just goes to show, one can literally knit anything, in any way.