John William

AWOL

2012-02-16T13:14:00.001-08:00

I have been so bad at updating here. I have so many shoots coming out I can't wait to showwwww...

A peek for now of beautiful Billie and Dudley <3 <3 <3

Coming tonight!

2011-11-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

Gay Witches for Vice!

Photography: Masha Mel
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet
Styling Assistance: Romina Fernandez

Kansas Dolls

2011-11-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

I shot this story like 6 months ago! It only recently came out but I really love it a lot. First Buffalo gal go 'round the outside...

Photography: Hayley Louisa Brown
Styling: John William
Make Up: Bea Sweet
Hair: Hiroshi Matsushita
Models: William Potter @ Elite, Raymond @ M&P, Heidi @ Premier and Georgia @ Storm
Styling assistance: Romina Fernandez

Crybaby

2011-11-20T14:33:00.000-08:00

Photography: Jeff Hahn
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet
Model: Gabriel @ FM

Peek from Jeff and I's coming soon editorial for ones2watch...

HOLIDAY!

2011-11-19T07:22:00.001-08:00

Went on my first holiday in 7 years...

Gritty Gritty Grit Grit

2011-11-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

All over the homepage lol

\

Full shoots coming soon

After Tretchikoff...

2011-11-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

Stylist John William and photographer Holly Falconer’s first editorial for Let Them Eat Cake is a colourful exploration of ethnicity in fashion and the cultural legacy of Vladimir Tretchikoff. They were keen to talk me through their concept before publication. And as I’m always ready to talk big ideas, visual minutiae and the eccentric print-buying habits of the Great British Housewife, I let them. It begins in the middle, like all great conversations…

JW: … I love Tretchikoff’s paintings because he comes from a very naïve place, because he’s just painting what he finds beautiful in a way that he finds beautiful. I feel that when I use African iconography in my work it’s in the same spirit: it comes from a place of love and inspiration.

HF: Really? Because when I look at what you do it seems so much more sophisticated than anything by Tretchikoff. You learn a lot more about the models, it’s more layered…

JW: I think that’s because this is 2011. In the way you shoot people and the way I style them, there’s a lack of polish; we like reality. With Tretchikoff there’s absolutely no lack of polish in his execution but there is in the way he presents non-white identity.

HF: We began by imagining his paintings hanging in middleclass living rooms across Britain in the sixties. The first layer of this project was to bring in an acknowledgement that isn’t present in Tretchikoff’s painting, a really emphatic acknowledgment that we’re coming at African culture from a very British place, hence the use of wallpaper. With its design, we were also drawing on Ndebele house painting, a type of South African art that became really popular in the late nineteenth century when the Ndebele people lost a war against white Boer farmers. To the Boers they just looked like patterns, but they allowed communities to communicate without outsiders realizing it. In the portraits I’ve made you’ve got a mixture of standard Tretchikoff poses – some of which are highly sexualized, others of which are thoughtful or smiling – mixed in with something quite real about the models, something that I caught in the moment. Similarly, in the balance between kitsch wallpaper and Ndebele house painting, there’s both an acknowledgement of something Western with something secret behind it.”

JW: With the styling, the makeup and the lighting on top of all that, it was meant to be quite obvious that me, as the stylist, and Bea, as the make up artist, that we are taking these two real people, Harry and Sienna, and we’re literally putting on them our version of the story. Tretchikoff created his own version of exoticness and otherness; we were doing that too but in a way that was obvious.

HF: It’s beyond cliché; we’re doing something interesting with it.

JW: In many ways for me this story is part of an ongoing life project. I use a lot of African iconography in my work as a stylist; African style is something I find very inspiring. I’m not scared of using non-white models and piecing together stories using non-white iconography. I see it as something important, something that I should be doing. Engaging with cliché can be powerful provided you’re using it for a reason. The problem arises when you have a rich fashion magazine engaging with black stereotypes and it doesn’t seem to be doing so for any reason at all: “Oh, Lanvin’s brought out some new tribal-esque jewellery, let’s shoot it on black models.” I want to engage with my model on a personal level. I want to tell a story and put something of the model into the work. That makes it important to engage with different cultures, whether we’re talking ethnicity or something else.

HF: This shoot was really important for me in terms of models. I find it disturbing that so many agencies have such a small number of black models.

JW: People, regardless of their background or skin colour, shouldn’t feel scared to explore other cultures beyond their experience so long as they engage, and so long as they have a reason. That seems okay to me because the only way people can learn is by being curious. What I want to see in fashion is more thought - that’s across fashion and styling and photography as a whole. All too often what you’ll see is a black girl arrive at a shoot and the stylist immediately says “let’s do a bright orange lip”. Of course, they can do that but I want them to understand why they’re doing it. With these images, and images I create in general, I’m not saying I have any answers, just lots of questions. I want people to ask questions. I’m curious and I want other people to be curious too. I just want people to talk about and think about these things.

HF: Absolutely. Tretchikoff’s paintings represent what can happen when you can go too far with embracing stereotypes. The poses in his paintings and the ideas expressed by them are very, very colonial. And that’s something that fashion can sometimes be, one of the last bastions of colonialism.

JW: When you see Vogue shooting yet another skinny white girl jumping up and down with Masai tribesmen wearing Alexander McQueen, it’s not right. They haven’t engaged with any respect or curiosity. It’s not about exploration but exploitation. Yes, it’s okay to occasionally cross the line and make mistakes but you should know you’re doing it and do so with respect. A skinny white girl surrounded by non-white people… Vogue have been doing that same shoot once a year forever!

HF: The point is that that’s not what’s great and what’s exciting about England and Britain today. What’s exciting is the last forty years when we learnt to embrace other cultures instead of fetishising them. It’s what Edward Said said in Orientalism: it’s not just about prettifying other cultures to make them distant and safe. With this shoot we’ve tried to show a bit of tension: in the wallpaper and in the models, posed generically sometimes and at other times being themselves. It’s almost like the people and the cultures depicted in Tretchikoff’s paintings are fighting back years later.

See the full shoot here.

WORDS ASHLEY MAURITZEN

Photography: Holly Falconer
Styling: John William
Hair and make Up: Bea Sweet
Models: Sienna @ FM and Harry @ M&P

Angus

2011-11-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yuri

2011-11-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

Grit Boys

2011-11-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Two of the covers of the AW issue of Grit "Kansas Dolls"!

Photography: Harley Weir
Styling: John William
Grooming: Bea Sweet
Assistance: Romina Fernández
Models: Yuri Pleskun @ Elite and Angus Whitehead @ Select

Pra Pra Ra Ra

2011-11-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Wearing a satin boob tube
I stole my sister's boyfriend
I packed a ra-ra skirt into a nylon backpack
It was all whirlwind heat and flash
In my flame print frock and bedazzled belt
We killed my parents and hit the road

Comme Des Tampons

2011-11-01T04:23:00.001-07:00

Toilet Doily Frilly Tampax-
Cotton Wooly Little Bunny-
Frou Frou Boo Boo-
Stronger-Soaker-Hoo-Hoo/
That's Cricket.
Comme Des Tampons

Hi-de-Hi Dolce and Bananas

2011-11-01T04:15:00.000-07:00

Hi-de-Hi
Su Pollard
Gems as big as
Yer bollards
You are so fashion-
Forward

CHRIZZY KANE (with a Jil Sander twist)

2011-10-31T08:49:00.001-07:00

Oh those/
holographic pansy stickers/
that make a really satisfying "zika-zika"/
squeak squeak/
when you scratch them/
like the bumbag/
you took on holiday/
1997 innit.
Chrizzy Kane babes/
With a Jil Sander twist.

Jil Sander 3X A LADY

2011-10-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Slim Shady

2011-10-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

My girl Theresa gave me a much needed noo doo. Giving 2000 realness.

Your biggest fan, Stan x

Carnaby Catwalk

2011-10-29T09:06:00.001-07:00

So a few weeks ago I styled a catwalk show for Carbaby Street... My best creep Alex took some pictures (in the gifs!)

So glad my fave babes Fifi and Earl turned up <3

Grimace

2011-09-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

OUT NOW!

2011-08-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

So Happy :)

Photography: Saga Sig
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet
Models: Edwin, Jodie @d1 and Larry
With special thanks so Sara Arnesén

Thrown Out Barbie

2011-07-11T06:48:00.000-07:00

Coming soon!

Grit Magazine
Photography: Greta Ilieva
Styling: John William
Hair: Michael Jones
Make Up: Philippe Miletto

Wild Palms

2011-06-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

I'm so mad on all this palm print going on. I totally saw it coming, and i'm glad it's finally arrived! ps- What a great way for us boys to wear a Hermes scarf...

Comme Des Crowns

2011-06-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Tres Meadham Kirchhoff non? Beautiful colours and chuck in a tinsel glue-gunned crown and i'm all in. Also note- nice trouser lengths.

Paradise... My fave of SS12 so far... MAJOR

2011-06-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR

Charlotte Free Uber Babe

2011-06-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

Rum Punch

2011-06-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Oh well Aloha Monsieur Gaultier

Pansy Power

2011-06-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

Prada ss12. Pick N Mix. Mix N Match. Love it.

Sweetie Pops I'll Take It All

2011-06-24T04:09:00.000-07:00

Oh no she didn't...

COMING SOON!

2011-06-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

OH EM GEE OH EM GEE OH EM GEE
OH EM GEE OH EM GEE OH EM GEE
OH EM GEE OH EM GEE OH EM GEE
OH EM GEE OH EM GEE OH EM GEE
OH EM GEE OH EM GEE OH EM GEE
OH EM GEE OH EM GEE OH EM GEE
OH EM GEE OH EM GEE OH EM GEE
OH EM GEE OH EM GEE OH EM GEE

RAH RAH LIKE A DUNGEON DRAGON!

Coming soon!!! Issue 4 of Pigeons & Peacocks is going to hit shops on the 4th August, and for some super special people out there you should have sneaky peek copies winging their way to you in the post. It's so mega I can't wait for you all to see!

Sneaky peek outtake from one of my shoots with Saga Sig in the issue.

Photography: Saga Sig
Styling: John William
Make Up: Bea Sweet
Wiggy: Pak
Dress: House of Liza
Bangles: Made by stylist innit

CRUISE! ARGH! GLAMOUR!

2011-06-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again; perhaps my favourite collections for their simplicity and purity of message... CRUISE!

Oh to be one of the blessed ones who requires a capsule wardrobe for mid winter jaunts to warmer climes... This cruise season I am salivating over Celine, Stella and of course the always genius Givenchy. Gimme Gimme Gimme!

Party Time

2011-06-14T03:46:00.000-07:00

This is surely the best party that ever happened?

Coming soon on VHS

2011-05-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

working on a little video of Axel and Jake to go with the editorial I shot with Lucia O'Conner-McCarthy...

Dollface

2011-05-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I shot my bootiful muse Dollface again. I don't think there's any vintage Versace denim left in London. (SBT Jessie J). This time we went to her family home and I met her brother- Little Dollface... another superstar in the making mark my words. I could shoot Dollface every day and not get bored. Images coming soon...

Two Tone

2011-05-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

After a visit to the lovely Sami Knight at Ninas, i'm now rocking an acid coloured two tone affair...
From the front it's totally Angie Bowie...

THANKS SAMI SWEETHEART!
THANKS SAMI SWEETHEART!
THANKS SAMI SWEETHEART!
THANKS SAMI SWEETHEART!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Non Recyclable Plastic

2011-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Oh Poly…you brace-faced doll. Ruler of the Riot Grrrls, Plastic Punk Princess of Pop. Warrior in Woolworths.

I had been listening, and enjoying all the classic boy punk stuff. The been-to-Borstal sound… testosterone loaded guitar thrashing and little-boys-pretending-to-be-macho shouting. It sort of matched how I felt, but it was a bit like when you find a jumper in a charity shop that you think is exactly what you want, you put it on and it’s a bit disappointing, itchy and even though you know it doesn’t look that great you persevere with bloody-minded determinedness… that was how I wore boy punk. I really didn’t want to be a poser, and I did get it, it just didn’t answer all the questions I had at fifteen years old.

I bought a Live at the Roxy compilation reduced to £1 from Music Zone- a discount CD and video franchise up North. All my usual suspects were on it- Sham… Buzzcocks… Damned. It was a really hot summer and I put it on mega fuzzy loud when my parents were out and enjoyed the faster more fucked up versions of the punk sing along songs I already knew. Just wearing my underpants and left-over eye pencil (in ‘Prunella’ – half sweated down my face) I collapsed onto my bed to the closing white noise of I think it was an Adverts song. Clammy and hungry I was flat on my back when the crackle of the next song began, and I heard her voice for the first time. “Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard…” The next one and a half minutes were so violently blissful it felt like a succubus had taken hold of my wriggling teen frame. Jerking and twitching to the mad saxophone backed track, it all happened so fast.

X-ray Spex were the first thing I ever found that fitted. No alterations necessary… In Poly I immediately found what I had been looking for so urgently. All the pretentious books I had read and all the CDs I had thought I should buy could be thrown in the bin. Part of the reason I could never properly relax around the boy punk stuff, even though I was into it… it’s those white, angry working class boys (and posh white boys pretending to be working class) who I’d spent a life loathing for their bullying and idiot nature. Was I meant to now surrender to those boys who were the types who would snicker about me on the bus, or throw stones at me on the sausage bridge? Part of me knew that the only thing separating the boys in Sham from the gangs of scallies on every corner of Widnes were leather jackets and monkey boots. I wasn’t willing to pledge subcultural alliance. Then Poly barges in… an angry girl… mixed race… train track braces on her teeth and NOT POSH or cushioned by any kind of cultural privileges: all this and dressed like Bon Marche at the Nuremburg Rally. In my fantasies I see her wearing a neon yellow version of the SS uniform, or barbie pink PVC twinset modelled on The Queen's: She's kicking the shit out of Hitler and Lacoste clad scallies - pulling sticks of dynamite out of a granny handbag and shoving them down the throats of fascists and misogynists, kicking people in the balls with Ferragamos spray painted rancid green.

From the moment I heard Poly for the first time things changed. To begin with there was the SOUND. Smart, poppy, punky… like the Ramones who I loved but less dumb, much real-er and more vital. Poly ended up being my signpost into Riot Grrrl and a whole other maze of musical brilliance; but no matter how much I loved a good angsty bus ride with Kat Bjelland groaning in my ears, or stamping my customized converse (RIOT scrawled in pink sharpie on one toe – BOI on t’other) to Rebel Girl, nothing really stirred the same fire in my belly as X-Ray Spex. As obsessive misfit teens did in the days before Google (well to be honest- it wasn’t but I was just not interested in the whole internet thing. My only super highway surfing had been around Angel-Fire Wiccan webrings – copying and pasting incantations to draw down the moon into my word-art decorated digital Book of Shadows…) I took to Probe records and bought EVERYTHING they had by the Spex. I quizzed everybody I could on this elusive Queen of the Underworld. Good Golly Miss Poly.

Poly has been by my side constantly- a cultural skeleton key, allowing me into other worlds. A translator facilitating my understanding of different art forms and cultural earthquakes. She’s been my pair of heart-rimmed sunglasses – making the world take on more magical colour and form. Without having discovered her I could still be trying to fit into the whole boy-punk cookie cutter thing… shit- I could never have discovered DIY culture… pop music… myself. Maybe I would have got into Slipknot and bought a pair of Nu Rocks (with the flames up the sides)…shudder.

Directly because of Poly:

I swapped bruise coloured eyeshadows for slime green and hot pink

I love lo-fi

I love pop

I understand colour and its alchemic properties

I realized that there is another option to the mainstream

I realized that there is another option to the macho bullshit underground

I got into John Waters

I got into synthetic fabrics and home-dye jobs

I started to make my own clothes

I am a stylist, I am a stylist, I am a stylist

I am a poseur and I don't care/ I like to make people stare

I stopped going to shit house clubs and took the plunge into DIY scene

I stopped consuming in a passive manner and actually engaged with culture as a feminist

And most drastic and life changing:

I found my proper forever love of my life my boyfriend

Poly’s impact on the world will never fade. Like a Styrofoam cup that will never return to the ground, she’ll always be here reminding us to be noisy and make change and wear odd socks. Non Recyclable Plastic. Poly I love you and I will never forget you and I’m eternally grateful.

Spoilers

2011-04-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Fail my life.
I've been SOOOO frigging busy I have totally totally neglected my blog.
The thing is I've shot about a thousand editorials and been putting the final touches to Issue 4 of P&P (which is looking SICK... it's had an amazing facelift and I can't wait for everybody to seeeeee...)

I've had some fun commissions and there are exciting shoots coming up in the next month... but right now it's Stylist's Purgatory... when you have a gazillion stories that are inching their way to print really slowly and you can't show anything and so you look like a right slob and like you've not been up to much but it's the complete opposite!

So here are three pixelated peeks at three stories I really enjoyed shooting... Ganguro Hannah, Techno Chav Thomas and Biker Boy from Outer Space- Axel.

I'm currently in the graphic designers' office putting the glittering finishing touched to P&P, but the issue should be in shops by mid June. The rest we'll just have to wait and see...

Miu Miu Dearest

2011-03-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

Meow Meow

2011-03-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

Oh that clever tricksy Tisci has only gone and done the best collection I think i've ever seen...

I love a bit of Givenchy and have been really into what Riccardo has developed in the dusty old house... the only thing is sometimes it gets taken a bit too seriously. It's not Tisci who gets his knickers in a twist. It's more like the Marilyn Manson effect... Manson is a showman, a genius, a comic, a camp icon - it's only when pale maudlin teens with attitude problems take it all a bit too seriously that things get dull and somebody ends up dead. This is my problem. So many po-faced fashion people have taken the Givenchy gothicness so seriously it loses all its sexiness and misses the point (this is a whole other story but i'm sick of really young fashion people - like 21 year olds, having proper sour faces and acting like the weight of the world is hanging off their Burberry sheathed shoulders. In being so desperate to appear sophisticated... the overall effect is quite the opposite... fashion people who are obsessed with taking themselves really seriously... just end up looking silly.)

Well to get back to the point... I love the Tisci touch but people seem to take it a bit too seriously... well no chance of that this season. Oh god when I saw that panther print stalk down the runway by heart was lifted and I just smiled and purred. Try wearing a purple riding hat with ears with a face like a smacked arse... you fools! This season Givenchy is so vibrant and full of full on sexy fashion fun. I'm obsessed with a Gianni-esque print and to see the whole 1992 Versace vibe remixed by Tisci in the form of sheer silks, smart little skirts and sloping shoulder varsity jackets. I was drooling from the first exit. The purple green and yellows are perfect accents against Givenchy-black and only in the hands of somebody as skilled and high taste as Riccardo could this 90's romp appear so completely relevant and chic.

Mr Tisci proves something I am positively evangelical about. You don't need to be SOUR to be CHIC. You don't need to only wear black to be clever. You can have fun and be smart, and you can be funny and be fashionable. I think all the anally retentive little fashion queens pretending their black h&m turtlenecks and topman tuxedos are bloody Jil Sander should be forced to watch this collection on a loop and face up to the fact that their bobbling black high street fine knits are simply a thin veil masking from the world their insecurities. Be bold. Smile. Let loose. Relax. Wear a tight little skirt and varsity jacket covered in panthers. Celebrate Riccardo Tisci's genius. Long Live Givenchy!

Charlie

2011-02-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

This season Charlie's all about bloody crotches and pearl necklaces...

DRAMA!

Louise Gray: Let Me See You DISCO!

2011-02-21T13:23:00.000-08:00

I always love her, but the styling for Louise Gray AW11 is BANANANANANANAS.
Nasir's balloon harnesses are mega. It's funny I styled a test a few days ago with balloons and gaffer tape very similar sort of thing.
It's nice to see a bit of colour on the catwalk too.
This is my ideal sort of dressing. LOUISE I LOVE YOU!

Thom Browne AW11/12

2011-02-15T15:45:00.000-08:00

uuuurrrgggghhhhhh HOW much do I love this.

Maybe even more than the parade that was his SS womenswear debut.
Still playing to a super limited colour scheme (this time a little desaturated for winter) I really love how Mr.Browne muses on one fairly simple idea spinning it into so many subtle (and not so subtle) shades of light and loud. The tablecloth trend that is so major for SS11 shows no sign of being... swept under the table (god that was a bad pun...was it even a pun at all? terrible.) I really hope to see more tablecloths around the AW11/12 runways... it's just so FUN non?

Another fun emerging trend I hope to see more of - the egg-aggerated (oh i'm running with the bad puns tonight) shapes of the capes and overcoats. Egg-cellent. Egg-stravaganzza. El-egg-ent.

Tatty Devine SS11!

2011-02-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

It's arrived! Part of Tatty's new collection has launched with the camptastic lookbook I shot with Matthew Brindle. This is only a fraction of the collection - keep on the lookout the next few weeks for more jewellery and more pictures.

Photography: Matthew Brindle
Styling, creative direction and casting: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet
For Tatty Devine Spring Summer 2011

76 Trombones

2011-01-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

I want to wear all of this for spring... Makes me think of burgers

Me, Pigeons & Peacocks @ The Barbican!

2011-01-11T06:41:00.000-08:00

PARTY TIME!

The gorgeous people at the gorgeous Barbican have invited me to host the finale event for the Future Beauty season. The Barbican is one of my favourite spots in London inside and out. Pretty much everything about it gets me going. The way it's three grubby fingers puncture the skyline; Cromwell, Shakespeare and Lauderdale. Ugly-sexy triplets. My favourite blemish on the horizon... The Viktor and Rolf and Araki exhibitions are two of the most brilliantly presented retrospectives I have ever seen... and I had a full on Julia-Roberts-in-'Pretty Woman'-at-the-opera experience watching Michael Clark twist and jiggle across their stage. So yes, this is an exciting proposition.

I will be curating and presenting a PechaKucha evening introducing you all to some of my favourite P&P contributors and next-generation style warriors. There will be goodies and music and you get to drink beer in the exhibition hall. If you haven't seen "Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion" yet, go now. Drop whatever you are doing and go! The collection of fashion history on display is overwhelming. When I visited I sat through Wim Wenders' quiet, tender and genius exploration of Yohji Yamamoto's work first, falling into a sort of gentle thought coma... floating through the rows of 80's Comme and 90's Miyake in awe before being woken up by the brilliantly vulgar colour-riot upstairs (where the rooms are separated by designer... there are lumps and bumps on display I never thought i'd actually see in the flesh... incredible stuff.)

The evening is kicking off at 6.30pm on the 3rd February and I hope you can all make it!

Jose

2011-01-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

It feels like I have been gone for years!

Back in the swing now and things are hotting up. Coming soon: B Movies, Walter Van Beirendonck archive, 90's Gianni Versace, a new studio, a new issue, hipster queens of Benin, The Barbican and much more.

Notion did a lovely thingy on me here.

Here is a cute little story Diana Chire and I shot with the lovely Jose. More of this here.

Photography: Diana Lola Chire
Styling: John William
Hair: Liam Curran
Make Up: Diana Asherson
Model: Jose

Now that you're gone...

2010-12-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

Who is to replace Carine!!??

It takes a legend to make a star

2010-12-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

I just went to see Burlesque and it was 100% entertainment. Christina had her make up applied properly for once, and didn't have that grubby slightly sticky look to her she usually has... And Cher... Oh my goodness. Cher in this movie is absolute perfection. Her acting is even better than her singing and I don't know if we've just being exposed to it for long enough to become acclimatised: but her face is just gorgeous... not weird or Pete Burns-y... just fabulous and surprisingly expressive. She wear s a LOT of glittery eyeshadow. Her interactions with Christina are really wonderful- the Momma/Ingenue relationship is playful and affectionate and Cher is such a natural actress. I was really happy to see her character is really powerful, and an un-faded icon. She is a seasoned professional who can still belt it out but she's also happy to see young talent rising below her, and happy to embrace, nurture it and let her proteges take the limelight. She isn't at all tragic or bitter. There's a scene where Cher teaches Christina how to do her make up and it's just a gorgeous piece of cinema. Christina- you looked so gorgeous, please remember this when in the future you're tempted to smear on your usual engine-grease-OXO-cube concoction.

The musical numbers are big and brash and there's lots of rhinestone nipple-pasty wiggling, and they're great but Steve Antin tries to make a few too many Fosse references and that's fairly ridiculous - like Take A Break magazine 'doing' Steven Meisel... It's a sparkly razzle dazzle romp, and there's nothing wrong with that but it's hardly Cabaret or Sweet Charity...

Cher you are amazing. I'm definitely going to come and see you at least two more times in Burlesque on the big screen.

Still Life

2010-12-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

Stills from a film I am working on for an exhibition and maybe P&P...
Why is it I am happy to fanny around with GIFS for hours however forcing myself to use Adobe Premiere makes me want to shoot myself in the face...

2010-12-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

I found this picture on flickr- which I shot with Madelaine Barlow like three years ago! We shot little Rupert in halloween glasses and a Ghost World rubber cat mask. I'm going to have a route around and see if I can find any more from the shoot!

A bit of Divine Decadence in Dalston

2010-12-16T05:59:00.000-08:00

Poodle down Kingsland Road, or hop on the 149 bus and you’ll find, just past the Geffrye Museum a far less auspicious (but 100% more exciting) design archive. Packed into 199 Kingsland Road is half a decade of the most divinely decadent (to borrow a phrase from the House’s namesake – Ms Minnelli) avant garde runway treasures and street wear artifacts. Painted clean white to best show off its technicoloured stock, House of Liza is the most exciting shop to land in East London (perhaps since another grande-maison founded in the same spirit: Judy Blame et al’s House of Beauty and Culture.) The House provided the wardrobe for this issue of P&P, and after lugging back twelve garment bags crammed with 80’s and early-90’s magic-moments, we shared a pot of Earl Grey with master of the maison; Mr Gonçalo Velosa.

A BA in Fashion Design and Realisation graduate from LCF, Gonçalo has been collecting fashion for years and decided to open the shop when he saw that the collection he had amassed offered something a bit more special than the other vintage stores around London. “The selected pieces are by visionary designers who by their virtue redefined the very impetus of fashion. Each item is chosen for the exclusive quality that made them just as desirable now as in their heyday.” Flicking through the rails the labels have us quivering with excitement: Kansai Yamamoto, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Stephen Sprouse, Claude Montana, Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier and more. There are loudly printed spandex t-shirts from cult label W&LT next to a really chic 70’s Lanvin dress (covered in a print of pixelated chickens – trust us it’s J’ADORE) and a couple of catwalk sample-only, super rare Comme Des Garcons overcoats.

So Gonçalo, what’s in the name!?

The name sort of came to me by accident. I wanted it to be a pun on the concept of Fashion House or Maison and I also wanted it to reflect my collection of record covers, especially those designed by Andy Warhol. As it happened I was staring at the wall thinking about possible names when I realised I was staring right at the face of Liza Minnelli, immortalised by Andy Warhol. It was perfect. Her bohemian and at times tragic life story, her sense of fashion and glamour… seem to encapsulate not only my collection but where the store is located too!

So you have a soft spot for the House’s home - Dalston?

Is it Dalston? Is it Hoxton? Or is it Shoreditch? To be honest with you this was the area I first lived when I moved to London some years ago. I was always fascinated by the dynamic and strong associations with a certain cheekiness and rebellion evident in the area. There is a vibrant energy that you can immediately feel so I though it would be the perfect area to have a boutique selling pieces that, in their time were forward thinking and revolutionary.

What is your history in industry? A bit of background please!

When I was doing my degree in furniture design back in Portugal I became involved with a theatre group doing costume design for different plays. Partly I became involved because I always had a thing for fashion and at the time I was developing this obsession with vintage clothing, which was not at all big in Portugal. At that time I managed to put together quite an extensive collection with very little money! It was mainly my own wardrobe but I slowly started styling people; bands and performance artists. During that period a lot of people kept asking me where I had bought my clothes so one day I decided to sell my whole wardrobe and only keep my underwear and shoes. I had to let it go so I could devote my passion to dressing other people! Soon after I opened my first shop. I ended up having 3 different shops in the same city at different periods. They were sort of Guerilla shops as I kept changing location, the shop design and the clothes on offer but always kept the same name. At that time I also had a career in exhibition design so perhaps maybe that urge to change location had to do with it. After that I also ended up doing some costume design for film, just before moving to London and enrolling at London College of Fashion to study.

We’re hooked. Pass the custard creams and tell us more.

Well I have been around. I was born in Africa and before living in London I have lived in Portugal, France and Canada. My obsession with fashion began in the 80’s when I was living in Paris. I would spend my afternoons wandering from one designer shop to another even if I couldn’t afford much at the time. I still remember being at Mugler’s shop and the sales assistant kept telling me that the men’s clothes were at the back of the shop but I just wanted to see and touch the women’s clothes. I had to pretend I couldn’t understand French so they would just leave me wondering, indulging myself. I would go to the Junior Gaultier shop on the Rue du Jour when they were having sales and buy a bunch of stuff and make them put each piece in separate bags. I just loved those bags, shaped like round, green advertising billboards so typical of Paris. I was thrilled when I saw one on display at the V&A.

So, just between us, where do you find these amazing clothes?

Now that would be telling!!!

Out of all these babies under your roof, which is your favourite family?

From the ones I stock I have to say Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Stephen Sprouse. Both these designers have always brilliantly mixed and remixed two of my passions: fashion and art.

What do you wear? Are you as extrovert as your stock?

Over the years I have became very practical. My clothes now are more concerned with practicality whilst maintaining a quiet aesthetic integrity. I used to be incredibly adventurous when I was younger and had less money. Sometimes I am actually amazed when I think of the ensembles I used to put on. Every single piece from my younger days is gone, all but one precious Gaultier jacket that I got from his shop at Rue Vivienne in Paris in ‘89. My first ever boyfriend has looked after it for me all these years.

Tell me about some of your show pieces?

There are a few that are close to my heart, like this silk tube dress by Sprouse using one of Warhol’s prints. This piece was from Sprouse’s last collection for his own label, just before he collaborated with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton. Another one is a silk and lace ensemble by Chloe which was designed by Lagerfeld and immortalized in a photograph taken by David Bailey in the late 70s. My knitted Bodymap dress is one of only two left in the world, and the other hangs in the V&A.

What would be your dream find?

My dream find would in fact be threefold! The first one, which I just found, is an early Pierre Cardin knitted dress. The other two (at the same time please!) would be a hand painted dress by Castelbajac and a silver fake snake skin jacket by Junior Gaultier, just like one I used to have in the late 80s, which unfortunately got stolen.

What are your general thoughts on vintage, and the boom for it?

To me vintage is about being able to wear something with cultural and historical heritage while looking contemporary and completely original. I think the boom for vintage started in the 90s when some people where not satisfied with the minimalistic fashion of that time. The celebrity culture also helped to expose vintage fashion to a wider audience,

Why are people willing to spend so much money on something second hand?

I do not like the term second hand… If you buy a Andy Warhol painting, for example that has been previously owned by someone else, do you see it as a second hand painting? Or you just see it as work of art?

Do you think these designers, the 80s and 90s ones you stock: do you think they were more exciting than new designers now?

To me personally they were more exciting, mainly because they were my idols when I discovered fashion and also because their work reminds me of my wild teenage years, but there are lots of really exciting designers out there today too.

Are you selling nostalgia or something new?

I would like to think that I am selling both. It actually depends on how old you are. If you take a Junior Gaultier cage jacket, for instance, it reminds many of the end of the 80s or even their first flirtation with Madonna. To some of the younger generation, well they see it as something quite new! For them it is a sort of introduction into pieces and designers that marked key points in the history of fashion. I also have had some people in my boutique asking if my pieces were really vintage while others have asked if I have designed them. These customers seem to think of the pieces as contemporary, so for them there is no nostalgia there.

House of Liza is at 199 Kingsland Road, E2 8AN. Opening times are Wednesdays and Fridays 12 – 7, and 12 – 6 on Saturdays.

Pink Gluv

2010-12-16T05:10:00.000-08:00

I know i've shot that tasseled stuff before but I just bloody love it. And those fez-izs.

Photography: Rosa Rendl
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet

Tests

2010-12-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

pucemoment.com
pucemoment.com
pucemoment.com

Giving Camel the Hump

2010-12-15T11:09:00.000-08:00

When will this beige nightmare end? By John William

Here’s the situation. We at P&P totally understand our pseudo economic science (see Rae-Rae Bridge’s piece on hemlines for a sterling example of such important fashion journalism). We’re clued up on our trend maths and understand the equation how recession PLUS anti-bling new sincerity DIVIDED by not wanting to be too “showy” MULTIPLIED by the need for luxury after a period of Spartan sparseness EQUALS the past couple of seasons’ tunnel visioned obsession with what fashion editors creamed themselves declaring The New Minimalism (is it just us or is that quite the paradoxical phrase… surely Minimal with a capital M, in its most concentrate, untainted form should be about purity of design, with guaranteed timelessness…). We understand how lovely it must be to have a gorgeous wool coat that costs £3000, that is so conspicuously inconspicuous even its buttons are smug. We understand that it would feel nice to wear something with sleek lines and tasteful proportions after a decade of having to put up with St Tropezed cleavage, glittery Choos poking out from a pair of boot cut jeans, and WAG fever. Restraint can be a welcome relief and simplicity is a beautiful state, but if we see one more fucking camel coat, beige cape, suede shift… shearling something or other… we are going to have a full blown, Britney-head-shaving nervous breakdown.

The glossy horse-haired women at the top of Fashion’s Ivory Tower have gorged themselves of Celine’s caramels, Chloe’s creams and Burberry’s butter soft leathers to the point where minimal has become maximalist. After the sugar binge of the last decade’s fast fashions and trend mania, this high fashion stripping back (the anti-fast fashion) seduced the high street with it’s restorative blandness; a digestive biscuit after bucketloads of Haribo. Arcadia etc leaped on it- they couldn’t get enough of it fast enough. Like shit off a shovel camel was flying into window displays nationwide. The High Street’s version of this “slow fashion” sort of misses the point, still offering around 200 permutations and versions of a “simple “ beige coat. The high street could never accept the Donna Karen “7 easy pieces” philosophy to dress… more like 9 million difficult and poorly made options for those with fashion attention deficit disorder.

Minimalism has eaten itself. In becoming such a trend in a fast-trend-dependent time, perhaps Phoebe Philo isn’t having the last laugh… in making such as exquisitely wearable and desirable collection she has made everybody want a bit of it. Where the shoppers point, the High Street jumps to, and after hoovering up the ‘trend’ for minimalism and spitting it out again with a £24 price tag; essentially minimal has become a bit of a gimmick.

It’s difficult because there have always been and there will always be people who want to dress well, and who like to wear beautifully crafted simple clothing. It’s not as easy as saying Minimal is In. Now it is Out. You’re really messing with people who feel very strongly about their wardrobe choices. It’s the fakers who are the problem perhaps. Those donning the beige spectrum, on the cheap, because it’s what they’re being told to wear (well actually- then the problem is those damn editors. The glossy horse-haired women who by sample sale or from not returning designer garb after a shoot, are able to wear the genuine Celine article, parade around town in it feeling like a smug and very expensive pony, passing on the message to their readers that nothing feels as wonderful as all this new minimal malarkey.) Essentialy, here at P&P, we just think it’s boring. It’s not big and it’s not clever, it’s beige.

Looking forward there is hope. Change is blossoming on catwalks and sidewalks worldwide. Jil Sander’s colour-blocked snap crackle and pop: a gorgeously satisfying mix of no-nonsense bold colours; hot pink trousers with a deep purple suit jacket, palazzo pants in a spectrum as pleasing to the eye as a flick through a pantone book. Mark Fast presented a rainbow of showgirl fringe and feathers, however Louis ‘Las Vegas’ Vuitton and Miu Miu hold the prize for all out stage presence with gold leathers at Miu Miu inspired by Country Western Nudie Suits and a Marc Jacobs’ tacky sequin safari at LV. Prada’s bananarama extravaganza was a maximum volume “no thanks” to boredom. Stella swapped beiges for infinity blue and a citrus print so on the knife edge between chic and lemon pledge- If you were given a sample of the fabric you could easily mistake it for the PVC tablecloth printed with fruit and veg, sold by the metre in poundshops nationwide.

Hurrah! For the SS11 collections the lights had definitely been switched ON. I’m hoping that pretty soon, editorials (thus: magazines, thus: the high street, thus: Britain) will look like the bit in the Wizard of Oz when everything goes from Sepia into colour. To misquote Belle and Sebastian “Colour My Life with Chaos!” In the words of Maggie Prescott in Funny Face: “Think Pink!” P&P’s favourite new artist Sue Kretizman (A self-confessed Wild Old Woman who creates camp monuments forged out of broken jewellery and nail polish…more on her in our 2011’s Issue) perhaps puts it best, for now: “Don’t wear beige – it will kill you.”

Published in Pigeons & Peacocks Poster Zine Number 6: "Turn and Face the Strange"

Orange Face

2010-12-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

And gold nipples. By Gabi and me. "I've been crying for a week, having nightmares about that orange face."

Photography: Gabriela Antunes
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet
Model: Ashleigh @ Profile

Kiss the Future!

2010-12-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

OBSESSED with Wild And Lethal Trash at the moment. Watch this space for a Van Beirendonck archive shoot coming soon... Kiss the Future

Goths are so camp

2010-12-09T15:12:00.001-08:00

Cute!

M/Mink

2010-12-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit late in the day sniffing this, but today I got my first whiff of Byredo's collaboration with graphic designers M/M. I knew to expect 'ink' in the smell having read all the regurgitated press releases masquerading as 'articles' (shame on you lazy lazy beauty editors.) On a dash through Liberty on my way to a meeting, I saw the Byredo stand and couldn't resist a squirt. I usually douse myself with Rose Noir whenever passing through (sometimes with an extra spritz of Fracas or Bandit elsewhere on my person, so I have that distinct old-rich-lady orbit of clashing florals. After a supermarket sweep style raid on Liberty I swear there's a pink mist surrounding me as I purposefully swish out of there without buying anything.) So anyway I got to the Byredo counter and saw the M/Mink bottle and grabbed it greedily with my hungry little fists. I acted with caution at first, using one of the tester-blottor-strips but fanning it under my nose it wasn't quite right, not enough and empty-smelling without skin to dance on... so I opted for the full immersion technique- pumping the bottle furiously before a sales-person noticed, feeling a wet cloud dampen all around my head, neck and face.

Like a cowbell the ink clanged and donged in my nose: a syringe of mercury shooting right up the nostrils. It was instant love. The distant tinny note I love so much in Comme des Garcons perfumes was hurtling up towards my brain, a revelation. The hit of ink (maybe if I hadn't expected it, I wouldn't have been able to pinpoint the smell as 'ink', but after it's been suggested, it's hard to define it as anything other) then gave way to smokey curls and spicey bits and I think a deep resiny amber underneath. I read the base note is patchouli leaves and you really get a lot of warmth from them, crunching underfoot. It's been sat on my skin now for about 8 hours and it's been doing this lovely flickering, like a candle - changing ever so slightly flitting back and too from the danker, more grubby side of things to the lighter, metallic-ozonic rasp. M/Mink smells like wet, electrocuted ink. It's really expensive, so i'm either going to have to save my pennies or just dart into Liberty every time I need a fix, which is looking like it could end up being daily...

Lovely Matty

2010-12-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

Photography: Gabriela Antunes
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet
Model: Matty

With many thanks to House of Liza

Shock News

2010-12-07T09:25:00.000-08:00

I don't have a TV so I haven't even seen it with my own eyes, but apparently she was in the Kabin, reaching for the choccies when BOOM.

Updated

2010-12-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

www.pucemoment.com
www.pucemoment.com
www.pucemoment.com
www.pucemoment.com
www.pucemoment.com
www.pucemoment.com
www.pucemoment.com
www.pucemoment.com
www.pucemoment.com

Well Done H&M!

2010-12-06T06:33:00.000-08:00

It's the season of Starbucks in red cups and wrapping up like pigs in blankets, and perhaps it's some seasonal cheer subconsciously rubbing off on me but the other day stood in the freezing cold I felt a thaw in my heart and smile crack my lips when the Number 55 zoomed past. I double checked myself - am I going mad? Was I seriously grinning because of a H&M ADVERT!?? Let's start this by saying I am not and never have been a fan of this scourge of the high street. No- they have not sent me anything like a bloggers bribe, and no I wasn't even fussed by the recent Lanvin debacle (no, not even by those metallic shoes: they were totally the wrong shape.) I have not shopped in H&M since I was 15 and just walking past it's acrylic loaded, badly dressed windows makes me shudder. Yet here I was looking like a pleb smiling about their Christmas campaign.

I think it's the first truly diverse piece of advertising the brand have ever released. It's actually the most diverse advertising I have seen from any of the high street monsters, ever. Not just in ethnicity, but in age and to a small extent, body type. Sure it could be much more diverse in regards to size, and I would be even happier to see that, but baby steps. There's no feeling of cramming the token black at the end of the line up, which is the high street's usual nod to diversifying. There's skin of all colours lit really beautifully and looking radiant. There are mothers on display with their kids (granted- Stella Tennant is no ordinary mum, but it's still refreshing to see a woman portrayed as a mother when flogging clothing for the masses; rather than the usual vacant 15 year old.) There are some wrinkles and pores on show and the darkest skin doesn't look at all flat. It's just so well done. I can't find who shot it - any help on that would be appreciated. It looks very Inez and Vinoodh-esque (the Lanvin imagery the pair created was surely on the mood boards.) I couldn't give a toss about the clothes but even they don't look too horrif.

Lots more of this please H&M! How wonderful to see a more diverse cast of faces gracing our buses - who look genuinely fashionable (as oppose to those worthy 'real women looking super real' ads you sometimes see for beauty brands smugly going against the grain. Yes, it's nice to see fresh faced 'real women' but wouldn't be even better to see these 'real women' trussed up like a Christmas turkey, dripping in jewellery with just a bit too much make up on sometimes: the same glamorama treatment given to the stick insects? Why should women-who-wobble look so WORTHY all the time? Essentially these women, even when photographed holding their love handles and laughing, have to appear as un-painted as possible. For their body-sins they are not allowed fur and silk and red lipstick, they must only be seen in opaque, sensible, clean white underwear, that suggests gym wear. Anything less sterile would send the country into a hysterical vomiting panic. How DARE those fatties take a risk with their eyeshadow and hosiery. How REPULSIVE. How unapologetic.)

One last thing. H&M, I don't want any free shoes or handbags, but it would make me really truly happy if next time you would consider using a rad-fatty... with lots of make up and gorgeous styling. Thank you, luv John x

Hot Off The Press

2010-12-06T03:21:00.000-08:00

HOT! The new P&P poster is off the press, featuring the lovely Matty shot by Gabi and I. Keep your eyes peeled around town - in cafes, bars, boutiques, galleries and dentists waiting rooms... If you really want one and can't be bothered to hunt, email me and maybe i'll post you one if you ask nicely.

Poster 6: Turn and Face the Strange
Photography: Gabriela Antunes
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet
Model: Matty

Hairy Mary. Part One.

2010-12-04T13:59:00.000-08:00

Looking at the wodge of passport photographs I have had taken since I was 15; at the atrocities I have committed on my scalp, I'm surprised my hair follicles haven't just given up. Luckily I still boast a head of hair so thick that i'm sure after the nuclear holocaust the roaches will be using my wig to shelter under. Briefly, my hair journey since the age of 15 goes something like: Died purple and rust with short back and sides, glace cherry red with long gelled fringe and spikey on top, Cruella DeVille black and white in full Flock of Seagulls 'do, 10 inch superglued spikes, black and pink floppy fringe emo style (GHD's were purchased - a contraption as vital and revolutionary to my generation (the era of the myspace superstars) as the pill was in the 60's), back to red shoulder length, black backcombed New York Dolls afro, purple, red again, skinhead girl cut, a short period of natural colour worn in a neat quiff, a return to backcombing, orange, green, blue, blonde, and then my first venture into perming; which has occupied the best part of two years. I've got a fresh toxic yellow teddy boy thing going on at the moment.

I'm obsessed with hair and what people choose to say with it. For me, I have always used it as a conspicuous warning of subcultural and rebellious intent. Strange hair really creeps people out. People in public places will go nuts if your hair is an odd proportion. I've decided to present some of my hair heroes. I've had to be pretty cut throat here or I would go on for days... Golly this is just Part One. Part One of who knows how many...

Crybaby and Divine.
Basically I could just list 20 John Waters characters, but i'm going to try not to. Condensing the whole John Waters aesthetic of trash, cartoon nostalgia and grotesque glamour, I think Crybaby and Divine in Pink Flamingos distill the pure essence of Dreamland Studios. Crybaby's perfectly polished quiff with the stray squiggle curling down the forehead is timeless but dangerous. I think everybody: 17 year old delinquent, 50 year old rockabilly dude or stone cold butch dyke looks so brilliantly put together with this 'do. I plan on greeting old age with a giant tub of pomade and a comb up my sleeve that doubles as a switchblade. Moving on to Divine... I think this could very well be my favourite hair of all time, right at the top of the list. The hairline is shaved back a few inches (to allow more room for eye shadow, naturally) and what's left is swept up into a badly peroxided, orange coloured candy floss cloud, styled up, up and to the side. There are heavy roots showing that trick the eye into thinking the forehead (and the bouffant) are even higher than they really are. I'm sure in some places you would still be arrested if you left the house with this haircut. I know I said I was going to grow old gracefully looking like a chic old lesbian, but it's much more likely I will be working something akin to this napalmed, clownlike beehive.

The Shangri Las and TLC.
There have always been girl groups with great hair and I think the two pillars of fierce grrrl power are 60's bad girls The Shangri Las and 90's hip-hop-popettes TLC. The Sha-Las are early pioneers of the synchronised lego-hair that TLC sort of reappropriated in a more urban interpretation. I love a beehive and I love an unruly girl and the Sha-La-La offer both in abundance. They have been copied relentlessly but nobody seems to be able to achieve the same level of volume. Flash forward 30 years or so... TLC were the first time I remember seeing mad hair on TV. They were also the first black girls I remember seeing who didn't just have plain Caucasian hair. For such a mainstreamly successful act TLC were pushing some crazy looks. I was so excited by the colours and shapes. They really brightened up the 90's.

Blonde Ambition.
There's a hint of the Bet Lynch about this brassy high ponytail. It's my favourite Madonna look ever. Blonde Ambition. Everything about Madge back then was amazing. So confrontational. This facelifting updo was the first intention for the tour, but it was ripping her hair right out and in the end they had to give her a dramatic chop- resulting in the curly Monroe-esque cut we seen in the Vogue video. can you imagine how satisfying swinging this bad girl around would be? This hair symbolises all the things that were great about Madonna: her sexiness, her bold fashion confrontations, there's a lot of humour and irony mixed in there and cheekiness. It's a shame that she seems to have lost a lot of this sense of humour now...anyway never mind now we have GAGA. Speaking of blonde ambition... the original bottle blonde Miss Jane Mansfield has to be in this list. Hair as shiny and white as her stilettos after labour day, everyone from Blondie to Madonna to Gaga has to pat their weave in honour of this plastic fantastic icon of kitsch.

The Bad Seed.
In his early years Nick Cave looked like an absolute pervert. Look at this greasy ratted mass! It's like a backcombed nest fashioned into a nightmarish reworking of a 50's quiff. With his big nose and ears and bulging eyes, Cave's hair has to be larger than life to match up- and gosh how it was! Now Cave looks like a pervert of a different sort (still in a good way though) with a thinning scraped back slick. He's still playing with his cartoony proportions though- now making up for the lack of it on his head with a bushy, filthy handlebar moustache. I think everybody at some point in their life should have a greasy and frizzy fro, that isn't washed for months. Once I was roped into Vidal Sassoon to do some modelling and I had this sort of self-dreadlocking mess (that I honestly hadn't washed for over 2 months...the layers of hairspray eventually embalm the hair in a plastic coating rendering shampoo obsolete.) They had to wash my hair 12 TIMES. The water was still black and glitter flecked on the 7th rinse... Hormonal hair growing vertically in a gravity and convention defying stance against parents and teachers and beauticians.

Bleach.
I love a bad dye job. I have stamped my feet, pleading with hairdressers to get slap happy with the bleach and forget the toner. Yes! I want it orangey... No! I don't want my roots touching up. Kurt and Courtney...such a beautiful mess. Although i've praised Madonna and her Blonde Ambition, when the 90's swung round there's one peroxide princess who could beat the shit out of that ponytail. There's a special kind of fashion alchemy that happens when you mix red lipstick with this brew of dirty blonde. Courtney's shag pile is gloriously nicotine stained; the smell of a heady night out. I imagine Kurt's smelled worse. He wasn't blessed with Courtney's volume but dazzle-disguised the fact by doing a home-job on his mousy locks, turning them a half-way to blonde orange. Then we had the gorgeous washed out raspberry. The most beautiful thing about Kurt was the fact he was a total riot grrrl, who understood the magical power and talent of the women around him. I'm sure there was an interview where he said he wished he was gay. Anyway... Kurt and Courtney - bottle brothers, shaggy sisters.

Shampoo.

This is not intended as irony. It may be nostalgia... These two girls were hair by name hair by nature. Epitomising the 90's girl power look. It's a little more difficult to put into words than some of the other styles in my top of the crops. There's a lot of product use: scraping sections back and gelling strands to frame the face. Jacqui Blake and Carrie Askew learnt a sense of glam from the Manic Street Preachers, writing a fanzine called Last Exit. With a bouffant headbutt the entered the charts, performing on TOTP with wet look ringlets and pig tails. Occasional pink streaks were topped with tiaras and Shampoo paved the way for many copyist mini-poppers. Although the Spice Girls totally ripped off Shampoo / Helen Love's 'Girl Power' mantra, I do think Ginge deserves a notable mention here. That orange bouff with peroxide bangs. BANG BANG! I predict we will see lots more of this hair colouring very soon.

Gold Dust Woman.
Stevie is the source. Spinning, spinning, with a lions mane of golden hair, shaking a tambourine. A Pre Raphelite muse turned upside down and sprayed with the firmest hold Elnett the 80's had to offer. Stevie Nicks' hair started off pretty large in the 70's and just continued to grow. You could perhaps plot some graph charting the correlation between her rising cocaine consumption and hair-mass. She is an amalgamation of mystical inspirations and rock goddess power. I think she has the biggest hair of all the women in this list (perhaps in all of time.) She casts a spell on you as she swishes and sways her many shawls... See her pictured with a cockatiel, whose pompadour plumage pales in comparison to Stevie's crowning glory. Rock on gold dust woman.

Test Gif

2010-12-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help myself...

Test with Natasha Ndlovu

2010-12-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Bea and I tested with the lovely Natasha Ndlovu... cute!

Photography: Natasha Ndlovu
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet

Barbra Streisand has a shopping mall in her basement...

2010-12-04T04:34:00.000-08:00

"Along a cobblestone-paved, antique-lantern-lit “street,” a collection of turn-of-the-last-century-style shops beckons “customers” to step inside. Traffic is heaviest during screening parties, when the Sweet Shop does brisk business dispensing licorice, frozen yogurt, and popcorn to guests. Before going out to a dinner party or a friend's birthday, Streisand likes to duck into the Gift Shoppe to pick up a present—a soap dish or a pair of candlesticks—and tie it up with pretty ribbons at the wrapping table"

WHAT!? Harper's BAZAAR just profiled Babs about her insane house, where she has created her very own shopping mall in the basement.

"While most of the stores offer stock that comes and goes, the Antique Clothes Shop is truly a museum. Paneled in lavender-painted boiserie, it displays some of the star's most famous costumes, including her "People"-number gown from the Broadway production of Funny Girl, made of green chiffon over pink silk, with little beaded balls on the sleeves."

Weird no? Regardless of her interior decoration quirks, I still love her. She mentions in the piece she's finally going to get around to writing her autobiography, which is going to be amazing. Funny Girl.

Divine

2010-12-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I met one of my all time super dooper heroes: Mr John Waters

He was launching his new book Role Models at Dover Street Market. I've already read it- it's brilliant. He basically just devoted whole chapters to people / things he loves. The Little Richard, Comme Des Garcons and Baltimore chapters are my favourites. The way he writes about Comme and describes his own collection of polyester-deconstructed anti-fashion fashion it so genius. Weirdly you can totally imagine him and Rei totally getting on and being bezzies. Dover Street was a weird setting. Fitting for the whole Comme association (John was decked out head to toe Comme, in a festive tartan patchwork) but all those WET namby pansy vacant shop boys were just stood around pouting looking like right lemons. It's weird- they get great girls (and some great boys) with loads of character and style working in Dover Street but most of those boys are so lame and boring and PRISSY. They just don't get Comme. Also it was a publishers event and the crowd was 80% horse and so far removed from John Waters' universe. Nevertheless it was amazing to see this God of Gaud in the flesh, and mumble "I love your jacket" to him. He entered the room and saw me and the gang I was with and went in that brilliant Baltimore accent "Oh my GAWD now I feel underdressed." I got my old copy of Crackpot signed and he chuckled "Oh I haven't seen this one for a while!" and when my friend gave him a tube of glue as a gift he whispered "did you steal it!"

In honour of John's trip to the UK I paid a visit to Sami Knight at Nina's Hair Parlour in Marylebone. Sami is a total hair wizard and I can't wait to shoot with him. He slapped some bleach on, shaved my sides and then covered the whole thing in pure yellow pigment. ZING. As a special treat as we were going straight on to see John at Dover Street, he set my hair like a cartoon teddy boy. It's Crybaby meets Divine in Pink Flamingos. J'ADORE. I'm seeing John perform This Filthy World tomorrow at the South Bank - twice in one week! SPOILT.

(above: an old drawing I did of Divine...)

Cruise 2011 Featuring Jane McDonald

2010-11-30T03:19:00.000-08:00

What better way to present Cruise 2011, than worn by the sensational Jane McDonald. Mistress of the sequin and breathy renditions, over a Bontempi backing track; of Peggy Lee's Fever... Miss McDonald has delighted us since her BBC 'Cruise' days through her move over to ITV's panel of HRT-D-to-the-eyeballs Loose Women, to her inevitable return to the cruise ship.

Well on her 2011 tour of the Caribbean she's going to need a fabulous wardrobe, and the Cruise collections featured lots of lovely trouser suits Jane would look bloody smashing in.

To start the day on board, a Christopher Kane smart-casual Lounge Suit all-in-one will do the trick. The nice wide leg will provide ample swishing opportunity whilst one navigates the promenade, bucks fizz in hand. The razzle dazzle solar system print allows a nice segue to the Piano Bar, where Jane has been badgered into an impromptu jazzed up version of "fly me to the moon." Impromptu my bum: mid key change Jane whips the one-sy off to reveal a leggy (and props to her - extremely fashion forward) silk t-shirt/ra-ra skirt in matching print. Another Christopher Kane ensemble (Jane and his mum are like this.) She concludes a 45 minute set of jazz standards with her inimitable cover of Carol Douglas' 'Doctors Orders' and a high leg kick, revealing not only miles of shiny sheer tan coloured tight, but a black marabou fluffy mule, again courtesy of that lovely lad Christopher.

After a trip back to her suite to freshen up and apply an extra layer of bronze eyeshadow, it's cocktail hour and at the Captain's request, Jane will be joining him and his wife at the helm for Harvey Wallbangers. Enter Jane: shocking red Givenchy trouser suit with matching red turtleneck. So chic! (although she doesn't go with the official serving suggestion of a strappy-peep-toe gladiator thingy, opting instead for a glossy white PVC stiletto ankle boot, with extra pointy toe. £13 at Dorothy Perkins back in Doncaster. You can't argue with a bargain like that.) After three Wallbangers Jane has kicked off her boots and is sashaying back to her room to make a quick change for dinner (at the Captain's table of course.) For this moment she had been planning on a simple shiny Monsoon bridesmaid-esque frock with matching beaded bolero. More than a little tipsy she stumbles over to the wardrobe and yanks out a heavy black garment bag. She pauses. This was meant to be for her Bajan-beach wedding, to toyboy number 4... Sod it. With pillarbox red acrylics she tears the bag open to reveal layers and layers of chiffon in red and black and champagne. Alexander McQueen is taking her to dinner. With a dusting of glitter powder on her tanned cleavage, she's ready to wow. When she enters the ballroom the sound of cutlery stops dead and you could hear a pin drop.

When the ship docks and its cargo unloaded for a stopover in Barbados, like a true glamour puss Jane takes the opportunity not to grease up and lie on the beach, but to hit Barbados' many jewellery shops. Decked out in head to toe Miu Miu, in a palate of greens; she feels the only thing missing is oodles of emeralds. Out come the credit cards, and Jane thinks to herself 'yes I better sign on for another season of Loose Women.' In the evening rum punch on the beach is paired with a sprightly Balenciaga baby blue skirt suit. The locals are entranced with Jane's dulcet tones and after whipping off the suit to reveal another cheeky Balenciaga number (a loudly printed matching top and culottes: Jane is queen of the quick change) she delights all with a surprising performance of Ace of Base's 'The Sign,' backed with twelve steel drums and the gentle creaking of the crickets.

Pink Friday: Ambivalent

2010-11-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

Oh Nicki, we were all so so excited...
It kills me, but after all that amazing guest rapping (good enough to make me not only listen to, but actually enjoy...<3...dance to a Kanye song) ... After the best song of the year (Massive Attack - NOT the wet 'Your Love') After the green hair, pink hair, Harajuku Barbie outfits... the anticipation... Pink Friday, devastatingly; is actually a bit limp.

There's so much droning drively sniffly wet blanket smooth-R&B-pop. Pop in it's worst form: completely unoriginal and indistinguishable from any commercial radio filler. WHY!? Nicki clearly knows the Power Of Pop - as demonstrated with Massive Attack. Great Pop in its purest form blasts everything else out of the way - it unites not only on the dancefloor but IRL: channeling the energy and force of a generation. Pop changes the world. Unfortunately a lot of Pink Friday doesn't stand a chance.

In my fantasy world, Pink Friday is actually just an EP, Tracks 1-3 (or if really pushed...1-5.) The first three tracks of the album are so fabulous, i'm just going to pretend they're the whole album, and give Pink Friday...

FIVE monsters out of five. I'm perfectly willing to be this delusional and forgiving for Nicki as she's clearly a genius, there's just some sort of record label interference going on. When she raps it's amazing and when she's bonkers it's so brilliant and fresh. This is my favourite Nicki quote i've read so far, from The Guardian:

"Roman's a little gay boy who lives in me. And every time I talk he sort of just appears and I tell him, 'Roman, you know, stop it, you've gone mad, I tell you, mad.' He's an outlet to say what I need to say but sometimes don't want to."

Arggghhh love it! Roman is the Roman of Track 2: 'Roman's Revenge' - my favourite song on the EP and sort of favourite song of all time at the moment. Even though it's got Eminem on it! I still j'adore! 'Roman's Revenge' shows Nicki's mad rapping off the most, and the lyrics are great. I especially love the chorus "Raah! Raah! Like a Dungeon Dragon." One thing that's really in the track's favour is its breakneck speed. It really shows up the mid-tempo slurry that makes up the (now forgotten) rest of the album. Nicki totally outshines Eminem and finishes the track with a hilarious faux British accent pretending to be Roman's worried mother. I love it so much I made you this gif:

Lil Kim (obviously an influence of Minaj?) has taken Roman's Revenge to be a diss and replied with 'Black Friday' (in which she tells Nicki to "go stick your head in a tornado - BRAINSTORM.") This feud has only just got going...

Anyway. I hope what happens with Nicki Minaj is sort of like Gaga- I mean there's actually lots of crap filler on The Fame, and then when she reached her position of power within Pop, she was free to experiment and produce genre-busting songs that expanded the Pop landscape much further. Maybe Nicki just wants to get a commercial album out there to hook the masses, then once she's got everybody's attention - shit on em (see Pink Friday Track 3.) Maybe next year she'll have everybody in raptures waving their poo in the air (again, see Track 3 - 'Did It On'em.)

For now i'm content with three great tracks, and i'm a total KenBarb (Nicki's pet name for gayboys - cute!) But I expect to hear some really interesting B Sides and future guest raps... and who knows maybe a bitch fight duet with Lil Kim??? That would be GOOSE.

SS11

2010-11-26T12:15:00.000-08:00

Oh happy days. The Spring Summer shows were a riot of camp and it makes me so happy to see Phoebe Philo's Beige dictatorship (more on that later) give way to a parade of no-messing zing-ding-a-ling colours. In some cases it feels like designers are pulling a bit of a fast one on all those smug Chloe-Coated fashion editors, giving them something totally vulgar to chew on knowing they have to swallow it with a smile. It's all much more Anna Del Russo than Anna Wintour, and thank god for that. It's Friday night, it's Top Of The Pops...

This is my favourite Miu Miu collection in years. I can't be doing with all that twee lace and ruffley rubbish that usually comes with the Miu Miu tag, but this stuff is just genius. Super luxe textiles in acids and metallics, printed and pleated silk dresses in awkward lengths and shapes with boxy leather jackets plonked on top. The leather is my best bit - the amazing colours and cut out appliqued shapes (hearts, snakes, peacocks, swans...) The jackets look like they could be dead stock, found boxed away in the basement of Dollywood's souvenir shop. I've been saying for aaages that Porter Wagoner style Nudie Suits are going to be the next big thing, and I've been frantically rummaging the novelty rails in Beyond Retro to no avail. As I probably won't be able to afford any of these Miu Miu beauties, I'll have to keep searching, but for now I'll be keeping warm at the thought of Anna Del Russo rocking this gold number, with matching custom made gold metallic leather stetson, boots and gun holsters. Pow wow pizazz yee-haw.

I was short sighted enough to overlook this collection the day it walked (I blame being temporarily blinded by the Miu Miu metallic nudie suits.) It's very different to their previous shows, but if you pay attention the Rodarte philosophy can be seen in every fold and stitch. Not a fan of beige, it's surprising how much I adore this rhapsody in brown. Every type of brown - biscuits rich tea to bourbon. Not just the colour, but the very texture and starched rigidity of woodchip wallpaper. I feel like the Mulleavy sisters travelled back in time to 1990, to my Nana's sitting room in an ex-council house in Widnes. Tea time to be specific - and with a photoshop pipette type tool they sucked up all the muted shades of leftover 1970's chic. The fake exposed brick around the calor gas heater (an ochre beige), the golden brown swirly thick pile carpet, the cloudy brown glass teacup holding ashy-hued PG tips tinted pale tan with sterilised milk. And sat amongst all that brown, holding the biscuits; a blue and white china cake plate (printed with indistinguishable exotic landscapes. My Nan didn't go in for that much foreign stuff but those plated provided a perfect touch of after school escapism.)

Femme Fresh! I never thought she had a sense of humour but Stella McCartney's SS11 presentation is hillare. What starts as a collection of perfectly lovely milkshake pink, dark blue denim and crisp white - neatly pressed tailored separates (not really breaking out of the box, but really well executed) ... suddenly gives way to the most hideous (but amazing?) print I have ever seen. To quote myself from another article: A citrus print so on the knife edge between chic and lemon pledge- If you were given a sample of the fabric you could easily mistake it for the PVC tablecloth printed with fruit and veg, sold by the metre in poundshops nationwide.

Oh GAWWWD this is just the best. The best hair of all time. I am booked in with the fabulous Sami Knight next week to recreate this using a bucket of peroxide and 12 types of Crazy Colour. Meadham Kirchhoff are the most exciting designers working in London right now. Their stiff as a board glitter t-shirts over chiffon for AW10 was amazing and for SS11 they have really pushed their aesthetic further. The work is a noisy bricolage of folk art, riot grrrl and religious ceremony. Layered colourful lace, hand painted leather and silk dresses all piled on top of each other made for an iconic catwalk show, that when undressed would leave piles and piles of ultra-desirable frocks. The separate pieces are rich in handwork and beautiful details (trims, embroidery, rough ruffles, lots of frayed and burnt edges.) When everything is expertly thrown together, with the my-little-pony-riot-grrrl hair and messy make up - it goes beyond a fashion show. The effect is overwhelming and the garments are so "authentic" (and made with such conviction) its more poetry than fashion. They are walking fanzines, teenage diaries - covered in glitter stickers, Courtney Love lyrics, painted in chipping metallic nail polish and punctuated with angsty biro pen swirls. Looking at the first exit I can smell cheap rose oil, candle wax and I can hear the opening riff of Violet.

Bananarama. This season Prada is totally bonkers. Who would have thought nurse tunics / surgical scrubs would look so major covered in bananas and primary coloured baroque curls. Doing exactly what Prada does the best - Miuccia has taken something ugly, naff and unsellable; and made it over as the most lusted after thing of the season. The costume like ruffles at the bottom of the skirts and dresses make a really weird shape, especially paired with the oversized short sleeved shirts. I hope the rich bitches who can afford this shit put it together in a fun way. It would be a shame to water it down. There's not much more to say except for those men's platform shoes - LUST.

ZING zing zing went my heartstrings. Have there ever been more perfect colour harmonies? Trousers like tents and paper bag waists and gigantic plains of proud colour. The men's collection was almost as nice too. Divine.

I made these Gifs for you. Feel free to spread around but please link back to me.

2010-11-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

Ronx the Robot!

This was the first editorial I shot with Gabi, earlier this year. We've shot a zillion things since but this was the first! We were practically babies back then... Long may the chaos reign.

Photography: Gabriela Antunes
Styling: John William
Make Up: Bea Sweet
Model: Ronx

Madame Cameltoe Gif 4 U

2010-11-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

I made this Madame Cameltoe Gif for you

Poster Zine 5

2010-11-24T14:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a peek at the editorial I shot with Hayley Louisa Brown for the 5th issue of the P&P Poster Zine.

Photography: Hayley Louisa Brown
Styling: John William
Hair & Head Props: Tomihiro Kono
Make Up: Bea Sweet
Models: Suki and Vanessa @ Union

Madame Cameltoe

2010-11-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

Ages ago I shot this editorial with Rosa. It's one of my favourites. I'm always seeing Pam Lucas in the Sunday supplements, with all her amazing white hair. Check out the full story in P&P Issue 3.

Photography: Rosa Rendl
Styling: John William
Hair and Make Up: Bea Sweet
Models: Fifi Newbury @ Select. Pam Lucas @ Ugly

Poster Zine 5

2010-11-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

It's a bit late for this- as we shot it in the summer- but there's still copies of the Poster Zine Hayley Louisa Brown and I did together left... Get in touch if you want a copy.

Photography: Hayley Louisa Brown
Styling: John William
Hair and Head Props: Tomihiro Kono
Make Up: Bea Sweet

Plastic Chaos

2010-11-24T03:30:00.000-08:00

Gabi and I have been re-shooting all of the classic Tatty Devine pieces, running around museums and Ridley Road Market chucking jewelery at unsuspecting friends and freaks.

Thanks to Snappy Snaps Covent Garden we plastered the Tatty shop in holiday snap-size prints of our adventures; outtakes and all. The jewelry is endless and this is definitely an ongoing project!

Hell House 2

2010-11-24T02:26:00.001-08:00

A bit belated, but us Creeps threw a Halloween party in a haunted warehouse...
Here are some pictures by Gabi. (I'm the one dressed as Kirstie Alley dressed as Lady Gaga...)