DIVINE MADNESS

Sharing ideas with like-minded and positive people is always exciting.


Work Shop , a studio-slash-shop space in Adelaide, is a place I am lucky to share with young talented designers in between my own studio.


Meet one of the members at Work Shop , Alice Rawlinson, who creates beautiful conceptual collections under her fashion label 'Divine Madness' . She describes her clothing as 'part dress-ups, part eccentric couture'. She is one talented lady and I'm pretty excited she just launched her not just a label site, featuring her latest collection 'Skin', Check it out!


DIVINE MADNESS ON NOT JUST A LABEL 

HILARY LAING

I first spotted a frock by Hilary Laing in Glasgow, the home-base of her eponymous label. The frock was covered with a print that looked like she had drawn directly onto the fabric, like an excited kid who just received their first box of Crayolas.

Looking at her fashion collections, Hilary's scribble design is shown throughout as her signature brand. She deliberately rejects sophisticated artistic techniques with her wandering lines and combines colours that clash. While its playful and naive, her garments are far from childrens wear. They're made into clever, sultry cuts for women, not girls.

I like her because she reminds grown-ups to have fun. Its nice to know its possible to keep what's good about being a child while being an adult too!

HILARY LAING WEBSITE 

BROKEN HEARTS AT LFW

Female duo Broken Hearts make dressing up part of the everyday. 

They may be known predominantly for their DJ'ing but you can always find them looking super cool with their crazy circus-met-Halloween style ensembles. 

If you like their style you'll love this video they recently took at London Fashion Week Summer 11, it features all their favourite designer picks!

www.thebrokenhearts.co.uk 

TULE, HAIR, MAKEUP, SNAP!

I was recently approached by Adelaide photographer + digital artist Gee Greenslade to use some couture dresses from my 'Symbiotic' collection. 

Gee wanted to use the dresses together with Hair and Makeup artists Becca and Jackson Kennedy, which seemed like a good collaboration as I had worked with the two before and they show great talent when a fantasy narrative is in call!

The three of them described the experience to me as "One of the most fun and creative shoots we have ever done!!!" so I was eager and excited to see the results. Looking at the pictures for the first time, their description wasn't hard to believe - they look stunning!

EYE SPY

 

MM PARIS

 

BERNHARD WILHELM

 DEL KATHRYN BARTON

I love eyes. They're not just fun to draw. Some believe they are the window to the soul while others believe its representation can ward off bad spirits!

They can be hypnotizing, mysterious, beautiful, haunting or all four of these at once!
Here are some pictures I've collected from my scrapbook that I find inspiring.....

Artists featured:
MM PARIS
http://www.mmparis.com
BERNHARD WILHELM 
http://www.bernhard-willhelm.com 
DEL KATHRYN BARTON
http://www.kalimangallery.com/web_pages/artists/barton/barton_bio.htm

SONNY AT ADELAIDE FASHION FESTIVAL

What an fantastic week for the Adelaide Fashion Festival! 
I was luckily selected to be part of the Chambord SA Emerging Designer Showcase, showing my latest collection 'Peachy Keen'.


Here are some shots taken from the night by photographer Sonny, who deserves a big clap! 
Sonny captured the models backstage in their most candid moments while some cut loose for the camera. 
Its hard to believe just hours before they were the same serious-faced girls during the parade fitting!


Check out more backstage photos by Sonny here:
http://sonnyphotos.typepad.com/sonny/2010/11/sou.html 

TIMOROUS BEASTIES

I love Timorous beasties Because they're not afraid to take risks. 

You could easily describe their contemporary textiles and wallpapers as beautiful, but there is a deeper meaning beyond its surface. I was lucky enough to see their works at the famous Timorous Beasties store in Glasgow.

Looking around, I saw a design I rather liked. It was an intricate floral pattern in a beautiful colour scheme. After telling the shop assistant how pretty it was, she replied "yes, but its actually a threesome". On second glance, a layer of transparent ink that shone in the light, showed thighs darting in different directions with one woman's face stretched out in ecstasy. I thought, "how dare they!" and had to find more.....

The next was a traditional looking piece reminiscent of 1800's wallpaper. It looked like a pleasant suburban scene, but on further inspection, it wasn't quite! An addict on a park bench was shooting up, the ladies next to him were prostitutes and a famous statue was being peed on. While the piece was extremely humorous, it was an alarming reminder of reality.

While Timorous Beasties may offend many, they're certainly fearless!  

Click here to view more of Timorous Beasties

www.timorousbeasties.com

BLANDINE BARDEAU

Meet Blandine Bardeau. This London based french artist, fashion designer, jewelry designer, illustrator and creative director is versatility personified.
I admired Blandine's work from across the globe for some time, and hoped to meet up with her while staying in London. It just so happened that we were both studying at Central St.Martins this September. We met for coffee the talked fashion.

Like Blandine, her work is something hard to pin down - it spans across art and fashion, where she creates a kaleidoscopic whirlwind of colour in the shape of a garment, a drawing, or a bracelet on her sleeve. At first glance, looking at the silhouettes and style of her garments, they seem to take influence from traditional tribal costumes. But she's used that influence to invent a whole new style and language that is all about social unconventionality and transformation.

Blandine draws from her own free imagination and finds inspiration from stage persona's adopted by musicians such as David Bowie. Bowie once said
     "I would like to see the lines between visual art and music to be blurred and even disappear."
Blandine's relationship between her artwork and wearable clothing does just that, which is why I find her work so darn fascinating!

Her aesthetic is colorful and playful, free-flowing and never rigid.
She's always rotating and ever-changing. I was excited to hear she's recently decided to focus more on visual art and painting.

She runs a busy schedule. From designing the windows of Selfridges London to collaborating with Louis Vuitton and Converse to the band Cocorosie - Blandine's work is in hot demand. 
One to watch.

Blandine Bardeau website
www.blandinebardeau.com

Click here to see Blandine interview Cocorosie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ7If9FP9_E

YARIMAKI

I was walking through east London the other day when I  saw these giant eyeballs on a girls legs - oh the colour and excitement of a 2D drawing come alive!

A Japanese designer by the name Yarimaki, took a life long dream of drawing and made it into a killer street wear label. Specializing in printed tees and leggings Yarimaki is dedicated to making his drawings wearable. It's a label I love.

 see for yourself

http://www.yarimaki.com/

RYAN NOON

Ryan Noon is certainly an exciting new designer on the rise...... 

While he's not busy talking to animals or hiking mountains, he makes fashion collections very much like neo-tribe wear. In between this he works with brands like Nike, Henrik Vibskov and Alexander McQueen and he just finished a BA in Fashion Design and print at Central St. Martins.


Watch out for this man because this is just the beginning! 

See much more here:www.ryannoon.com