Naughty Barbie

I found these pictures thanks to a blog I've only just discovered, Diary of a Dead Barbie (which I'm loving at the moment).  It looks like Barbie's been getting up to all sorts...

 It seems that according to photographer Mariel Clayton, Barbie is a sadist!

Although you can laugh at the surreality of the images, they aren't just about humour.  Seeing Barbie in such incongruous poses approaches heavy issues such as suicide, abortion and sex trafficking in an alternative light, making them current and making you see them in new ways.

Check out more of Mariel Clayton's photography using miniatures and dolls.  It's wicked.

When I Grow Up

I've been meaning to mention street style photographer Ari Seth Cohen's Advanced Style blog for a while now, and this video made by him for Nowness has made it imperative that I do.  It's filled with quotes to structure your life by, from the most fashionable women I've ever seen who truly 'don't give a shit'.

Another thing they have in common?  They're all over 60 years old.  And they all look incredible, with not a botoxed forehead in sight.

  In superlative words inspired by my own Nan (who is one of my heroes, in both style and beyond), it's a fabulous film, a marvelously inspiring feat which is making me want to finally embrace growing up (famous last words from the 22 year old girl who has been panicking for a while now about crow's feet).

If it makes me anywhere near as cool as these women then roll on wrinkles, silver hair and that unparalleled confidence that comes with age.

Seven Days

In the last week I've been mostly playing outside in the sun, continuously humming 'Bruises' by Chairlift ("I've got grass stains on my knees for you, and holes in my new jeans for you"), finding old pictures I took of Pai in Thailand, watching David Dutton's 'Do You Know South Korea?' over and over with excitement and trepidation, coming across random new graffiti in Cardiff, and remembering the 2010 Student Protests by watching VBS' Teenage Riot.

Bounce

This video, styled by Katie Grand, is making me hark back to being a kid.  Remember that game where an adult would slowly pull their hand down over their face, changing their expression underneath it in a way that seemed magical?  This video is like a fashion version of this, with Dree Hemingway bouncing up in down on Hampstead Heath, wearing a different outfit for every reappearance in the shot.

The shoot was created in 2010 and Dree wears Miu Miu archive and resort, but fittingly it looks like she's wearing SS11 pieces because of all the colour and print involved.



The choral sound and the slowing down of the shots makes the video ethereal but fun, making me think of lazy summer days where one minute you're feeling drowsy, basking in the sun, and the next you're running around a beach or a patch of grass after a quick sugar boost in the form of a Mr. Whippy.

Summer is definitely a'coming.

Stuff

I'm moving to South Korea in a week or so to teach English as a foreign language in a governmental school.  I'm feeling a mixture of apprehension and excitement at this, especially since the decision was made on a whim and I'm not sure how it's going to pan out.  Big eek!

Since I can only take a limited amount with me, I'm having to get rid of masses of stuff that I've accumulated over the years.  I've started putting a selection of my stuff on ebay - if anyone is at all interested?  Examples below, clickety click on them to purchase.

It's been perturbing to discover how many stripy blue items I own.  No wonder I've been feeling stuck in a style rut.

In Bloom

As a campaign video this new creation from Mulberry captivates, with the graphic flowers blooming in time to the toe-tapping tune.

Here's an intriguing insight into how the film was made:

Framestore (who have previously worked on high-end commercials as well as projects for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Avatar) created the digital, arty animation by cutting out hundreds of images and allowing them to move independently within a defined 3D space. Every available element from each image was isolated and 'freed' from the backdrop, allowing them to move in dreamlike, illusory layers within the images.

I'm not such a fan of Mulberry's SS11 collection though.  I'm getting bored of the English Country Garden theme they rely on so heavily.  I know it's their trademark, but Emma Hill needs to mix it up just a little: The clothing is starting to feel dated instead of fresh and alluring.

Head-to-toe denim?  Done.  Floral floral floral? Done.  Ankle boots with sweet dresses? Done done done.  As a safe option, the clothes are still pretty.  They just aren't very inspiring.

That cute little piglet more than makes up for any oversight in the design department though.  I think I might have to skip my usual Sunday bacon sandwich in his honour!

  

(Spring Summer 2011 - The Campaign from Mulberry on Vimeo)

The Young Creatives

I've been featured on the above website, which is a 'fledgling project' initiated by innovative student and aspiring journalist Katie Byrne.  It contains lots of interviews with multi-mega-talented under-25's (excluding me, I merely jumped on the bandwagon) and links to their work, condensing them all onto one handy website.  I'm finding it fascinating discovering new talent, the inspirations that feed their work, and the quirky facts that make their personalities come to life.

I especially love reading about the illustrators and seeing all their incredibly intricate drawings.  I think this is because illustration is a talent so out of my reach; I have problems staying inside the lines when I'm colouring in and I always splatter more paint on myself than on the page when doing arty stuff..

Probably safer to stick with the writing then.

Bringing it Back

Until 1988 River Island was called Chelsea Girl, proving once again that the 80's almost ruined fashion.  It also proves that sticking the word 'girl' onto something makes it automatically awesome (Elle mag, Disneyrollergirl, my blog...) as it references the Sixties, that hedonistic decade that brought us freedom in the form of drugs and miniskirts.  Anyone who agrees with this will then be pleased to note that the high-street shop is bringing back its formerly redundant name by labelling a vintage-inspired capsule collection with it.

As is often the case with River Island, the items edge on the verge of being tacky.  For once I quite like this effect though - has anyone ever bought any vintage that actually comes from the peace and love decade?  It's always a bit shiny and brash, and can be accessorized perfectly with pale lips and spidery eyelashes.

Collection launches in Selfridges and will then be in selected stores from Thursday 24th March.

(Images: Vogue and Sugarscape).

Vivienne Westwood: Quote, Unquote.

Vivienne Westwood on pop culture:

'Popular culture is a contradiction in terms.  If it's popular, it's not culture.  If everyone loves it, it's not original.'

(Image: William English via Fashion's Most Wanted)

Guilty Pleasures

I had a low-culture night yesterday, where I caught up on all the trashy TV shows I've missed while doing intelligently important or importantly intelligent things (like trying, really trying, to read Schindler's List).  I also indulged in some hard-hitting journalism during the mandatory ad breaks, like this article about Karoline Kurkova having no belly button. AND, I found an intriguing flashing picture of Katy Perry before and after photoshop on some random website.

In short, I acted like the ultimate stereotype of a teenager.  But whatevs, it felt decadent and dreamy and it made me zone out of reality for a period of time.  You know you're having the time of your life when you're watching 90210 and your most pressing thought is which fictional character is the hottest (Liam) and which one has the best dress sense (Ivy).

Other life-altering thoughts that crossed my mind last night:

1. Ivy has a slightly better dress sense than Gillian Zinser, who plays her.
2. They both wear a lot of hats.
3. I think I like hats.
4. Katy Perry looks alright without being photoshopped.
5. I probably 'would'.
6. For such a crap pop song, I really love Teenage Dream.
7. I would prefer no belly button to an outy belly button.
8. Schindler's List is like, really hard to read.

THE END. 

Hours Zine

I got my copy of Hours Zine last week, complete with logo-stamped packaging.  The internet rocks for browsing through photos on sites like flickr and tumblr, but there's nothing quite like receiving a neatly packaged booklet through your door, laden with printed images in all their Technicolor glory.

Hours Zine, in case you've missed the local buzz about it, is a project by Molly Rooke and Matthew Shearer, two art graduates living in Cardiff.  They came up with the idea of documenting an entire day - 24 hours - with one film of an analogue camera, and road tested the idea last December on a cold but sunny day.  The results became the first issue, an unadultered visual diary of a daytrip around Barry Island, full of saccharine yet edgy images with colours that pop out at you from the zine's pages.

Like this one.

The plan is to give a camera to a different person each month, to be handed back at the end of the day, with every photo taken on the film printed in the next month's issue.

 The pictures aren't curated at all, and it is this randomness that is integral to the purpose of the zine. This is what makes it a proper celebration of analogue photography, with the photographer capturing off-guard moments that they can't then delete or correct.  By publishing the pictures instead of circulating them online, it also means that print is being celebrated; another format which is being succeeded by digital.

The zines cost just £1 each (although I believe I may have gotten one of the last copies of issue one - there are only 100 of each issue available!) and can be bought from here, or at the monthly launch party.  The next one is for issue three and is at Buffalo Lounge on the 23rd of March.

If you want to spend a day shooting for Hours, email your name to hourszine@gmail.com.

If you want to make your own zine, watch this illustrative video (via Hours Tumblr).

how to make a zine from nicki sabalu on Vimeo.

More inspiring than Blue Peter and Art Attack combined!

(Image 2: Hours Zine)

Tumblrrrrrr

I use Tumblr as a collection point for any ideas and inspirations I come across on the net.  It's a bit funkier in design than the clunkier blogspot, so it's a far more stylish place to shove any images or quotes that I come across.  It's also a medium that is used more often by brands for 'edvertorial' purposes, so it's an effective way (similarly to twitter) to pick up information firsthand, without relying on magazines or stand-alone websites.

Tumblr allows you to stumble across awesome pictures like the one below, which is what I imagine my street would look like if it flooded.  And the population of it quadripled.  And all the houses turned into high-rises and skyscrapers.

Click on it to visit my tumblrrrrrrr.

(Image: Heart Magazine)

This Week

This week has been full of odd situations in various places.  It has comprised of trips around local Communities First areas, a hot chocolate in a beachside cafe with a policewoman in Porthcawl and a 3am chicken burger to soak up an obscene amount of rum in Swansea.

I spent approximately the same amount of money on that chicken burger as I did on the above bag from Primark, which had its first outing today.  I took it to a book fair at the YMCA in Bridgend, where I purchased 10 books for £10 (including a surfing picture book which was published in the year of my birth) and consumed a carton of orange juice and a Cadbury's Creme Egg in the makeshift cafe.  Incidentally, I have been to two YMCAs this week (the other was in Pontypridd).

My life is so rock & roll (sarcasm), and it seems I'm subconsciously dressing in a subdued way to reflect this.  I wore a button-down smock dress today with a polka-dot-heart pattern, practical Clarks boots and that cutesy bag, and realised when I got home that I looked like I was auditioning for a British wartime version of Little House on The Prairie.

Or, to put a much more positive spin on it, the girl in this video who falls in love with a wolf and turns him human.  Awww.

Hyper Fairycake

Following on from yesterday's cake rage debacle, here's some sugar-infused imagery to make you salivate (while the more-bubblegum-than-bubblegum colours melt your eyes).

From top: SS11 Meadham Kirchoff from An0ther Magazine, Charlotte Free and her self-dyed pink hair from Natalea's flickr, marbled nail varnish at p0ach.com, a cute girl wearing clashing pink and orange brocade - 'tonged hair and glossy pink nails turns brocade young', an ethereal unicorn-like horse and Mary Katrantzou's SS11 collection from An0ther Magazine, a picture sent to me by Lucy of Being Of Sound Mind, which I think may be Kelly Osbourne back in the day??

Oh, and a psychedelic cupcake.

Cake Rage

I love that the term 'cake rage' has been coined from a story about a woman smashing up a bakery in Cardiff.

The cynic in me thought it MUST be a PR stunt because of all the publicity the shop was garnering, but having read the story there are several eyewitnesses and a claim that the woman caused actual bodily harm when she grabbed the shop's owner by the hair!

I'm not sure I would ever attack someone over a cake, but I do experience a similar rage at 7pm every evening if I haven't eaten any chocolate that day.  My anger tends to rise in correlation with my dipping sugar levels.

Above is the 'Sweet Tooth' fairycake that caused the one-woman riot.

Yum.

(Images: Peanutbutterandfairytales and The Cardiffian.)