The Disguise of the Girls by Roxanne Leger

Couple days ago me and Justine have had a portfolio review in London College of Fashion. As you can imagine the atmosphere was pretty tense, so in order to calm down candidates' nerves the tutors took us all to the screening room where we had a chance to watch last year's graduates show while we waited for our turn for an interview. It was a 1.5h clip showcasing 5-10 of the final works of the designers, and somewhere in the middle of the screening there was this particular collection that caught my eye. Salem witches gone hipster. Playful redefinition of the american gothic, interesting use of trims, ruffs and frills and those gorgeous embroidery designs! The collection clearly standed out from the rest, having this dark vibe and a sense of commercial capability - something I've scarcely seen in other students' work. Would love to see Roxanne's collection in stores for halloween!

Keep your fingers crossed for us! Hopefully we'll be able to showcase our stuff like that in couple of years :)

The Disguise of the Girls: It is about love. It is about strangeness. It is about innocence. It is about playfulness.

This collection is about the “girls”- they are weird, awkward, naturally pretty and are effortlessly attired. 

Inspired primarily by Charles Manson’s cult of brainwashed girls  and combined with the concept of the masquerade, the savagery of European fancy dresses and the folklore of Frida Kahlo, it links the competing notions of raw and pretty, oversized and adjusted, opaque and transparent, weird and cute, and dark and innocent.

The Manson girls’ identity is given to the identity-less of the masquerade to hide, to change, to obscure and to deceive into a disguise.

The embroideries are Natasha Searls-Punter’s take on mortal fascination.

Bit about the designer:

Roxanne Léger - a BA Womenswear graduate from London College of Fashion - often combines sportswear influences with androgynous shapes and ultra-feminine details. She was selected to show her graduate collection at LCF’s 2013 runway show for members of the press, and since then her work has been recognized by many leading fashion magazines and websites, including Vogue UK, Fashion156, and Topshop.

Her approach to design focuses on uniqueness, wearability and practicality - creating garments that are functional and useful, but at the same time innovative. She creates eccentric, modest and experimental clothes without pretention. 

Roxanne Léger believes clothes shouldn't be constrained by gender or by time restrictions, but rather inspire the person who is wearing them.

Check out Roxanne's website: roxanneleger.com

 

Noir Venom

Hi! So we decided to play around with our camera lately and try to attempt to broaden our photography skills. The idea was to achieve the 'studio' look we often see in magazines. It's not quite a 'studio' photography, considering I made this in our kitchen using white cloth as a background, although I gotta admit I was surprised how good they came out. Being a graphic designer I played around with the grayscale and typography to achieve the look we aimed for in our initial concept. The idea behind the photos tackles the perception of sinfulness and purity as well as explores the study of elegance in nude photography. Justine posed and styled, I shot and edited. Hope you guys like it!

Also you can hype these on lookbook by clicking on the widget below. Thanks!

Dark Renaissance by Underated London

Dark Basilica Leather Sweatshirt £120

London based indie brand called Underated have recently launched an exclusive collection of the overprints called Dark Renaissance. This set of tees and jumpers with architectural print and imagery of Jesus is in fact a revamped alternation of their regular stuff. Although I love the use of history in fashion, I'm not that into the current trend of using overprinted baroque paintings and ceiling designs onto tees and jumpers - the idea SEEMS good, yet the finished outcome often looks sloppy and cheap (which is the exact contradiction of what it supposed to look like) - but I gotta admit I'm absolutely in love with this new noir thing! The desaturation of golds and oranges makes it look way more interesting, sharp, timeless and cool + the whole collection have that interesting vibe of being dark but not gothic / emo / metal / whatever and I love how you can build up some totally new meaning to it. Although half of the collection is still yet to come, some of the pieces are already available for purchase in their online store. They also seem pretty pricey for an regular overprint but, well, what can you do? I'd love to get all those jumpers though! Anyone got a spare couple of hundreds I could borrow? 

A bit about Underated London: Based in the heart of London, Underated is the segue between the modern stylistics of street wear and the delicate finesse of high fashion.

In an otherwise over populated fashion industry, our blend of modern street culture, bold renaissance imagery and contemporary prints helps separate us from competitors. Underated is a lifestyle brand and we pride ourselves in designing premium quality, trendy and unique garments we know you'll love.

Dark Domenichino Stars Sweatshirt £65

Road To Calvary Tee £90 / Crucifixion Tee £90

 Resurrection Tee £90 / Crown of Thorns Tee £90

Dark Medallion Yoke Leather Sweatshirt £100

Dark Medallion Yoke Leather Tee £70

Bonne Bouche by Jane Howarth

Meet Jane Howarth. She takes the "dirty animals" (species that are often overlooked, discarded, unvalued) and costume jewelry and creates strange creatures that are deemed museum worthy. There is this great dichotomy going on here of beauty and ugliness, desire and repulsion, tenderness and the face of death. I think these are some important and gorgeous works to see! The birds are part of her Bonne Bouche collection of '1930's Sea Birds', who have feasted on a picnic of leather gloves, pearl necklaces and other delightful items left abandoned on the sand.

I have a curious mind that searches into, and appreciates, the corners of life and death that others may find ugly and grotesque. I enjoy exploring a world that challenges our perceptions of beauty and verges on the macabre.
My work is, among other things, an attempt to transform dead animals into strangely beautiful museum pieces. I have become a cosmetic taxidermist, playing with both seduction and repulsion.

Alexander McQueen A/W 2013 Video by Rottenfields

Couple of weeks ago we've visited Alexander McQueen's flagship store to take last glimpse of their A/W '13 collection comprised of a visually staggering ecclesiastical fantasy that revisited the medieval clergy with a flair of modern cutting edge style. The collection was literally about to be taken down due to the launch of the next S/S '14. We had managed to take a few photos and a video of the in-store display. Initially we have wanted to post them as they are, but then, having this song in my head and thinking how aptly it goes with this impression surrounding that collection I decided to make a little video edit. So here it is! Also, this is my first Youtube video ever and I hope you'll like it and enjoy it as much as I did while making it :)

Sculptures by Wim Delvoye

Belgian neo-conceptualist Wim Delvoye is known for his re-interpretations of classic art.  By taking the classic symbols of Romantic and Gothic sacred art (crucifixes, towering spires, mythological sculpture) and twisting their forms into the shapes and forms of contemporary art and science.  His recent show, “Rorschach” at Galerie Perrotin in Paris, extended this practice, offering a selection of works that continued to use sacred and classical art to turn a lens on modernity.

Suppo (2012)

Deux Bacchantes Rorschach (2011) / Deux Bacchantes Clockwise (2011)

Nautilus (2012)

Coccyx Double (2012)

Twisted Dump Truck (2011) 

Moebius Dual Corpus Direct Current (2011) 

Helix DHAACO 90 (2009) / Double Helix DS 360 00 (2008) / Double Helix CCI 180 0 (2008)

Daphne (2012)

Flexible Paper Sculptures by Li Hongbo

Li Hongbo’s stunning, stretchable, paper sculptures, inspired by both traditional folk art and his time as a student learning to sculpt, challenge our perceptions. With a technique influenced by his fascination with traditional Chinese decorations known as paper gourds—made from glued layers of paper—Li Hongbo applies a honeycomb-like structure to form remarkably flexible sculptures.

An investigation into expression through one of the oldest mediums in history, Li Hongbo invites viewers to experience paper and sculpture in a revolutionary and insightful new way. Utilizing his expert knowledge of paper’s natural strengths and weaknesses, the artist has transformed the media to stretch, twist, elongate and retract as if it were a giant slinky. Through this juxtaposition of playful mobility and a traditional aesthetic, Li Hongbo breathes a unique life into his works that stuns and awes the viewer.

Si vis pacem, para bellum

A black crow attacks one of the Pope’s white doves, a symbol of peace. Vatican, 26th of January 2014.

Digital Glitch Handmade Cabinet

Don’t adjust your web browser, this isn’t a corrupted photograph of a fine piece of Italian furniture (although it may unfortunately be a digital rending, read below). In actuality this cabinet was created by architect Ferruccio Laviani to look just as you see it, like a wavy digital glitch. Titled 'the Good Vibrations Storage Unit' the piece will first appear at Italy’s annual interior show Fratelli Boffi. I’d love to see it from a few different angles, but it's incredible nonetheless.