Queen of Hearts
Just one more pic from the uber-fun Pantease; The beautiful Becky “Beau deVile’ wears pants to poverty pants in red and Holloway-Smith Femme pasties- recycled yellow tie silk with red polka dots, red bows and low fired porcelain roses. Woop woop so to speak.
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Pants to Poverty- Pantease
Well the theme of fair trade fortnight this year is tea- hellooooo church halls and rich tea biscuits (although I’ve not seen rich teas in a fair trade variety as of yet….)
Luckily Pants to Povertyhad the gumption (and a notable amount of eco cheek) to team up with the ever glamorous- time for tease and drag their ‘charity fundraiser and hard pants sell’ out of the beige.
I was proud to be asked to supply some ethical pasties for the event- and here are the organic cotton drill and reclaimed leather 007s with lashings of rhinestones that I made for the kings of tease- more or lesque.
time for tease put on an incredibly glamorous and very funny line up of acts and the pigalle club was a superb venue- not to mention it was a pleasure to be in the same room as such a wonderful company doing such wonderful things- altogether nice little saturday- more pics on the way.
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low brow painters
I’ve found another low brow artist that I love! I was just googling ‘showgirl headresses’ to inspire a commission for the lovely Tallulah Tempest when this painting pops up- WHAMMY. AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaand this artist has a really lovely blog about her quilt making which I really enjoyed spying on and imagining if I had the time to make my own little skull quilts!! Maybe I will make one for my baby while I’m mooching around on maternity leave wondering what to do with myself……………. I suspect that will never happen.
I’ve been a secret stalker of Lola Strangeart for a long time now,
Even though Wayne really hates all these kind of paintings so I will have to have my own bedroom when I start my collection!
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for the love of lingerie
Thursday was an exciting day…….. but I’m waiting for photos before I write about all the fun we had at Nicola Giuggioli’s shop eco-age in Chiswick. But I will divulge that after several hours practise I can finally get those tassels a’twirlin’ (although to the detriment of my under-rib muscles,) and I witnessed Livia Firth bite off a pair of elbow length gloves with respectable aplomb.
Needless to say it’s a beautiful boutique – rife with italian passion for style and founded on sturdy ethical values, (sustainability,recycling, fairtrade, even the tubes of lube are organic). I left with my sage tinted specs on- straight to a meeting to discuss a new pastie designing opportunity for a startup luxury lingerie brand…..
I don’t even remember the name of the misguided fellow I was meeting, which is no credit to me, but things took a turn from ‘really exceptionally great’ to ‘valid cause for rant on the internet’ the moment he removed his stock of silken bras from a sainsbury’s carrier bag.
I do have a slight twinge of guilt going public with the details of this encounter – I can’t honestly say that I’ve been fronting an indelible facade of professionality since I donned the tasseled cap and kissed goodbye to art school. In fact, it’s taken me two years to bring anything worthwhile to the marketplace, during which I’ve been closely following the exploits of my designer graduate contempories as we all struggle to make a living from doing things that we LOVE, that we find stimulation and fulfillment in. Striving to translate our obsessions and experiments into objects that other people will also love, and will essentially shell out large quantities of cash (that they probably earnt doing something that bores them to apathy) so that they might call them their own.
This young man, facing me across the mocha’d table, did not love knickers (‘ho ho ho he’s a man; of course he loves knickers!!’). I could not detect a single hint of excitement as he delicately strew his brassiere babies between us. Despite his excellent flattery, ‘I thought I’d come straight to the best in the business’, it became frankly apparent that his seductive dreams for more beautiful boudoirs, more enjoyable undressing, more rack in the sack, were merely my own (exceptionally articulate) projections. Moreover, he did not give a golden shit about the disgusting chemicals used in the predominantly bangladeshy leather tanning industry (which happened to come up as we discussed the possibilities for luxury bondage cuffs); he contacted me through an ‘eco’-lingerie company, for eco-tans sake, he could have at least pretended. I’m fairly certain that he did not love or even like his lingerie- at best he had a vague feeling of amicability towards money.
And this really made me think (on the train home) about design and manufacture and how its all become such a shallow pool of gutter water.
Even in ethical fashion, doing good in impoverished communities would struggle to override an absence of the L factor. Production, after all, relies on consumption, to make it economically viable – no matter how many orphans can be educated by the purchasing of wicker baskets, there has to be a market for wicker baskets. And rumour has it that love is infectious: if said wicker basket pedlar is truly enamored by his wares, he has a much better chance of selling them (without the use of sexual imagery), and of enjoying selling them. Same goes for the wicker basket weaver enjoying his weaving- I’m convinced there are innovations to be made in the sourcing, designing and weaving of wicker and satisfaction to be gained from a well deserved sale.
Coinciding with this- when you love doing something then the first 2-5 years (7 at most, surely) of scraping the rent together and forfeiting your 5 pounds weekly beer allowance feels worth it; you can get along without numbing your senses on some half-hearted product to justify your slavery to the protestant work ethic.
So here’s hoping I can ‘make a go of it’ and feed my rapidly expanding family (23 weeks til there’s a brand new Holloway-Smith on the scene)… fingers in pies crossed.
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Tags: Eco-age, ethical fashion, lingerie, pasties, philosophy of consumption
happy vegan valentines
9 o’clock valentines morn, my husband slumbers peacefully in our enormous bed, a light drizzle of snow (snizzle) dusts the lawn, and I’m trawling the interweb in search of red shoes- yes that’s right, self titled feminist makes grandiose claims about equality between men and women whilst googling shoes at exactly shag-your-husband o’clock on sunday the 14th february. (put that on your couch and analyse it.)
Not for me- oh no, I’ve got up early this sonnstag to work, not that I wouldn’t sell wayne’s entire collection of Donut Press pamphlets and face the consequences to own some of the footwear I’ve stumbled upon this morning, but there is a greater cause to my google-imaging.
My photographing friend and I are creating the perfect visual accompaniment for the perfect singer-songstresser’s perfect new single (Perfect Fit). The punktum of which (watch out -badly spelled out of context philosophical reference) as far as I’m concerned…….. a delectable pair of red shoes;
…a mouthwatering pair of jaw dropping ‘foot-strawberries’ ripe for the picking…. and gobbling…
a smutty little pair of cheeky toe trippers ready to trample over your beating heart and leave you breathless and blushing
a ruthless pair of Scarlet O’Haras with the slightly bizarre edition of a doll in a bobble hat?…….
All of these shoes are born and bred by the incredible Irregular Choice who demolish the opposition on a grande scale this season.
The best I could muster from the enemy camps are a pair’o'Viv rips at ASOS
……..LAME.
and these cutsey widdle brogues from Beyond Skin, an excellent ethical shoe brand who make Vegan shoes.
Here comes the ethics bit- listen (read) carefully.
Vegan shoes,- in the instance of our little collaboratee with Gwyneth we may well be sourcing a pair of ‘no animals were harmed in the making of these shoes’ shoes, and yes I would say that was a decision based on ethics (Gwyn is vegetarian) in the same way that euthanasia counts as an ‘ethical’ decision. Ethical ‘to make a decision based on moral beliefs’ not ethical ‘definitely good for humanity and the environment’.
BUT, but but but but but but but but but……………. although a brilliant brand like Beyond Skin give you a really detailed insight into how they choose environmentally friendlier plastics to replace the traditional, water guzzling, rainforest destroying, leather, I’m gonna have to see a few more credentials before I’m convinced by Stella McCartney’s non-leather bags being ‘ethical’ (where are they made? where’s the oil coming from? etc etc), maybe just ‘slightly more ethical’ is a better title.
Back to the leather thing- It seems to me more of a management problem. We (the global community) certainly need to raise less livestock- but we also need to become massively less dependent on oil.
I found this article, from the veg box scheme I use, interesting the question of meat and also I read in the new internationalist some info along similar lines… so for now I’m sticking with my omnivorous principles and steering clear of petrochemicals- to put it naievely: if it’s born, grows, dies, rots (especially if it would do all of these things anyway- even if there weren’t a fashion industry), then it has plenty more potential to be sustainable.
Happy Valentines
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Tweed Party
Well Cinderella and her poet husband and photographer friend did go to the ball- Unfortunately no fairy godmother appeared at the last minute to make my dream dress- so I settled for a plaid pencil skirt to match the two piece I made hubby for christmas.
The tiny pheasant feathers worked out a treat- I’ll be bringing those out again regular!
I took this photo myself and I’m pretty darn proud of it- the rest are from the photographic genius of mark sherratt
and finally here’s me enjoying a little treat from the midnight pork pie feast. These parties are super fun and Mark and I are gonna be running the “Photobooth goes fancy dress” at the next one so look our for it
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sacks of feathers
This weekend I’ve spent almost four hours sorting the male pheasant feathers into these cute little muslin sacks, the tiniest one has little feathers that I’ll probably use for eyelashes – my favourite feathers are grey and downy at the quill moving through to a fawny brown with a black rimmed heart shaped tip. The feathers with the brown ends have a beautiful pink/maroon iridescence to them- I’m looking forward to getting started arranging them into beautiful things
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Tags: feathers, pheasant feathers
Tweed
A couple of darlings that I vaguely know host elaborate vintage parties in a beautiful country house- which incidentally is quite near where I live. We went to the pyjama party last summer with wayne and mark and my old treacle tarts partner in crime-sarah jones and had a whole heap of fun dancing to the swing djs and rolling in big piles of pillow feathers.
The next one Tweed has a ‘country pursuits’ theme, which I couldn’t help feeling coincided with my newfound pheasant feather inspiration. I haven’t quite decided whether to go or not, but if I do I’ll be making myself this incredible outfit to wear out of the left over wool plaid from the christmas suit I made wayne….
(which is a cut along similar lines to the frog prince suit drawn earlier)
…and a couple of metres of organic cotton voile trimmed with vintage lace. Not to mention, last but by no means least, a pheasant feather fascinator with bespoke “holloway-smith femme” hat pin- I hope I do go!
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Tags: country pursuits, pheasant feathers, plaid suit, tweed party stoke place
pheasant sketch
i sketched my pheasants before I ate them….. very delicious.
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pheasant plucker
My Dad brought me round a brace of pheasants that his friend had given him the other day- I had my first experience of plucking, drawing and roasting a bird all by myself (vegetarians should probably stop reading here!!)
I think I’m going to use the feathers to make some fascinators for the autumn, hopefully with beautiful hat pins.
I also love taxidermy jewellery. Julia Deville makes some really fantastic pieces.
These are way out of my skills range- but I might research how to get the skulls out and use them for something even if its just some anatomical drawing!
Although I know there’s alot of debate around the fur industry- personally I only have an issue with the way its managed, the same as the cotton industry or the silk industry. If used efficiently and sparingly fur and feathers and animal based products (which grow live and die all on their own) are actually alot more sustainable than petrol based alternatives- and seeing as I’m not vegetarian- I think its a shame to waste all the other animal based resources apart from meat.
It seems that the fur has almost become taboo nowadays- it carries alot of guilt with it, but if you own one beautiful vintage or sustainably managed fur item, from an animal that was well looked after- or enjoyed a free and happy life, then maybe you don’t need to feel so guilty about it- I have a couple of vintage fur items that were given to me as gifts and they are truly the most luxurious treasures I own- not to mention incredibly warm!
Although its a lot of effort to get the feathers out yourself, sort, grade, clean and then use them- hopefully it will put an element of luxury back into the use of feathers, which are now so widely available and have slightly lost their charm.
Certainly plucking them out myself was a really valuable experience- I really appreciated the different textures and patterns (which are in abundance on a pheasant) as you move from the stiffer more patterned feathers on the breast to the incredibly soft downy feathers on the legs.
I’m really interested in breeding my own rabbits so that I can use their pelts and meat as well- I think rabbits were first brought to this country as a food source for families with small backyards!
I don’t know if its possible- and I’m willing to be educated (gulp)- but I’m on a mission to create some beautiful, guilt free, animal based garments/accesories that really pay tribute to the richness of nature and the beauty of my experiences getting up close with it and living a little bit more gently within it- and if anyone wants to get funny about that they better AT LEAST be wearing organic cotton and chromefree leather or recycled nylon shoes!!
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Tags: fascinators, feathers, pheasant, rabbit fur, real fur
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