Future Life

The Sci-Fi Film Festival is on in London at the moment. This in itself is pretty awesome, but Transmission have also curated an exhibition for the festival called 'Life in 2050'. Each of the featured artists have given a representation of what they think the world will be life in 40 years and the variety of responses is amazing. There is an overriding sense of decay and destruction in the works which says something about the current state of the world. This particular video by Future Deluxe, however, has a rather more positive view on the future with blinding white light and surreal graphics which are absolutely mesmerising. (all images and video from the Life in 2050 website, also the song in the background is Harmonic 313 in case anyone is interested)

Artist Tom Gallant

Artist Mario Hugo

Smile on Film

This is one of my all-time favourite covers of Dazed and Confused magazine (Dec 2008) because it's clever and simple. (image from smile blog)



So I was pretty excited when I found the video that Pierre Debusschere made in conjunction with the shoot- which makes it a bit old by fashion's standards but still enjoyable. The film uses a mirroring technique to morph the models, creating kaleidoscope-like effects out of their bodies. It's kooky and fun and doesn't really make any sense, which is why it made me smile. (video from youtube)

Body Morphs

The surrealist, fetish photography of Pierre Molinier is a huge inspiration when re-considering the boundaries of the body. He merged the limbs, torsos and heads of the women he photographed to create sexually charged figures. Most of them couldn't really be considered human, let alone female- yet there are recognisably feminine features and human parts- which makes you wonder what constitutes the human body? If something is made of human pieces, but it isn't a human, then what is it?

(images from molinier infos)

Polaroid Plus One

After the last post I had a bit of a deeper look into polaroid photography. These caught my eye because the neon colours and textures remind me of the NASA images I posted- but creepy, distorted versions. (all images from the fashion spot)

500 Polaroids and a Blood Donation

Mikael Kennedy has been on a road trip around America for the past ten years. He documented the places he went and the people he met with a polaroid camera and now his 500 favourite photos are now in an exhibition at the Chelea hotel. In doing this, I think he may well have fulfilled the dreams of every beat-loving, nomadic spirit who ever pointed a lens at the world. The story sounds perfect until you get to the bit about having to sell his own blood in seattle to buy film- that's when most people would call home. Kennedy didn't and the result of his dedication is this stunning collection of images. Each one is a moment in time, captured with a sense of emotion that feels genuine. Washed out colours and searing light offer nostalgia for what has been, and a welcome respite from process-perfect digital imagery.







The exhibition is now on at the Chelsea hotel if you're lucky enough to live in New York. Otherwise head to his website for these and other images.

Rufus Wainwright Bats His Lashes

Chiara from moda communicator put me onto this video, knowing my passion for disembodied parts. The film was created by Douglas Gordon as part of the new tour visuals for Rufus Wainwright. It's Wainwright's own eye shot at 1,000 frames a second, so that each blink becomes a prolonged, almost gelatinous, movement. It's beautiful and simple, showing that by separating something ordinary from its usual context you can give it endless meanings and interpretations. By the end of the film I began to think of them less as eyes and more as some sort of unknown sea creature, bobbing gently in the dark depths of the ocean. To see the video click here. (image from pocket-monsterd)

Curiouser and Curiouser

O.K. Parking is a graphic design studio in the Netherlands which also runs O.K. blog and a biannual publication O.K. magazine, covering a range of design mediums and generally anything creative. I stumbled upon this image on their Dutch-language website and so had very little information to help me make sense of it. I only really knew that I found it uncomfortable and interesting at the same time. Digital photography often has that sort of disquieting effect because it is something absolutely unreal masquerading as something real.



It was actually the cover of their most recent "Curiosities" issue, and true to the name it's full of kooky design ventures, photography and art installations that you don't see every day. It's not all my cup of tea, but it's definitely all curious. I found the image of a model wearing padded pants the most striking because it returns to the idea of volume in fashion being used to manipulate the body and distort its proportions. Have a flick through the digital magazine below to see more. (digital magazine courtesy of O.K. Periodicals and issuu.com)

The Glamour Factory

So the Autumn/Winter 2010 collections have come and gone, and after mulling over the offerings the Viktor and Rolf show definitely stands out. I always find their work is at its best when they can marry the clothing, conceptual framework and runway show into one clear statement. Returning to the concept from their "Russian Doll" A/W 1999 collection, this season begins with Kristin McMenamy teetering down the runway in platform heels, dressed in layer upon layer of winter coats and dresses. Each layer is peeled off, unzipped, tucked, tied, re-zipped and sent off on another model. It follows the designers preoccupation with form and silhouette, exploring different types of volume in the same pieces- from built up, strained proportions to relaxed, heavy draping. (video from youtube, there is also a worthwhile video of the collection with interviews on style.com)





The original babushka collection (below) tended toward more of an installation and focused heavily on the concept. This season the designers have taken a newer, fresher approach as the clothes are interactive and infinitely more wearable. (images from the fashion spot)

Defragmentation of Beauty

Fashion has a love affair with dismemberment which can be beautiful, gruesome or both. I just came across this amazing editorial with illustrations by Tomek Sadurski which is definitely the former. It's from 25 magazine and titled "Defragmentation of Beauty"- which of course brings deconstruction and dissection of the body to the fore . It's interesting that this macabre concept can inspire what are really quite pretty and feminine illustrations. (images courtesy of awake-smile)

Into The Galaxy

Does anyone else spend as much time on the NASA website as I do? Probably not. Anyway, the universe throws out some amazing shapes and colours, and being a science fiction nerd I think these images are just insanely beautiful. The best part is that they weren't developed via photoshop or digital manipulation- these are pictures of the real thing. If you visit the site there is a whole archive of images from their intergalactic adventures including neon light, clouds of gas, gamma rays and, of course, 'big bang' type explosions. (images courtesy of NASA).

Event Horizon in New York

Antony Gormley's sculptures are striking explorations of how the human body can be represented and manipulated. For the past 25 years he has been investigating and transforming the human form- constructing it out of balls, cubes, rods, sticks, smooth, rough and broken metal, making then sit, move, jump or curl up in the foetal position. Sometimes they're humorous and ironic and other times they're poignant or despairing. The "Feeling Material" series is one of the most abstract and beautiful, with fluid lines creating motion and warmth in an otherwise cold, lifeless steel sculpture. (image from artnet.com)

Feeling Material XL

One of his current works is an installation of 31 life-size fibreglass and cast iron statues around Manhattan. Life-size is a literal description as they were cast from a mould of Gormely's own body. Four of them are positioned on pathways and sidewalks in order to interrupt the day to day traffic of the city. The rest are installed on the rooftops of architecturally renowned buildings in the Flatiron district. It is essentially a recreation of an earlier installation in and around London's South Bank in 2007. During that exhibition the police were overwhelmed by the calls from passersby who thought the statues were real people attempting suicide. It is yet to be seen whether the New Yorkers, not famous for their compassion, react in the same way. (images from the Event Horizon Blog)

There is a huge archive of Gormley's work on his website, so it's definitely worth checking out.

Comme des Garçons S/S 2010

The last spring/summer collection for Comme des Garçons was an intense exploration of tailoring and deconstructionist fashion. The pastiche of fabrics, silhouettes and unconventional, almost erratic, placement of traditional detailing just begs references to Frankenstein. Like the monster himself these pieces were constructed from known garments, but in their reconstruction they lose all sense of their original form and proportions. It's a somewhat perverse way of looking at fashion, which is why the results are so confusing and beautiful at the same time. It's also just one of the many reasons why Rei Kawakubo is entirely without comparison. (images from style.com)






These artworks were created for LOVE magazine and reflect the cut and paste nature of the collection, along with the strong focus on tailored jackets. Throughout the collection there are ironic references to the shoulder pads which swept the fashion world into a flurry of statement shoulders and Pierre Cardin style blazers. However as Sarah Mower from style.com noted, the wry inclusion of these elements suggest that Rei Kawakubo was not only declaring the trend well and truly over but subtly mocking the fervour with which it was adopted. Head to style.com to see the whole collection. (images by Rei Kawakubo for LOVE magazine, Issue 3, Spring/Summer2010, pp 88-89)

Blue Roses- Doubtful Comforts

I don't know what 3D camera shift means exactly but the result is a beautiful, atmospheric music video for the Blue Roses. The flickering figures pick up the music-box quality in the song, making it sinister and child-like at the same time. It's the work of Berlin-based duo A Nice Idea Every Day.

Bright Brows

If you can colour your hair you can colour your eyebrows. And some people do.

Designer Louise Gray and Pelayo of katelovesme have gone all out for bright brows. This quirky use of colour definitely injects some much-needed humour into the fashion world. The best part is that they both managed to coordinate their outfits to their eyebrows which I think shows great commitment to the cause. (images from style.com and katelovesme)

Complex Geometries

Complex Geometries is one of the few labels that actually delivers on its claim to create conceptual yet wearable pieces. Designer Clayton Evans reconsiders some unisex wardrobe classics and has the technical skill in draping to really pull it off. Each piece challenges how a t-shirt or dress should work, yet they're still so fluid and beautiful it makes me want to move to Iceland and wear them every day. He even manages to make clothes you can wear in multiple ways without looking like you put your pants on backward.

It takes a lot of work to make something look this simple, and the black, white and grey colour palette helps to keep everything looking clean and fresh. The Spring/Summer 10 collection (below) was photographed by Tommy Ton of Jak and Jil, and you can see the whole collection at the Complex Geometries website. I found it hard to see some of the detail in those shots (especially the black garments) so head to the online store to get a closer look at how all the draping works.

And So It Begins...

Just to get everything started, here's a bit of an introduction. I study fashion in Sydney but I'm a big nerd about all sorts of creative works in design, film, music, literature, architecture and everything really.
The world definitely doesn't need another blog on fashion trends so this will be a collation of anything that's a bit off the wall, unconventional, kooky, insane or just interesting to me. I hope you will find it interesting too.