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

Company Cover June 2010

Bitchingandjunkfood.com for Urban Outfitters

Marina wears THE feather head-dress.

Cheap Monday Lace Window Jeans

It’s summer in Australia at the mo so that means festival time. Today was all about Gold Coast Parklands, Good Vibrations festival, it was a wicked line up and a wickedly, hot day. Hot, sexy, chiquita’s a plenty and the order of the day were the 3 ‘S’s “shorts, sexy and see thru”. It was freakin crazy to see how many girls were sporting shorts of some form or another, mainly the faded, v.short, ripped denim kind. The girls pulled out no stops and you could feel the sass and love in the air.

Nautical was everywhere, mainly seen in body con dresses

and our grandmamma would have been proud……or disturbed with all the lace and crocheted tops that were out, oh where oh where is my lace hanky to be………

and thankfully to my surprise people have stopped wearing stupid ,silly outfits to these festivals, thank Christ!

Cut-away body suits were also out in force

and prints a plenty

There was nothing really show stopping here today but I was loving these ladies style and loving these ladies vibe. They pulled it off with little effort and lots of love. Other styles that stood out for me today were pixie boots, lace up shoes and gladiator sandals still lingering, crop tops and fringing.

Check out these sassy babes below; it’ s my fav girls for the day. I think these girls did it oh so right and look fabulous

Six years later these boots have sipped Mojitos on rooftop bars, danced in mud at festivals, stood patiently in the cue for the ladies at clubs chit chatting with Louboutins and Balenciagas, fallen over on dancefloors and pavements due to earlier mentioned Mojitos. They have been drenched in rain waiting for busses and enjoyed fashion shows in Paris. Where I have been, so have they. They have also been worn, torn and battered to pieces, lost heels and soles many times over and have now reached the point when my shoe monger has said: “Next time that sole comes off, there is not much more I can do”.

After recievning the death sentence I did what there was in my power to find another pair. I sent my uncle on a treasure hunt as he was going to the same village I had visited in Morocco, the same with a friend. Both came back empty handed. I searched high and low on the net and found some boots that looked familiar but not as nice…and they probably didn’t even smell of camel fat!

The time for Favourite Shoe and Boot Farewells is a sad time in any persons life and for a while I felt both shoe less and soul less. But… turns out, I should step away from that Ben & Jerry’s and turn that frown up side down. Apparently there is a bunch of women in Peru making some wicked boots out of suede and vintage Peruvian blankets. Each pair is custom made to your liking. You choose between 14 colours of suede and then the color combo of the fabric, et Voila! Two weeks later they arrive at your doorstep ready for Mojitos.

New friends.

More information regarding colour, sizing, prizing, and details on how to order can be found on Munki Biznus.

I recently bumped into Virginia one half of the design duo behind Belle Sauvage at the War magazine party. A pretty little Argentinian girl with a perfectly pointed fringe, it was the surrealist digital print on her dress that caught my attention. A great ambassador for her label, it turned out that this was one of her own pieces created with design partner Christian Neuman.

Set up in 2007, their label is relatvely young however they have already managed to establish a strong handwriting through signature graphic prints with surrealist and fairytale storylines. The prints are bold and angular much like their garments.

They’ve brought many elements together on this collection, the points, angles and overall styling providing a nod to futurism with conical bust shapes evoking 90’s supermodels.

This is the kind of collection I want to wear all the time – I guess if life was a musical and I was the main character this is what I’d be wearing, there’d be no singing and a bangin electro theme tune.

I feel that it’s important to indicate wearbility through videography and below is a  little video I shot of the garments in action. 

I rarely plan my outfits until just before I go out which probably explains why I arrive everywhere late. I still remember going on a date with someone a few years ago and being half impressed and half disgusted by the fact that they chose their work outfits for the whole week on the Sunday. I’d find that level of personal sartorial organisation both impossibly difficult  and creatively repressing as it would preclude the creative expression which gives me such a buzz when I choose my outfit before each outing.

I’m also pretty bad at buying items to go with specific pieces I’ve got at home. My guiding principle is just to buy stuff that looks good by itself. Unfortunately this means I’ve got loads of clothes in my wardrobes, some by my favourite designers like McQueen, Westwood and Galliano, that have only had one outing or never been worn.

Of course there are other items that get worn to death, such as the Vivienne Westwood boots I’m wearing today. Pretty much anyone who knows me is familiar with my Westwood boots which were my most successful fashion purchase of last year. That was a good shopping day in Manchester when I not only bought these boots but some McQueen/Puma trainers, my favourite olive Galliano biker jacket and some lovely black Galliano slim cut jeans. The boots go with everything and I love wearing them with trousers, shorts and kilts all through the year. I’d like to say that they get better with time and some days they do seem to renew themselves somehow. But truth be told they are getting knackered and I’m really hoping one of my buddies from the Westwood shop will help me out with some replacements very soon.

Tonight I’m headed to a Calling All Tribes party at the Macbeth. Up top I’m wearing a black silk cut-work kurta, one of a dozen or so I bought from the ethnic high street chain Fab India while working in Delhi last year. After a year working out how to wear them I’ve now realised how much I like them with these super low crotch culotte-shorts from Greek designer Yiorgos Eleftheriades. The shorts, which are one his staple designs, are one of my most prized possessions. I picked them up from Yiorgos’ boutique in Athens during the Olympics back in 2004. I was told recently that he’s closed the store and is based in Spain now but haven’t seen any of his collections for a while. I really regret not taking the shorts with me to India last year to get a tailor to make a few replicas in different materials for me…

This is the Day 1 of a 5-day autobiographical snapshot into the sartorial world of blogger and friend of Bitching and Junkfood,  ManAboutWorld. It’s mid-week in June in his apartment somewhere in Bermondsey…

Wednesday Daytime

Wednesday is often the start of my social week. Up till now my outings have been pretty much limited to the gym and a quick raid on the CSM graduation exhibitions. The rest of the time I’ve been at home in my flat at the end of Bermondsey Street; surfing Facebook and twitter, chasing down TV jobs (I’m a factual TV Producer/Director and by trade) but most importantly formulating fashion trends while editing photos I’ve taken over the last few days and preparing blog posts.

This summer my favourite work-at-home outfit has been wife-beaters with one of the dozen or so dhotis I brought back from Kerala, India last year. I ended up in Kerala on a holiday with a rather straight American girl I was seeing while living in Delhi last year. Already dissaproving of even my tamed-down expat wardrobe, she promised to disown me entirely if I ever tried wearing the dhotis out in public in Delhi. Safely back in my more sartorially accepting and appreciative London I was pleased to see they now stock some authentic check dhotis on the 2nd floor of Dover Street Market though I still haven’t worn mine out and about or clubbing over here. Like most traditional Indian clothing and, in my experience, most Indian women, it demands constant attention. Neglecting it for one minute can lead to the embarrassing situation of it falling to a pile around your ankles. Not the kind of look I’d feel safe sporting next time I go to Dalston Superstore.

Wednesday night:

With a varied nocturnal itinerary including a talk at the Design Museum, a private view of a design art exhibition at the Louise Blouin foundation in Holland park and potentially some dancing at an 80s themed party at the Cuckoo Club on the cards tonight, I realise it’s going to be one of those nights I feel overdressed at one place or under-dressed elsewhere. In these cases I nearly always go for the former and on this night I let the 80s party be my guide. In fact I generally believe in err on the side of being mildly overdressed in general. Rare is the time I want to slip into the background and go unnoticed! Having said that, the Cuckoo Club party is hosted by drag queen/artist Daniel Lismore so the chances of me taking centre stage here are fairly remote…

My monochrome outfit consists of:

A vintage ladies 80s piano/tribal print jacket I bought from the Sick vintage on Redchurch Street for £10 the week before. I’m wearing this for the first time tonight.

A twisted black and white V-neck t-shirt I picked up from a young designer’s boutique in Bangkok last year. I didn’t buy it as an 80s look and haven’t found a way of wearing it till now so it’s another fist-time wear.

A plastic bracelet also from the same part of Bangkok. It’s unlabelled but it gives me of cheap Gareth Pugh thrill when I pop it on!

Marjan Pejowski panelled jodhpurs from Kokon to Zai. Can’t believe it took me so long to discover Marjan’s label and his hot shop in Soho.

Some white ex-German navy dress shoes from Hurwundeki for £15 a few years ago.

A single white leather glove I was given by the RAF outfitters when I filmed a doc about the Red Arrows a few years ago.

Another day another little surprise

Our lovely friend, mentor and fellow Crabbies drinker Ornamental Confier was clearing out his book closet and dropped round to our studio with a surprise for the BITCHY girls – Chicks on Speed – It’s a Project. Every page of the book is sliced up and mishapen as is the cover – it didn’t fit on his shelves so he felt it time to pass on and knew it would resonate with the creative trip we’re on.

Munich

This is my new favorite book – my last one was Hell Bound – New Gothic Art. It fits with my messy aesthetic and ADHD approach to things I want to make and do. Every page is filled with images, scrawlings, thoughts, attitudes and the general unbridled ramblings of a mind with creative diarrhoea(right admission time, for some reason nobody in the studio today is able to nail how this word is spelt(we all have days like that right and I’ve had a total brain meltdown and the internet is giving us lots of different answers too – I’m disgusted at myself, sorry Trinity and parents I’ve let you down, that Arts degree didn’t teach me how to spell however if I need to I can say it in Italian and French)

Feel the fear and do it anyway?? - screw self help books, read this

Chicks on speed are a band, a clothing label, a website, a record label and a way of life to aspire to. They all met at Art School in Munich and moved to Berlin to form the band. This book perfectly captures their JFDI(just fkn do it) attitude and is an inspiration to think outside the box and let your mind run free.

Duct Tape Shoes - we love everything duct tape.

I think I want to start doing books on Bitching and Junkfood because there are so many amazing books you just need to have in your life but never find them on Amazon so I’m going to make enquiries – we’ll see how that one goes. Maybe just books I like and rate. Not coffee table books, I hate that phrase. You shouldn’t buy books becuase they make your living room look nice – what if you spill coffee on them? I’m always knocking things over. I’m going to call them hyperventilate books becuase thats what you do when you read them and this book is one of them. There are many more in my mind and on my shelves – there are none on my coffee table. We don’t have one.  I’ve just put down my brown paper bag and my breathing has returned to normal.

I am growing increasingly interested in videography as a means of communicating messages in fashion. I don’t have a TV anymore. I don’t have time to watch one. I still getting lost in a screen although it’s moments rather than hours at present. I guess it now comes to a question of quality rather than quantity so I can fit in short stories like the above and satisfy my visual needs.

I’ve discussed videography with Manaboutworld recently and I feel it’s an important way to represent fashion. I completed my thesis on the etiquette of dress in Victorian fashion  - I analsyed crowd scenes like painted by artists like Frith. Costume was also being recorded by photographers at this time but the images always looked posed, outfits perfectly pressed, etiquette perfectly adhered to so a lot of  vital information and social references were lost. I guess I have a similar opinion regarding videography versus photography – it’s important to see how clothing moves, how it works on the body. With videography, the stories are more obvious that in 2D editorial representations and the use of sound can create atmosphere that is not possible through images alone. 

The above is collaboration between Erin Featherston and director Marisa Crawford to create a fashion fairytale. My fashion stories are always more on the nightmarish side. There is however something slightly sinister bubbling under throughout this short film. Simple and clean, with strong composition provided by the sweeping angles of buildings, streets and pavements, I was actually most interested in the use of sound – fashion can be so visual but it’s the sound that really stimulated my senses – the birds providing a subtle reference to Hitchcockian suspense, why are they following her? Where are they going? How will it end? Why all the masks? 

Calling all Tribes at the MacBeth

It seems all wrong. Today I am sitting on the second floor in my warehouse literally in my sweat shop writing a post about fur in Summer. Summer and myself don’t really get on. Transparent white skinny limbs look no good in short jumpsuits and maxi dresses. Bring on the darkness and bring back fur.

weknowwhatyoudidlastnigtht - Bistrotheque

Myself and Manaboutworld have spotted Summer Fur as a big trend in London for Summer. We already know it’s big for winter, it’s all over the catwalks – we’ve seen them. We’re saying it’s going to be big for Summer, it is already. I wonder what will come down the SS10 catwalks – I know there’s going to be more hair, more skulls and hopefully tons of fur. 

We were discussing this trend and it ties back in with the Apocalypse. Think feral humans covered in furs – post big bang cave-men. It’s the beginning of the world all over again where fur is not just a luxury but a necessity for survival along with the Comme Des Garcons blankets and military wear. The end of the world doesn’t seem so bad now it’s dressed up in designer love. 

I’ve worn full fur at the start of the Summer but for now I think it’s about accessorising with a stole, hat or necklace like the girl pictured at Calling all Tribes above. Just becuase it’s Summer it doesn’t mean you need to let go of texture.

The Balmain Jacket meets the White Fur Coat

I also borrowed an antique fox fur for our menswear shoot. It has 4 legs, a tail, paws and it still has a pointy little fox face. It’s so wrong but fur that actually looks like the animal it came from is another trend I’ve picked up on. Alas I have no pictures of others to back this one up so it may just be my random act of cruelty – at least it’s vintage and it’s re-cycled so that makes it ok. Would I buy a new fur fresh off the catwalks- honestly?? If Alber Elbaz offered to sell me one from Lanvin AW09 at a generous discount I would have to say yes – will I get hate comments for saying this?

Snouted and pawed stole - wrong?

Above is same fox fur worn with my favorite Peacock earrings from Topshop, Indian jumpsuit, ankle warmers and Shoes from Tokyo. I wear these earrings with EVERYTHING at the moment. I guess I’m just having a thing for natural fibres and materials that could potentially be found in the wild. 

 I’d also like to add that I’m really bored with necklaces now and for me it’s all about earrings going forward. That will be another post.

Today we’re also shooting my assistant Tash’s capsule collection and I’m doing make-up – fun, fun, fun.  We’re also shooting menswear this week and I’ve got several brilliant new designers coming to the site for AW. 

Knowing my style, if you can think of anyone that you would just love to see stocked in our shop then let me know.

BITCHY LUV U X 

It’s great because it’s right beside my favorite Cafe in Hackney Wick where there’ll be art installions, film screenings and a barbeque. Our new neighbors have just opened a phenomenal live/work gallery space. The private view was rammed last night. So if you want to get cultured-up, shop, or just hang out with us come join the fun plus the street part is just around the corner so we can dress you up in our love and then get you trashed.

DJ set by ONLY JOE. Compliments by me.

View Hackney Wick in a larger map

O-Fish-Al Street Party

Peanut Factory studios also open where you can get a haircut, Tattoo and visit the studios of London’s finest artist and graffiti writers.

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?