JOLIBE: New Designer Crush

I came across Jolibe whilst watching an episode of Stylista and you could say it was love at first sight (and I don't even believe in love at first sight).

JOLIBE designer Joel Diaz is Dominican Republic born where he spent most of his adolescent years in art school. At 14 however, he began learning dressmaking techniques from his mother. This is obviously when he discovered his love for fashion as he then went on to study fashion design at the Altos de Chavon School of Design in the DR. After receiving a scholarship to study at Parsons School of Design he moved to New York. He then pursued a career in fashion, and worked with several designers before landing at Helmut Lang and you can see the strong Lang influence in his work. In 2007 he opened JOLIBE with his partner, Christina LaPens, a photographer and art director. The Fall 2007 Collection marked the debut of JOLIBE during Paris Fashion week and has since been shown in New York.

Jolibe is everything I could ever ask for in a designer - strong structured looks that can take you from day to night, gorgeous shades of fabric that will never go out of style and although the overall silhouettes are quit classic, he adds little quirky details that make the outfit stand out and really do make you feel like you've spent your money on something you will love every time you wear it. Also its hard to find new designers that have a strong sense of their own style and a vision of what they want their collections to look like for the next couple of years but I think Jolibe has delivered from the very start.

AW07

SS08

AW08

SS09

Mutate Britain

After my rather unsuccessful sale rummage at Start Boutique in Old Street today (ok I found an amazing Stella McCartney coat but even with the 40% discount it was still 900 smackers and waaay out of my budget) and I headed to Cordy House to check out the "Mutate Britain" exhibit which I've been meaning to see for about a month now. I wasn't disappointed, actually it might be the best exhibition that I've ever seen in London. I don't mean to sound cliche but it was so different and unexpected. I only had my shitty-good-for-nothing digital camera with me, so excuse the poor quality photos.

When you first walk in, you enter a dimly lit graffitied room full of alien robot like sculptures made out of car/bike spare parts and anything that on its own would usually be described as "junk". It also smelt a bit like horse stables. And had a weird stray dog walking around.

This then leads you to the second less dingy room full of smaller sculptures, some graffiti art and a weird but awesome plane propeller (or at lest thats what I think it was).

You then move onto the second floor where theres some dope art and more of the same etc etc.


This is also where you find my favourite piece - a skull portrait made out of coloured badges.


And then you get you the best bit - the "interactive room" on the third floor. You're greeted with what first looks like a neon sign but is actually some creepy dolls tangled in fairylights.


And then out of the darkness you see a giant head. It changes faces at a blink of an eye and there were some sort of controls in front of it, so I'm guessing you can play around with the facial features also. Loved the virtual graffiti wall as well, a little boy was hogging it so didn't get to try it out but looks like you can have hours of fun with it.


The pole dancing robots and DJ were the best. I want one in my house.


This floor also had a little cafe if you were feeling peckish and a shop with a dark and dingy "maze" which I didn't dare go into by myself.


And this thing. I think the idea was to climb into it as there was a supervisor type person standing next to it (prob to help you in the likely chance of you getting stuck).

Anyways go check it out, its FREE and open 12-10pm on Sat & 12-7pm on Sun. So no excuses, you can pop in after doing your Chrimbo shopping. Exhibition finishes on Sun 21st Dec.

www.mutatebritain.com

Like it or not...

...these three madames WILL be your fashion/music crushes of 2009!

LADY GAGA:



LA ROUX:



JANELLE MONAE:

I heart Bruno

Forget "what if God was one of us?" - its all about "what if Jesus was a male model?"

HAWTSTUFF

The Return of the Legends (and Moi)

I feel terrible about neglecting* my blog (and it's readers) for almost 2 months but there have been a lot of things that needed to be sorted out but I am back! I'm more excited about the return of two of my fav ladies in showbiz though - Grace Jones & Cyndi Lauper. Both are looking super hot for their age (Grace is 60 and Cyndi is 55) and I'm glad to see they haven't lost their quirky sense of style (their songs are still pretty banging too).

GRACE:






Dream outfit I'd like to see Grace in: one of these from new designer Andrea Cammarosano. Grace likes her outfits to be structured and eye-catching so this should be right up her street. She's also a fan of black so would be nice to see some splashes of colour on her.




CYNDI:

Dream outfit I'd like to see Cyndi in: this dress from Basso & Brooke's Spring 06 collection. Cyndi is the complete opposite of Grace - a huge fan of colour. Also this dress has the fun elements of her past 80's outfits, so I can really see her bringing this dress to life.

*I haven't been totally neglecting le blog - I've added more links on the right hand side and all the posts are now conveniently labeled. Also I will be going to PARIS for a day trip as a Birthday treat on 16th so any recommendations would be mucho appreciated as the last time I went with my mother. When I was 12. She made me stay in the Louvre for over 3 hours. I hated it.

Wode by Boudicca

Wode is the first "art" fragrance by Boudicca which launched during Frieze Art Fair last week and can now be all yours for £85 from www.boudiccawode.com. The idea came from the Ancient Britons who used a blue plant extract "woad" as tribal markings (apparently in its raw state it is a muddy hue and only when exposed to oxygen did it turn blue) and it has taken almost a decade to develop. I think this is pure genius - even after the blue has disappeared the Boudicca mark is still on you just in a completely different sensual form. The packaging is in the shape of a spray paint can to symbolize that graffiti is the modern day war paint. Boudicca is also in the process of creating a collection of garments with 'hidden meanings' which are revealed by spraying them with Wode.





Zowie Broach from JC Report on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scott for Adidas Originals

Ok I realise that I go on about Jeremy Scott quit a bit, I really don't think he's THAT great but I do love love love his new line for Adidas which hits selected fashion boutiques come 1st February. I've never really been into sportswear that much apart from the occasional hoodie so I was really impressed when I saw these pics. I've been looking for the perfect flapper dress and tails coat but they've been going for ridiculous prices on Ebay. Maybe its fashion fate - maybe I'm supposed to get these instead? Although I'm not sure of the prices yet, it could be what my wardrobe is missing.


And yes I'm even in love with the trainers (the angel wings ones will also be available in white but personally I think the gold looks more impressive). I usually only admire trainers from afar as they make my legs look not so attractive. Last time I fell in love with a pair of trainers was when Nike released their limited edition Liberty print Dunks back in May - they looked sweeeet but unfortunately I didn't manage to get my hands on a pair (I'm still hoping a pair in size 6 will pop up on Ebay).

Day & Night Boutique

Back in September on my trip to Motherland I came across a little shopping wonder in the shape of the Day & Night Boutique in St. Petersburg. Outside it looked like any other shop as the windows where covered by huge posters but once I stepped inside, it felt like I'd been transported to another world. I was greeted by a pleasant shop assistant (which are hard to come by in Russia from my experience) that left me to wonder round by myself for a bit (which I was ecstatic about as I hate it when shop assistants follow you like they're your shadow). Another equally pleasant assistant came to my rescue when I got a bit lost and confused in the maze type interior - there was a lot of "going up, to get down" sort of thing going on. The main focus are the luminous neon tubes that float round the boutique and the quirky furniture also caught my eye, especially the bullhead chair and the table with a womans gold legs (one of the assistants later told me that this was made from a leg cast of a famous Russian ballet dancer). I must have been ooo-ing and ahh-ing all over the place and drooling over the Lanvin alien insect inspired jewellery on display.


I later did some research and found out that the genius behind it all is Russian interior designer Anton Gurlanov, who is also the brains behind some of Moscow's finest hotel interiors. The idea behind the giant tubes "was a Windows screensaver, 3D Pipes, which fills the monitor with an ever-generating, illusionistic tangle of tubing". I'll admit I was more impressed with the interior than the clothes themselves, as you can find these type of garms down Bond Street in London but I did find my beloved Philip Lim skirt there which goes with everything and I have practically been living in. Craig of Altamira NYC took this lovely pic of me wearing said skirt during London Fashion Week.

Hat - vintage, coat - Miss Selfridge, shirt - old Zara, bag - ebay, shoes - old Topshop.

Fashion on TV

Since Stylista doesn't air till next week and British Style Genius was a bit boresville last night (actually really like Twiggy's Frock Exchange though - is that wrong?), I was glad to come across The Rachel Zoe Project. The nasaly American accents are a bit distracting at first but once you get used to them, the show is actually pretty good and some of the outfits are killer. I used to think Rachel Zoe was a bit of a ponce, trying to be all exotic with her second name and all (pronounced 'Zo" when its clearly spent Zoeeeeee) and didn't think she was that great at styling but after watching the show my opinion of her has changed. I can see thats she's really passionate about her job and makes her clients happy (also I am very jealous of her wardrobe). You can watch the episodes here. I DIE.

Cuprocking

I first came across Cuprocking through random blog browsing - a new form of art. It's environmentally friendly (reusing cups in the name of art) and not as long lasting as graffiti but it can be cleaned up without spending the tax payers money. Cuprocking is the brainchild of Andy Uprock. The idea was first born when he was a young 'un playing soccer (football) and all the kids used to squish their drink cans and other bits of rubbish into the fence. It wasn't until he had a convo with one of his mates and fellow artist yonks later about innovative ideas, art and fences that it hit him. Do check out the site for more info, news, pics and where you can virtually cuprock yourself and then email your skills to Andy himself.

After seeing the photo above though, I was instantly reminded of Jeremy Scott's and Keith Haring's Adicolour Black Series tracksuit for Adidas. Couldn't find any decent pics of it but you can clearly see it being worm by Kylie's dancers in the "In Your Arms" vid, along with her wearing Gareth Pugh and Dolce & Gabbana (killed it with the crappy eye make-up no?).

Here's music artist Niyi wearing the tracksuit bottoms. You can
also have a looky at the actual tracksuit at the Fashion V Sport
exhibition at the V&A along with other designers like
Cassette Playa. The exhibition is tiny but you get to see
ridiculous items such as a Chanel fishing rod.

Rainbow Magic

Because I get bored easily my minds tends to wonder and I get a sort of chain reaction of thoughts where one thing reminds me of another and so on and the new "nano-chromatic" advert happened to remind me of Fred Butler's colourful work.

Fred Butler is a London based props stylist and accessories designer. She works with art directors, stylists and photographers to create imaginative one-off pieces for fashion stories to enhance the aesthetic of a shoot. Her work is characterised by the inclusion of everyday object to create a kitsch yet elegant aesthetic.

She mostly works with paper to create origami type wonders but I have seen her use everyday objects such as tiny ice-cream spoons and pins to create something utterly beautiful and different. I heard of her a while ago (must say did think it was a guy at first) but didn't start paying attention until I saw THAT Selfridges display. She also has her own accessories line out.