Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! Review

More like Isabella Blow Me PLEASE you fashion whore! In the most complimentary way possible.

I knew of the eccentric before the exhibition, not her life-story because I tend to not care about someone's personal life unless it has relevance. And working as a cleaner for a couple of years has some inspirational relevance if you're an x factor fan.

Julien MacDonald 1995
Knitwear 

Warning: have TINY clutch-bag-size luggage, anything bigger will get put into the cloakroom because in the exhibition you get to come right up close to the work! All up in their faces.

Somerset House got with Central Saint Martins and the Isabella Blow Foundation to put on this kind-of retrospective of her career, how she influenced and brought us the late GREAT McQueen and the genius milliner Philip Treacy. This exhibition showcases and celebrates the important influence craft has on design. Craft being the basis of a concept, the purpose in that material, its body, giving personality to the piece as a whole. If you see the show PLEASE don't go and say  'look at the detail' or heartlessly gush 'it's stunning'. The make is not what these are about, what about the detail? I am sick of going to shows and hearing people dissect the work as if all they see is an object that's been put together 'well' and there is nothing more to it. These pieces are examples of fashion being a beautiful canvas for expression, working with the body, the effect it has on materials, fashion can be more than just looking good or edgy.

The biggest dilemma with exhibitions showing clothing/fashion/costume is, how do you present it? There is nothing I hate more than seeing a piece on a plain mannequin or dress making dummy. These pieces are designed for movement! V&A Hollywood Costume show used specially-made mannequins that had 'action', was still a bit naff imo.

Philip Treacy

McQueen, A/W 1996

I really liked the first half of this Blow show though, presenting McQueen's A/W 1996 pieces on broken, silver mannequins, more sculptural. They are positioned in a way that you can weave in and out of each piece, looking at all sides like you could in a catwalk.  The body of fragile futuristic females wearing victorian bodices and military jackets, literally limbs missing, added a death element - we are looking at the late McQueen's work which the late Blow supported. There is an unsettling vibe throughout through the presentation, the first section completely dark with spotlights.

 You leave the misty walled McQueen show and walk up the misty stairs, into Philip Treacy's brightly lit world. It is just breathtakingly inspiring, such drama, theatre and character in his work. Of course the craft is impressive but those techniques feed into the idea, the buckram material itself being seamless and solid and lace-like, or the use of plastic creating alienesque pieces, the classic, mainstream headwear you get in shops are trumped. You witness what is truly possible with feathers, fabrics and structure sat on a head.

Then it is party central! Blow besides Warhol, Kate Moss, her worn-out shoes, the avant-garde cultural pieces leading through a path of solmen silhouettes of women in McQueen outfits, Blahnik footwear and Treacy headwear. It is the section of Blow's career and how she led it showed off successfully. The flashing fountain at the top of the stairs is boss.

The climax of the show is her early death, and it led to La Dame Bleue S/S 2008, MCQueen and Treacy's collaboration to celebrate Isabella Blow. Designs themselves are showcased on mannequins, looking far more still and chilling, but heads up high in respect to the great. Sit through the whole show, it is far more emotive in its massive scale.

The sentiment in the show, respecting the late Blow, is in the lighting of the space, you feel it throughout. Her influence, her energy and her ability to see the greatness in the challenging are on show. The beginnings, the discoveries, collaborations and influences she had, and her early end through to her rebirth through McQueen and Treacy collaboration in 2008, and how she continues to inspire through Nick Knight's photography, Somerset House have done good.

Nick Knight

Millinery Work Experience Aaaaaaantica. Pation.

Term 1 of Year 2 has ended and now we're anticipating Industry Unit! I was lucky enough to get an intern at Victoria Grant, London based Milliner. Here is a taste of her Bespoke work

Collaboration with Antony Micallif

Glamour. Theatre. Sex. 

Victoria Grant Bespoke : FACEBOOK  and  TWITTER

Why do Millinery? Good question. Back in the a-level days I kept doing headwear, very amateur but nonetheless it caught me, and for Costume for PErformance I wanted to learn the techniques of millinery because it is full of sculpture which lends itself into my work. Craft from other fields feeding into my work is very exciting to me. And I think in every costume blog post I have done recently all involved millinery techniques SO THERE.

 But as well as that I didn't want to just learn about making, I want to see the PR and business side of a brand, collaborating and networking and just the general nature of it all, because it's ite to dream but the flesh and blood of a situation is much more graphic than a dream makes it out to be. Gotta expose myself to it all. And then hopefully continue in getting shitloads of experience to put on my cv but also to gain knowledge like cray cray.

My biggest problem with millinery however, in fashion, that it becomes the statement piece; yes that is a negative! It literally overshadows the whole being. An accessory, a prop. Adds no depth. Something pretty to look at. Makes me cringe. 

 When we get to the beginning of that unit, I am going to dig deep and force myself to make weekly entries of millinery! Some history, some cool stuff, blah blah. 

I am totes ganna make myself look crap by showing the beginnings and adventures I have taken in 'millinery', nostalgic for me like for real.

AS Level, 2009-10?

Fear of the Unknown was the title of that project, apparently. I appear to of done something about sexuality and recycling... FRESH. Pure experimenting fam.

Quality street Wrappers, cotton, sequins, food colouring, cupcake cases.

Wool, wire and button hat.

A2 Level

'Passion and Obsession', my 'character', muse, narrative, was Cruella Deville, animals and fashion.

None of it is wearable, unless you are the actual size on the models.

 

CSM Foundation Models for my final piece

I want to get some good sots of my LCF headwear work so until then, here are pieces that are getting my juices going.

YUM.

Leigh Bowery, I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on

Philip Treacy on Grace Jones.

Charlie Tuesday Gates, insane artist. 

Blog, if you dare see her grotesquely real and confrontational work. 

Kirsten Woodward, Sex on the Brain, 2009 

Guinevere van Seenus featured in the AnOther editorial "Stephen Jones" from March 2009 , showing Stephen Jones Millinery

Nevermind his recent weightloss, Boy George hats have got it going on. (With Johnny Themis)

Daniel Lismore

Dangerous Liasons, Valmont

Thanks for waiting, probably not worth it but let's give it a go.

If you can't be bothered reading, SCROLL DOWN DOWN DOOOOWN to see the final costume. 

So elaborating on the previous post, this last term at uni has really been about learning technical skills in menswear tailoring and portfolio presentation. As you might of gathered, how I present my work is, well, shit. Actually, opening this post like this is not very welcoming. But my Valmont is a right arrogant prick so I am giving off that vibe. I don't need to present my work impressive like, because my ideas are fucking crazy good. DUH. 

totes ganna be a failure.

Initial design, on post it notes.

Eminem 'Bling'

Back Mumba Snake

 Blah blah blah, I don't like period costumes, having to recreate something notches down my life expectancy every time. Once ago I was compromising my ideas to accommodate the fucking criteria. Whatever. Originally I wanted the coat tail to come outwards from between the legs, like a massive cock, but that's not '18th Century' apparently. But generally I just messed with the period clothing, a shirt with no placket, pleated front, coat cut out odd, exaggerated tricon and cuffs, chiffon and organiza breeches with a weird flap. Valmont and Merteuil were designed as above the 1700s, ahead of the rest, challenging everyone's ideas about who they are, what they desire, their choices ec. Valmont's design was very egotistical, embracing that seducer role by Valmont embodying the 'snake' (Adam and Eve...seducer, corrupt, fucks convent girls). 

Black mumba because OMG Dangerous Liasons, likethe BEAUTY in those letters, it's one of those books that completely shits all over the idea that 'books are boring, you can do the same with tv'. NO YOU FUCKING CANT SON. Reading the play adaptations, people doing it in dance blah blah, bullshit. No, there's something incredible about the communication between characters through letters, that ability to physically manipulate the plot through writing, and all mere readers are exposed to are the letters, and an imagination of the reality of the situations. You know when people say that when reading a book you can 'picture the world in your head' and make it yourself? Well these letters champion that more than anything else, because the book itself doesn't even visualize scenarios! Like it describes using a whore's arse as a table to write on, treating oneself to a bumming after, but did that rally happen?? All the point of views going on, omg. Orgasmic. 

So yeah, Black mumba was the snake in particular because to write the letters, INK. Ink is the blood to this narrative. Merteuil being chief conductor of the whole thing, Valmont and her play controller of everything thorugh the letters, through the ink. Ink as a colour palette was key, like the setting as begins with 'blue', ink in its initial form, then black, actualyl written feather to paper it is concrete, Valmont blacks out. the dying or 'drying' of the ink, turning brown, that idyllic countryside of France dies as it comes to an end. Get me?

And for styling, like okay. In the project when I said 'Eminem, Kim song' everyone thought that was the context, a music video thing, no. I just played along omg twat. But no, it was just styling and vibing! ffs. So modernizing 18th Century using Hip Hop and Rap, the aggression and violence and PASSION and money and shameless bling and ego and fucking bitches and shit. Like, such a conntection. And blending that with Chisnall's sculpture, the rusted copper nails, the industrial Paris that leaks into the pastoral living in Dangerous Liasons. Valmont is a child of escaping country, living in that decadent man-made world, but he's so complex. He finds remorse, they keep saying Danceny is the 'hero' but in fact Valmont is the tragedy, with all his wealth and erections, falling hard for Tourvel and ruining her, ruining himself, and finally comes clean to his bitter end. Fuck. 

Just elaborating on this ink, and the hip hope style, you might look at the lining of the coat and jacket and think 'were you high?'. 1. Probably. and 2. I wanted invasive, brash colours to symbolize when Valmont and Merteuil ATTACK in this war like thing, coming from dress sense from P Diddy rocking a rpurple leather get up, like colour that just doesn't work. It doesn't belong. That's the manipulation of the letters. Adn the placement of it was key. So For Valmont and Meeteuil, that quality is WITHIN them, they are it, they piss it, they sweat it, they cum it, they bleed it, the spit it, they breathe it, they do-a-lot-of it. Whereas for the blessed victims, the saddos falling for the traps hat as a reader you yell 'NO YOU DUMB FUCK', well this dye is INFLICTED. On the surface, put on top of them, blah blah. 

And yeah, I felt pretty unmotivated and disappointed with my final presentation, like I had basically grown all hair, treated it, cuddled and watched it transform, and then at the end ripped it all out, shoving it down a shitty toilet. So, if you actually read through all of that bollocks and got all excited and shit, awks for you cos there ain't no glorious climax. You have just experienced Blue Balls. 

So, bravo Valmont. 

Costume: Sanya Torkmorad- Jozavi, duh. 

MUA: Lily Brazier 

Photographer: Polin Kuprin

Model: Ali Ayyub