Available from a focussed selection of stockists including Artwords, Broadway Market and Rivington Street, Magma in Soho and WH Smith in Harrods and Selfridges – you can find the full list here.

A few highlights from the issue…..

Lindsay Lohan pictured partying just hours after being released from house arrest.

To launch our high-summer collection Urban Outfitters let us take over there store for a couple of hours. We took over an area of the store and curated the section with our product as well as other brands we’re into.

Thanks to Mercedes B for the above shots.

Thanks to DGTL for our video – nce wn byz and Leoni Flemming Blue for the pics.

More pictures over at Livin Cool.

Also DJ’ing is Princess Julia(no relation to mademoiseel Yulia who I just wrote about), original Blitz kid and Music Editor of ID Magazine. I’ve been told it’s a funk night and I protested that I hate funk which everyone knows, however I do like Curtis Mayfield which I’m aware is a total contradition. I also see that there will be Chicago House which I love – I think I had an argument with Henry about the roots of Chicago House being in funk(I refused to believe it).

Anyhow, our good friend Christopher James, Weknowwhatyoudidlastnight will be taking pictures alongside Disorder Magazine who’ve featured our designs before. One big happy family. See you on the dancefloor. MWAH x

Well it kinda feels like that anyway, I’ve been number-crunching all week and those little chewy fkrs are well stuck in my teeth. I have nonetheless managed to take some time out for thoughts on Halloween.

I’m one of those people who cringes at the thought of themed parties, I don’t do dress-up but according to my friends that’s becuase every day is dress-up.  Despite the fact that I don’t do dress-up I’ve now become a bit obsessed – I was dreaming about crushed velvet quilted bomber jackets with gold crests on the back last night(not really sure if it fits halloween or is an AW11 idea). Myself and my housemate Ashley were researching ideas for a party we’re hitting Sunday along with the rest of our raggedy band of troubadours. It’s in our local pub The London Fields(right beside our studio) and the entire place is being turned into a haunted house  - the staff even have a prosthetics make-up artist coming so I guess that’s now upped the ante a bit and I might have to do dress up. The theme is Victorian Zombies but we’d like to play around with that a little bit – some of the ideas include glitter ball disco zombie or pregnant hillbilly zombie or myself and Kath could be Evil Twins since that’s what we seem to have become anyway.

Lots of inspiration from East London’s party scene(some of these are just taken on a standard Saturday night!) on weknowwhatyoudidlastnight.com Thankyou to the charming Christopher James for letting me swipe some pics.

I wore pretty much the same as the above last halloween except I had a roe deer animal skull embellished with black Swarovski crystals strapped to my shoulder – I kept it low key but night quite as low key as Shabnam below. Apparently club births are the new home births – I hope she had an epidural.

Another random observation of Yank life is the ridiculous signs that seem to pop up everywhere I go,  see below………

Lady Love......Pure Class

Nice Combination

Direct at least....

I cant figure out which one I like best.....

So yes……random signs……..

Now to ilustrate Gay Pride…..which resulted in me getting stupidly drunk by 4pm and suffering the mother of all hangovers at 9pm…..

Gay Pride indeed

And just to conclude this post…..heres one for you Marion……..

Heres one for you Marion

Until the next post…………..

x

So for the next few months I hope to bring you a slice of the LA pie (its juicy and fattening) and share with you the crazy and stupid adventures of me and my bestest sister Kesh.

So I arrived after an horrific flight, no sleep for like 48 hours and hungover to hell, but I made it. In true LA style we went straight to eat chicken wings and watch the Lakers game (??) , I stroll in with my goth black maxi dress draped in gold jewellery and clearly did not fit in, the chicken wings were damn good though.

I then arrive at our wonderful magical shack,  I love it,  its bulit for leprachauns and trolls to live in, but me and kesh are making it work….

Our Magical Shack

For those of you who know Kesh’s blog (http://therealkesh.blogspot.com) you will be familiar with Kitty, for those of you not familiar..here she is:

KITTTYYYYYYY

Kitty is here to protect us from savage mongooses that attack us in the night……….

So I have been here 2 days in total, and have been wasted for yep…..2 days in total. The first night we sashayed over to Moustache Mondays, youve gotta show some tranny love. Those of you unfamiliar with the wonderfullness of Moustache Mondays: this will sum it up……..

WERK

The last few days we seemed to have covered alot of ground: CobraSnake store opening in Hollywood, Art Gallery Openings and the amazing Freak City, all of which have had a free bar.

Tomorrow we are of to the Fabric District to haggle with some cool mexicans……

Anyway thats enough rambling so I shall leave you with some pretty pictures…..

Peace

Suzie (suzzaaaaayyyyyy if you are Marion) xx

Too much technology in one shot....

The Loverly Jeremy Scott

My Favourite piece from the Art Show

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.

When major director Spike Jonze got his hands on the movie rights, he let all his friends on for the ride. And I’m sure, like me, if you knew that some of his friends on board for the project were Christian Joy, Karen O and the Opening Ceremony massive (to name a small few), your ears would’ve instantly stood at attention like a… trend-alert-equipped feral being…or something.

I just so happened to be in Los Angeles to witness some of the madness surrounding it (but not long enough, alas, to catch the movie on Oct. 15th). Here are some photos I grabbed at the Opening Reception for the movie’s Pop-Up Store in the massive Urban Outfitters at Space 15 Twenty, where some of the stars were present.

I’d heard about the jewelry and clothing lines, but a fort building competition to win a custom design WTWTA Xbox 360? Clearly I hadn’t seen the half of it. You’ll see what I’m talking about when you head over to We Love You So, the official blog compiling all the countless influences that helped make the movie a reality. Otherwise, stay tuned! In one of my next posts I’ll give you a run-through of my favourite WTWTA ‘hypephernalia’ that’s sure to have you just as pumped to be in the cinemas come release day, in case you weren’t planning on it. I assure you, this isn’t just for kids.

As I am skipping back to my Mountain bike $1000 richer (Obviously by returning clothes for $1000 I can a few days later shop for, say, $500 without the guilt trip as I just made $1000 a few days back! Wohoo!) I pass this girl performing. At first I didn’t even hear the music but the girl herself caught my eyes. Barefoot, in a vintage flower print dress on a mini piano. Her flyers and CD’s were stacked in a beautiful leather hat box and a vintage leather bag.  Her music made me smile even wider than I did from the $1000 I just made and I thought it was nice to hear something that did not sound like a newer version of Britney Spears or looked like a cloned Jessica Simpson.

Her name is Eliza Rickman, and I have not heard of her before but am pretty sure we will hear (of) her again. Check her out on www.elizarickman.com she might make you smile too, if not try the return trick.

Last night’s WAR Magazine party provided hot looks in dark corners. Bumped into the ubiquitous Daniel Lismore and his band of troubadours. Last week I sat in a Catholic church, on Soho square. It was nice(yep nice, boring word but churches aren’t really rock n roll) and even though I’m not religious it felt strangely peaceful, not something I can say about any aspect of my life at the moment. I looked at the statues and was inspired by the draping of porcelain fabric. I went home and re-created a jersey version for myself. I’m feeling for monastic style at the moment and Daniel hit the nail on the rust rosary-bead wrapped head. All that was missing was an altar boy swinging an incense burner. 

I was dragged into a corner by Zack to photograph a gay porn comic book plucked from the right leg of this blonde boy’s pants. Not something that occurs on a regular basis I may have to go on pant inspection if this trend takes off. Always a good idea to have a porn emergency book in your pants I say.

Daniel Cousins my  Frog Prince pictured the other week at BBB was once again in tights – he’s a Prince, what do you expect? We’ve seen leggings on boys already so tights are just around the corner. Boreing history, tights were actually worn as tight as possible by men in Renaissance times for practical reasons whilst riding horseback. Apparently so desireable was a nice shapely leg that King Henry VIII used to stuff his calves – maybe you could stuff yours with porn! Padded calves or not, I’ll be on the look-out to get a full report together. On our last shoot, I cut the feet off some 10 denier tights and layered some sawn-off black jeans over them on one of our male models and it looked great! An easy way to work this trend for menswear.

Corset belts also trending strong for boys but that’s going to be a whole other post. 

I pictured this girl at the end of the night wearing a dress designed by her friend , the name of whom she’ll hopefully send me to blog about if not stock in the store. I’m loving all things pointy at the moment and I’m really struggling to let go of our pointy shouldered bandage dresses.

I had the opportunity to clink flutes with menswear designer Nico Didonia who has given exclusive blog invites to myself and MAW to his SS 2010 presentation – exciting times.

We got these boys to pose and someone else hijacked our pap - u know who you are!

We were trying to figure out who Jack was all night – we never met him. Who is Jack? Jack is everyone that filled an industrial coutyard off Vyner street. We spoke to quite a few of the Jacks who had all collaborated to bring their first A4 issue together – they’re also launching Jack TV soon, we wait in anticipation.

The Editor’s letter struck a chord as he said it had taken “blood, sweat and tears” to bring the issue together. We’re feeling the same about Bitching and Junkfood and as regular readers know, we’ve called our first pop-up this Sat BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS. I’v met so many people recently who are giving the two finger salute to the credit crunch and just going for it – we salute all of you but with a whole hand, not just two fingers.

We hooked up with their stylist the lovely Arti who was rockin some pretty amazing jewellery which we’ll be taking into the store very soon. We’ve got a pretty flexible approach to buying at the moment – see it, luv it, buy it, upload it. We want to hunt down the cool stuff and do LTD runs, giving other talent a platform for promotion. We’re kinda finding our feet at the moment in terms of style, direction, customer profile and we’re really excited by menswear.

3D shades were the theme for the evening – unfortunately we missed the 3D screening but life is 3D anyway. We’ve been all over 3D style since we picked up our 3D shades in LA – they totally sold out and we’ve had a re-stock on mutliple cols this week.

Trend we’ve seen emerging across East London at the moment, fake designer gear and naff branding. I’ve clocked two others in similar – guess it’s a reaction luxury and consumersim as well a realisation about the power of branding.

Another Dandy prince in a glittery jacket – we’re working on some of our versions today in the studio.

Mekhong whiskey and ginger ale was free flowing – YUM YUM. I’m a clutz and managed to splash mine all over poor Arti, tall girls and gangly limbs problem. Tash also had a little Bitching and Junkfood Splodge accident on the floor – organic guerilla branding.

Tonight I was brought out to the Gherkin as a birthday treat. You usually can’t get access to this unless you are a member but Bitching and Junkfood has ways and means. There’s a rigorous entry process where you get ID’d and have to go through a proper airport style security screening only this time I didn’t have a bottle of vodka and a toblerone.

One of the most amazing places I’ve had dinner – reminded us of Aqua in HK, all slick glossy black floors and acrchitectural angles.

Food, we all agreed, was mediocre but the Turneresque views made it more than worth while as did catching up with own friends. Just becuase a waiter speaks in a snooty french accent doesn’t mean that good food is guaranteed. I won’t go into great detail foodwise but all courses had too much salt which killed the delicate flavor of most of the food. We were served an apres main course Amuse Bouche which we all sniggered hyserically over as we were convinced it was Chivers strawberry jellly with cream on top, served in a shot glass. The waiters were not impressed. Why not Angel delight, Butterscotch flavor?

D.I.Y : huge trend right now. With pennys dwindling in all of our pockets, it’s time to snazz up the stuff we own already or have a good root in grannys closet – you never know what you’ll find behind the false teeth and rotting banana. Loving the choir boy neck piece combo’d with blonde, curly afro- Galliano inspired? Also adore the fingerless lace gloves- these beauties are genuine granny closet finds from the fifties. They lost their fingers this year, showing the huge following behind the reported fingerless gloves trend. Marion is busy developing some chunky leather ones for the store. Check out the fabulous newspaper dress too: definitely recognising a Westwood inspried bust here- we like! Just grab a free paper on your way to work and whip one up for yourself!                         

Royalty headwear. Tiaras- thinking tacky bride, debutante or birthday princess? Not anymore! Much rather rock a royal chess set  like our paparzzi princess. Also loving the ‘this is one we made earlier’ duck tape tiara below. Want to see some gothic crowns too  -  how about black studded , king of the night style?

Music when the lights go out. Lampshades for ceilings? No. The lampshades of Dublin’s finest can now be found on their heads. With shoulders reaching peak heights for A/W 09, the idea has made its way over to headwear. Can’t wait to see more on this.Loving the nightmare before christmas take below- tying in our mask fetish wih some cartoonish, gothic tones. For more on masks see this. Show how much you love your fav tunes by wearing them around your neck- grab an old  cassette, spray it and sport it against a sequined background! Sure to send the glitter balls spinning. Take it even further by raiding your Dad’s office and robbing a keyboard? Spray it a bright colour as pictured,  and re-arrange the letters- filthy mouths at the ready.

Tights for Knights. So maybe the tights do look like I’ve been out in combat for a few days but who cares? Slashed tights are all over the streets at the moment- who’s gonna bother spending money on new ones when messing up your old ones is way more fun. Expect to see beaded tights around soon too. Layers of netting or fringing will help you define your spot on the floor.

For more on Partie Monster see this.

IF IT’S A VISOR…..

AND THE WORLD LOOKS NICE TINTED ROSE OR BLUE…..GRAB EM NOW FROM BITCHY SHOP

DO POWER SHOULDERS

BE A STUD…

GET YER WENDY OUT…….UNLESS YOU’RE OVER 50 AND YOU’VE HAD VAGINOPLASTY

CRY…. ESPECIALLY IF YOU’VE KILLED 3 PEOPLE PRETTY GIRL

ROCK WHITE TRASH AND LOOK HOT, HOT, HOT……

Steve Strange style award goes to Daniel Lismore. We know fashion’s moving fast at present but he managed to bat new romantic eyelashes with Basquiat daubed eye-shadow whilst making a direct nod to Warhol with the soup and Marilyn wig – one step ahead on party themes for House of Blue Eyes, Warhol Party at Can Can Thursday night. This stylish boy has star quality, most of them were sequinned and stuck to his lips.

Check out our hot Warhol Jumpsuit – hideous.

Apparently 50 is the new 40 which doesn’t surprise me cause Mr. Strange himself didn’t look a day over it. Strange by surname, pleasant and low-key by nature. Fashion blogging is a funny thing as you wind up giving the up-down look to everyone like the evil fashion week people – you all know who you are(that’s not directed at ANYONE I know, you’re all amazing). At least now I have an excuse but the length and depth of the stare has increased meaning I look like a right bitch. Oh well out with the camera….

Bold Stripes

Vertical and horizontal stripes have gone bold again. We spotted this at Coachella in LA I think they look (see report)best when layered with other patterns, the lovely young man in the red and black pants had paired them with a swallow-print top.

I did a wearer trial on the black and white ones with my marching band jacket but you can buy them in our shop for yourself

Pirates

So obviously can’t comment on anything New Romantic without referencing pirates. I loved last nights pirates. I felt distinctly boreing in my pirateness. Last nights pirates were hyper-colourful, layered cols and patterns with a undertones of African Tribal. Textures and prints were layered to perfection. We spotted the lovely Martha on the underground and were waiting for a chance to jump carriages so we could pap her feather Mohican – luckily she was going to the same place as us so we had a nice chat along the way. Lanvin have done lots with hair feathers for AW(check Kingdom of style) but I prefer the punky extravagance of this take – how fun would it be with oversized studs all the way down the sides….

Smooth Criminals 1920’s

Ok so it’s started already jacko style is filtering through big time. Even before he croaked it and went to Never never land forever Man About World had spotted Brick Lane’s own Jacko – this is what started the Man and Marion friendship/fashion obsession.

Lace

Traditionally an AW fabric(relates to what I said in last post about ignoring seasonal attachments to fabrics), I’ve seen so much of this across london at the moment, plastic pants anyone??(actually yes seen that too). I like the assymetric placement of lace. Spotted lovely Nadir last Friday at Calling all Tribes birthday part in the MacBeth and he’d made a wonderful mask from sculpted lace which seemed almost like an organic extension of his cascading curls . Really strong trends for mask and balaclavas – now that all the nasty business with the Irish has passed – all over catwalks at for AW09 – another report to follow. Venetian style mask also worn front and back of head by Dan. Not for the faint hearted, onle for those with serious commitment to fashion causes – a whole lot of effort to manage these in vertiginous heels in a swelterting basement in Soho.. This trend seems a suitable reaction to the five minutes of fame culture. I think masks raise a lot of interesting contradictions between blog, club photography, fame, celeb culture, outward appearances and the underlying vulnerability in all of us….or maybe that’s just me.

Check out our stunning lace jacket.
Since gloves are so hot we’ve also done pretty lace gloves – we think these would look even nicer on boys…
And if you fancy a frilly lace top… this would look great over metallics

Tough Wrists

A tougher more punk influenced look than what we’ve seen on catwalks. Lots of layering on both wrists with manchettes underneath. Like I’ve said already layered up fingerless gloves, satin, bangles. It’s all OTT hands. In Victorian times a lady wasn’t supposed to touch a man without a glove on(unless it was her husband or brother) – I guess fingerless get round this problem quite nicely.

Dark Eyebrows

Two very different takes on a similar make-up theme here. Alejandro had a lot of looks going on – multi-layered rings, fingerless gloves, see-through top, big shoulders but those eyes….spot of for AW fully filled in black for added darkness right into those shady eye corners. Fashion and make-up is like armour at the moment..tough, intimidating and impenetrable but batter-ram your way past to discover the personalities underneath – it’s wonderful.

Another summer fur wearer. You heard it hear first. Not sure if practical is the right word but bare skin underneath makes this an altogether more wearable look and if you’ve got a body like that then why bother covering it up. It was the face and the hair that really caught my attention. Hair sculpted to 1920’s perfection and beutifully balanced out with dark new-romantic come-hither eyes. Despite the angularity and form to the hair and features the dark rose-bud lips gave this hard edged look an air of blood-bitten romanticism.

We felt a bit like this by the end of the night…

Off to Dalston super-store tonight hope to see super people. BITCHY LUV U X

Friday also saw Trailer Trash pass on to meet it’s maker, not sure if it’s maker was ready for it – wow Hell’s gonna be so much fun. If I was to die tomorrow I’d like to be sent off in a blaze of sequinned, neon electro glory too. Twas a celebration of a wonderful life. Tears were shed(or was it sweat), condolences exchanged and all wondered how the sleazy void would be filled. Emotions ran high and the kids were quite literally swinging from the rafters. I will be having a mass said – hoping the lovely door bitch in the pink bra and Tutu can be the priest.

Crystal ball moment….in the not too distant future men and womenswear will be obsolete – we’ll just have Peoplewear(apart from bras and jockstraps, although you never know on that one either). Looks that we’ve seen a couple of seasons back on womenswear are rapidly filterting through in menswear and it’s very very exciting indeed. Male, female, dogs, cats – GIVE A SHIT – we’re inspired. We’re seeing a lot of product requested for boys shoots too so I’ve made a decision and I’ll be introducing Peoplewear in the very near future.

We saw some great looks at both nights so here’s a little overview from the BITCHY crew:

PIERROT BOYS
Pierrot was the sad clown pining for the love of Columbine who left him for Harlequin. I think she made a bad choice, there’s something beautifully melancholy about this look. Ruffs have been making appearance on womensear catwalks for the last few seasons and I think they’re the perfect accessory/detail to frame a pretty face. This austere black/white look is key at Chanel AW09 with ruffs a prominent feature on the womenswear collection. This oversize polka-dot print looks great – much newer than Harlequin which is starting to feel a bit tired. I’d love to see some oversized pom-poms too.

Get the look yourself:
MAKE YOUR OWN RUFF

BIKER GLOVES
Hot hot hot. These are an absolute must for boys and girls. Such an easy way to give an edge to the simplest outfit. I want a pair with big evil fuck-off studs across the knuckles so I’m going to hunt them down and customise them – like RIchard Shoyemi, also papped this week by Man About World. These are a must going forward to AW. Like the idea of layering over brightly coloured satin lady gloves.

BOY JEWELS
Pearls – recently reported on Man about world and seen again at Caligula, ties back in with the Pierrot/Elizabethan ruffs look. We also love this guy who had some sort of notebook necklace – what was written on it? Maybe his name and address(we met in Trailer Trash so these things sometimes get erased from the mind) or perhaps he’s been travelling around Pantoning his life. This hand-written paper look has also been sported recently by Douce Angoisse with her Toilet paper necklace. I heart the Horse rosettes(which again were seen all over D+G AW womenswear) – I want it in leather with a nice black resin horse cameo and some horse hair cascading.

NICE GASHES
Loving all three takes on this look for various different reasons. This stylish lady gave structure and colour to a daring oversize keyhole with a stunning Geo belt for added oomph. With so many oversize shapes, studs and emebellishments filterting through for AW we like the idea of oversizing the holes too. Skeletons have been represented in print in McQueen for SS and we love the revealing detail of this skeletal bandage dress which echoes the anatomical structure beneath the flesh. Strategically placed black holes over a preppy white shirt keeps the look contemporary and not too punky.

SEQUINS
Designer Alessandro Dell Aqua’s new phrase is “Bourgeoise Revolution”, a reaction to sensibility. Well no sensibility seen here and lots of sequins. He’s sent sequins down the runway for AW09 and these boys are hot on his sparkly tails. The one item I would have mugged for were the Jeremy Scott Trackie bottoms. I LOVE JEREMY SCOTT and I LOVE the seamless High-Low pairing with spanking white Reeboks. I’ve said it before but with the Olypmics fast approaching gymnast style is going to filter through big time.

Graduating with a masters degree in Fine Art from Central St Martins her work can be compared to Cindy Sherman who has used her body to express herself in a series of self-portraits using various media. She blurs the boundaries between Avant Garde and mass entertainment, pop culture and the underground managing to seamlessly entertain contemporary art junkies and trash culture addicts alike .

Just back from filming Ring them Bells at Glastonbury – Britain’s first documentary about about London’s alternative queer scene – we caught up with to probe and poke..

I’m feeling slightly like I’m at seance, am I speaking to Julie or holestar? Holestar here. Julie is the manager.

One word, all too often overlooked – Why? It’s a hell of a cliché but I think I was born with a twisted need to create and perform.

If holestar was filling out a job application what title would they be ticking? Artist.

Can you tell us how holestar has evolved? Holestar is my artist name, BD (before drag).  My work at the time was about sexuality and gender and I got the idea after seeing many a tired old drag act and thought, “I can do that”. It was initially a one off art piece but carried on when I met a DJ whilst living in Vienna who wanted me to MC over his sets. From there it took on a life of its own and five years on, I still love it.

I’ve since evolved to singing, acting, performance art, DJing and back to the classic drag tradition of lip synching. I’m still a visual artist and currently making a documentary about The Downlow, the worlds first travelling gay disco.

Holestar in George Michael Video

We all have personas that we hide behind, some people live their whole life as a performer. Do you struggle to separate or are the boundaries quite clear? I have very clear boundaries. There are many performers who believe their own hype and it can drive them crazy. I’m very conscious that any adulation my on-stage persona receives is temporary. You have to come back down to earth when catching the night bus.
I find it amusing when people who kiss my arse when I’m in drag, completely ignore me out of it. They are engaged with the facade and not the reality.

Why did you decide to be a Tranny with a fanny rather than a drag king? I dress like a man in everyday life so its not saying anything new. I wanted to create something provocative and political while being entertaining.  I’ve done man drag a few times but prefer the glitz and glamour of over the top, elaborate feminity.

When you’ve had a few shandies do you find yourself becoming more camp or slipping into performance mode? Absolutely. But then again, I’m not a big drinker. I don’t like loosing control.

Who chats you up more straight men, gay men, straight women, gay women, dogs, cats, field mice or dolphins? Tranny chasers (who are more often than not, straight men ) though they are often disappointed when they realise I’m actually a woman. Frustraingly, I’ve had my chest and crotch grabbed by people who are confused and want conformation of my gender.

When holestar was 20, how did she answer the question – where will you be in 10 years time? I would have said I’ll be an artist. In another 10, I’ll say the same.

Do you feel quite revolutionary in terms of how you are pushing drag tradition? I hope so. My main inspiration was Blake Edwards film Victor/Victoria and was surprised that nobody was using the basic premise of the film as performance. In San Francisco they have Faux Queens but I’m not fake anything.
My main idea is about reclaiming over the top femininity from drag queens to the female form and to question gender codes and roles.

Holestar with Patricia Field

What is the reaction from the more traditional male drag acts? I’ve had a few problems along the way. Some have had me excluded from events, thought its usually the untalented, insecure ones who have done that. Luckily, I’ve been largely accepted by the alternative drag scene.

Have you had the age old problem of needing to work much harder as a female to be accepted in a male dominated industry?
Hell yes. I’ve come up against a lot of sexism in this business we call show.
I was recently told the reason I didn’t get a job was not based on any talent I may have, but because I’m not a man. People want text book man-in-a-dress drag I guess.  I suppose I’m subverting things a bit to far for some, despite my mantra always about making art and performance accessible for all.

Are you a feminist? Yes. I did some volunteer work in India recently and saw how women are still being treated like third rate citizens. Women in the west still may have a way to go until we get equality but we have no idea how good we have it compared to women in third world countries.
I’m grateful that I am able to be outspoken, opinionated, enjoy sex, be who I want to be and educate myself, something denied to so many women around the world.

Which other drag queens do you respect? Divine, Leigh Bowery (though not strictly a drag queen) and my sisters from The House of Egypt.

Your performance art has many layers with quite a dark side do you feel that this is sometimes lost on your club audience? Does this matter to you? Not at all, its all up for individual interpretation. Some only see my work in an artistic context, others see me as a DJ or entertainer. I try to make all my output whether in a gallery, cabaret space or nightclub accessible.

Tell us about your experience as a dominatrix? I’ve been doing it now for about nine years. I took a break while doing my Fine Art Masters at Central St Martins and its something I still genuinely enjoy from time to time. I don’t have any sex with my clients as I like to maintain a respectable distance and only session with people who respect that.

Has this liberated you in terms of exploring your own sexuality and comfort zones? I guess so. Through the process of becoming a Dominatrix, I eventually came out to myself as queer, a title I still maintain. While I may be with a female partner now, I would never say never to being with a man again. Its just that I don’t really desire them sexually but you never know.

Who inspires your style? Penelope Keith as Margo Ledbetter is one of my style icons. I love 80s trashy glamour though I don’t have one particular style . As a larger lady, it can be tricky to find things in my size so I’ve taken to making things myself (though I’m not particularly handy with a needle).

If you had wear to one designer for the rest of your life who would it be? Tricky question. I like the colours of Matthew Williamson, glamour of classic Halston and if they made big girl sizes, Dolce and Gabbana. I do like a bit of leopard print.

Does the costume side excite you as much as the stage performance? Not until I find a designer who wants me as their muse. I have great ideas in my head on how I’d like to have fantastical things made for me but have no patience or time to learn to make them myself. Though I do get very excited by finding something special in a charity shop or market. My favorite item of clothing is a black and white, 80s batwig style dress top with a leopard face and a small train found in a flea market in Vienna. I’ve been offered money for it but its going nowhere though I have seen similar prints of it recently.

What do you like to wear when you’re not performing? Whatever’s comfortable.  I have great admiration for people who create a ‘look’ on a daily basis but I find fashion temporary and performative so only dress up for the occasion.

I’m kind of confused as your performance layers many questions about gender, roles, female, male and society’s/mass medias perception of people in general. What is your message in less than 10 words? In the words of Viv Savge in ‘This is Spinal Tap’;
“Have a good time….all the time”.

Number one make-up tip? Girls frequently ask me makeup advice and I always say  invest in good brushes and practice. Different products and colours work on different faces.

What is your ambition? To be the female equivalent of Warhol, Picasso or Dali. There hasn’t been a female uber artist yet and while it might be overly ambitious, a girl can dream can’t she?

What gets you through? Chocolate and good hugs.

Ring them Bells is being made on a eyelash budget and pounds worth of passion so donations are a must to keep this project buoyant(chicken fillets will not suffice). Is that a tenner in your pocket or are you just pleased to see her…….doesn’t matter, take it out and donate what you can at Welcome to the Downlow.

 What an eclectic evening it was. We firstly bumped into this lovely Lady A wearing two of this seasons key looks, floral and jumpsuit. She’d broken it up nicely with a belt. Floral prints are great and really flattering despite the frumpy connotations. They actually break up large pieces of fabric and make the body look neater. Lady B was sporting a nice little prim, proper, preppy number. Black tights still very much on the cards. This trend is going to carry-on the whole way through summer which means compulsory leg shaving no longer required.

Bomber Jackets fast gaining ground on Indie and Electro scenes. Andy Warhol was visiting from New York – his look made me happy like a box of smarties. Clearly Summer started a lot sooner over there. Expect to see this bomber jacket look represented in our Store. We also bumped into Ewa, firstly drawn in by her bomber jacket with printed leather but this girl had it all going on. We’ve been rating Jem and the Holograms for a while and she was like Jem come to life – check out the cheekbones, glitter and hair. It’s all about strong cheeks going forward, tough times require tough bone structures.

Speaking of tough structures, we wanted to assault Caroline on her way to Filthy Dukes and mug those shoulders. Visiting from Australia, haven’t a clue how she managed to get through customs with them intact. Demonstrated how AW’s Gotham City shoulders can be worked back into something a bit more wearable. Paired with vintage 501’s and vertiginous courts. We also like a girl with Tits and Ass who isn’t afraid to exaggerate other curves too – a whole load of curvage going, the overall simplicity meant it worked seamlessly.

It’s probably a few seasons away but we’ve seen hemlines dropping to Nana(no that’s not Nano, no futurism here, think Ethel, Dorris, false teeth and blue rinse) levels in Tokyo and it’s starting to filter through here. It nicely counter balances the body-con aesthetic that’s been at the helm for a few seasons now although boys aren’t going to dig it. 

It’s probably a few seasons away but we’ve seen hemlines dropping to Nana(no that’s not Nano, no futurism here, think Ethel, Dorris, false teeth and blue rinse) levels in Tokyo and it’s starting to filter through here. It nicely counter balances the body-con aesthetic that’s been at the helm for a few seasons now although boys aren’t going to dig it.

Personal favorite for the evening was Jasmina from Italy who has made a dress out of meat and clearly doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. We clocked her coming out of Micachu and the Shapes – an appropriate look for a fan of a band who have been described as “staggeringly inventive”. Hair, slighlty reminiscent of Opus III from the early 90’s(yup the 90’s again), had been styled by Fancesco another Italian friend. Shoes a great example of DIY fashion meets mediaeval courtier – we’ll be adding this to our favorite customising tool along with duct-tape and tulle. This girl had so many era’s and looks layered up we can’t wait to scratch the surface for more. We bumped into her again and shared a can of Stella when we were selling on Brick Lane last week – we’ll be having her round for coffee to find out a little more about how her fashion brain ticks. Watch this space for our first “Inside the Closet with…” report.

Update any old pair of shoes with bows and colour, prince charming…

Before twirling off to flash dance we got our hands on a potty – nope no little accidents – this was the cocktail speciality for the night(why wasn’t toilet training this much fun?) We then slid onto the dancefloor to throw a few shapes to the gloriously sleazy tunes of Mexican wrestler masked DJ Marquis D’Alton. Mellow, care-free, funloving and friendly – wankiness was checked in with the furs. Mimi Rouge, organiser, put it so well, Partie Monster is not about posing or anything cliché , but a night which says fuck stereotypes and let’s all just have a laugh. Well the stereotypes were fucked alright and the sartorially spectacular were out for all to see, each new outfit, dancing on our eyes like delicate fingers on a beautiful harp(Enya style) .

We’ve summarised some of the key looks that got our zoom lense out…..Head accessories were centre stage and eighties inspiration was the order of the day. We love Dark and Gothic – so much more fun that good and romantic. This is inspiring our gore problem. We’ll be rocking slit throats and bullet wounds at the Hackney Wick Fete next week – we might even get a severed limb on or perhaps a gouged out eye(yum). We salivated over a Dolce & Gabbana inspired Marilyn pritned blazer. There’s nothing like a big fuck-off recession to rev-up your inspiration and bring out your bonkers. Yes the Tiger may be well and truly dead but they are like so 2007 yah, we’re channeling flamingoes for 2009 and it looks like the Monster kids are bang on trend!

Find it, fix it, glue it, work it: Okay, so we know head accessories are big right now, but we were seriously impressed with the lengths people went to in order to develop on this trend. Weaving hair around furry creatures and even popping some grapes on for an extra kick- just in case you get peckish after all the partying! 

Stage lights and Neon Brights: love the layered coloured animal prints, we’d like to see patchwork animal prints too. Sexy boy, silky tracksuit – with 2012 fast approaching there’s a definite return to trackies trend(mind yer wallets) It’s all about Russian Gymnast chic(look at Pam Hogg and those metallic unitards ) – Irlande douze points.

From Dark to Bright – up all night: Does Touche Eclat work? NO. So instead work with the bags and exaggerate with black eyeshadow, guaranteed to make you look just as chic the next morning as you did the night before. 

Bring out the brass drums: Band Jackets are right on trend for A/W and we’re loving the different takes. We especially love the pink one which ropes-in the sequined boys looks we’ve seen on the streets of London- pink head to toe boys was also a big trend at Coachella. 

Not a bare face in sight: BITCHY GIRLS have been chanelling masks for A/A and the partie monsters did not let us down. We’re so done with intense skin-care regimes, getting creative with masks and facial paint is way more fun anyway! 

So, as part of our USA trip we thought we’d pay a visit to Coachella. We planned it really well, booked tickets for the Saturday at 8pm on the night before, decided to head off into the dessert in our lovely little Chrysler – yup style all the way – stuffed our duvet’s from The Standard into a suitcase in full preparation for car sleeping and to top it all off -for that extra bit of luxury -lost our sun protection(difficult for two glow in the dark white girls). Managed to bag VIP – accents go a long long way in the states.

Twas an interesting festival – firstly Coachella is in the middle of the dessert, in the grounds of a Polo club, so after driving through scorching hot dessert with dry mouth and mirage eyes you arrive at this oasis of green grass and palm trees – but you can still smell the horse shit, but that’s kinda nice in a country way.

We got papped ourselves on the way in – must have been the fake noses and moustaches(new disguise required). But then we went on a little pap rampage. WE LOVED THE BOYS – ok we always love the boys but we really felt the guys were pushing it stylewise. 

It was all about new simplicity with the girls, think My Girl, Parenthood, Blossom and Beverly Hills 90210 – we liked it. It was effortless – very litte accessorising – something a Christmas tree like me had to come to terms with. Don’t think I can pull it off – been a bit to Pat butcher for too many years now. It was all about the teenagers – young, coming of age, peachy enough to carry it off.

Shit I’m broke I can’t even afford to go clean my clothes was another big look – kinda tied in with new simplicity but dirtier and more ripped up, very relevant to Europe where none of us can even afford a Sunday down the local laundrette.