As some of you know, bitchingandjunkfood.com is no longer headed-up by just me Marion, it’s now Kath too. Kath and I were both doing the own labels and increasingly crossing over so it made sense to join forces and build BITCHY together.
MAX VOLUME PLEASE…
Two Weeks label came about this AW10 in order to represent both our design aesthetics, my background in jewellery/accessories and Kath’s in clothing design. We’re loving menswear just as much as womens and both our own styles are kind of sporty(occasionally slutty but our remade label serves that purpose well) so we decided to do a Unisex collection – we also just wanted a pair of tracksuit bottoms we could throw on and still look cool(guess it’s a bit lifestyle).
A few weeks back I blogged the Chris Ofili Exhibition at Tate Britain. By now Londoners should be well familiar as you’ll have noticed the posters all over the underground.
First saw Jasper Goodall at an art show at Electric Blue Gallery a few months back and stumbled upon his work recently on another blog so went for a bit of a net snoop. Image below brings together several themes churning around in my grey matter at the moment – Egypt, the cosmos, bondage and triangles(not necessarily in that order)
Afrodizza(second version) 1996
Acrylic, Oil, Polyester Resin, Paper Collage, Glitter, Map Pins and elephant Dung on Linen
243.8×182.8
Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery London
New year’s resolution – get out and see more art shows(beats all that gym nonsense and spending less) so I’m starting with this one. An RCA graduate, Ofili established his name through exhbitions at Charles Saatchi Gallery in North London and has also had numerous solo shows during the nineties including the Serpentine Gallery. In 1998 he won the Turner prize and was selected to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale last year. He is counted as one of the UK’s top artists.
Ok so that’s the serious art stuff out of the way but why should you really go to see the show and how can you relate to it? Ofili draws on many contemporary insiprations as well as primitve cave paintings. Themes referenced in his work include blaxploitation films and gangsta rap which he uses to question racial and sexual stereotypes in a humorous way. Lyrical content is very important in his work and he regularly uses hip-hop titles in his work e.g Pimpin Ain’t Easy by Big Daddy Kane.
Today the trail of Fashion blog reading has lead me on to architecture, not something I’ve ever blogged about before, nor something we even have a category for(so it will go under art for today). Having spent the last year living in a warehouse I’ve developed a little bit of an obsession with loft and warehouse living and, more specifically, mezzanines. There’s something quite grandiose about the two ZZs but apart from that mezzanines are a great way of creating extra space without dividing into compartments. Slightly reminiscent of treehouses and bunkbeds, mezzanines awaken my inner child. My dream home, pictured above, was created by L. Comber architects in a 700sq feet loft in Canada. A little on the austere side, I’m not sure where all my paintings, candles, books paintbrushes and magazine tears would go. Presumably there is some walk-in-wardrobe concealed behind a glass panelled door. I imagine that the person living in this loft has a rack of clothing lifted straight out of 10 Corso Como. They probably also have at least two of everything. They are not driven by fashion but form, functionality and lifestyle. Distinct possibility that they are slightly OCD and I imagine shoes would not be allowed indoors. Wonder how aforementioned people deal with baby puke.
Anyhow, for now I’ll make do with a 3 bed period flat(with endearingly crooked walls, creaky floors and draughty windows) and dream of what might be one day(if I was tidier, less eclectic, chucked out all my clothes and became a bit more serious). I probably would also need to straighten my hair.
Ever since receiving the red sequined edition for my birthday in January ‘09 from a vodka-loving aunt, I’ve been hooked on this suited up vodka bottle trend (if not the alcohol itself…) and have decided to start a collection. Had to pick this up in Duty Free on my way back from a short stint in Trinidad last week…Absolut Rock, whose tagline should be ‘as if the studded trend hadn’t already reached critical mass…’. But I couldn’t resist!
If you haven’t read it, you’ve probably all seen a tattered copy gracing the dusty shelves at your local library as a kid. And if you’ve never laid eyes on Maurice Sendak’s popular children’s book Where the Wild Things Are (and that’s weird, mind you), then there’s no doubt that by now you’re more than familiar with it this year because of all the movie’s surrounding hype.
The first of a two -part post, an epic tale of warehouses, fashion shoots, graffitti, cold, sewing, blogging, tweeting, partying – or maybe just a little rant.
We’ve not been hear a year yet and it’s sadly come to an end. As Bitching and Junkfood expands we move to new studios by Broadway Market at the end of the month. We’ve felt it for a while, started with Chloe(fine artist friend), then Martin(another fine artist) then the Dubstep producers next door and, last week, Nick IDM. I was going to wait a couple of weeks before I bid my fairwell with a final blog post but I guess that what I witnessed today underlines the end and pretty much puts a full stop after it too. The is the Hackney Wick Argmageddon and this time it’s not a fashion trend.
When Bitching and Junkfood was a Swarovski-size glint in my eye I decided that Hackney Wick(an East London Warehouse District) was the place to get the little Bitch off the ground. This time last year we started looking for studios – I googled “Warehouse Hackney” and up popped the most amazing space I’d ever seen – a huge warehouse, empty and draughty , the kind of space you’d ususally find a B+Q or maybe even a Tesco. Six of use came together to make this our studio and moved in on the 22nd of December. I flew back from Dublin on the 28th to work 12 hour days with a team of 7 people to build our studios and I mean build – we built the floors, ceilings, stairs, walls. It was probably the most challenging thing I’ve done so far – it was -5 degrees inside and we worked day and night to get the space ready.
Lovely Summer's Day on the canal with some charming graffiti vandals
Some time ago I was on my way to Abbotts Habit in Venice to get my daily wake up call in form of caffeine. As I press the cross button (which you must do for the light to change. A knowledge that might save you many waiting minutes should you ever come and visit) to get to the other side of Abbott Kinney I do a double take on the cross sign. What I saw was pure brilliance on a steel plate. You see a normal cross sign is a description of how to cross the street. Unnecessary you may think but have you not seen Rainman? On a hangovered Monday, tiredness can turn us all in to Rainmen, indecisive creatures that can’t decide to cross or not to cross this can easily result in death as you think you will make it but are proven wrong when 1 ton of SUV smashes in to your face. During these hesitant moments hangovered, stressed or just tired humans can just quickly throw a glance at the steel plate and let the signs decide, is it ok to walk or should I just wait here?
