DVF and summer.

This summers catwalk trends are out and the high street window displays look amazing. Colour blocking is everywhere and the prints are bolder and brighter. This brings me to Diane von Furstenburg’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection which I love. This is a woman renowned for her iconic prints and the wrap dress. Off the catwalk she recently launched a Home wear collection at Bloomingdales in NYC, inspired by nature and art. You can see it in full by clicking here. Some are wilder than others and I would prefer to use some of her dinnerware in a more subtle way rather than mixing it altogether. We are seeing more and more designers applying their fashion prints to products and interiors so this is nothing overly new, nonetheless I think the marriage between the two is inspiring and DVF’s printed fabrics are fabulous!

N x

Trina Turk inspiration…

Spring/Summer 2011 collection from Tina Turk is full of colour and wild prints…helping me along…..not to mention the fitty in his hot pants!

N x

January picks…..

The Shopping night Barcelona.

Sorry for my slack effort over the Festive period! I got carried away Christmas shopping,eating and drinking my way through it!…. and then realised I forgot to post about the long-awaited (better late than never!)……’Shopping Night Barcelona’ which made a lovely spectacle and everyone was out walking along Passeig de Gracia. Very Christmassy indeed! Open Markets, red carpets leading from stores onto the main avenue, free goodie bags, promotional stands for makeup and perfume, handing out Champers and canapés with some. A huge sculpture on the main street of Michelangelo’s David was clad with Missoni fabric and glazed-amazing. The buildings and shop fronts were beautifully lit, there were oversized presents on the pavement and even the scaffolding of one building had been decorated…….it got me in the mood!

N x

‘Love’-YSL.

A friend of mine was on holiday recently in Marrakech, Morocco and I am very jealous! I went to Tangier a few years ago which gave me a taster of this wonderful and interesting place. Now that I am not too far away I really, really want to go!!!! I have a hidden ‘love’ to visit Marrakech. The colours and culture I find to be a never-ending inspiration. For those of you who do not know, Yves Saint Laurent, one of the greatest, well-known designer names in 20th Century Fashion regularly visited Marrakech, to find influence for his own work.

In 2008 Yves Saint Laurent  died. He was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Majorelle Garden, a botanical garden in Marrakech. Created by french artist Jacques Majorelle, and bought and restored by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge in 1980. The bright blue walls of this museum of Islamic Art was where he would find refuge at times, a home away from Paris. On each visit to this striking and amazingly colourful backdrop he would create a design and leave it in the villa. Since his death there is a permanent memorial dedicated to the designer in the gardens. A wall showcases each of these unique designs including the year of his visit and the word ‘ LOVE ‘, which is widely known as the YSL signature. I can’t wait to visit for myself! This was a man who introduced the tuxedo suit for women and the first designer to use ethnic models in his runway shows, referencing other cultures in his work! Legend.

N x

Pierre Berge and Yves Saint Lauren at the entrance of the Majorelle Gardens. Marrakech, Morocco, 1982. Photography source: http://snobish.com

A few more of what Morocco has to offer…..and Thank you to SC for the photos!

 

 

 

 

 

My ‘Bramble’ Print.

I popped into the Accessorise and Monsoon shop last week in Barcelona and came across one of my prints, on a blouse for Children’s Wear…….. second year around but in a different colour-way, which is a nice compliment!

N x

 

Paris- Première Vision.

I took a quick flight over to Paris last week to do some further research at Première Vision, a large exhibition of  all things related to Textiles. Presenting trends and forecasts relating to the up and coming Fashion, including Menswear, Womenswear and Kidswear, with specific categories such as Lingerie, Knit, Swimwear, Embroideries, Vintage, Computer Graphics and so on . It allows companies to network with others within their industry and gives each of them the opportunity to meet new and old exhibitors, whether it be print studios or technical fabric suppliers. I had my recent prints on sale through a freelance company I work with in London and New York, therefore I found it hugely beneficial to go and check it all out, as it has been sometime since I was last there.

The doors opened and the buyers were on a mission to purchase the ‘new and latest’ prints for A/W 2011/12 at Indigo, this being just the print section of a much bigger exhibition consisting of six halls. Pluriel Expert Trails is “designed as actual buying guides, aimed at helping you conceive your collections, discover new fabric developments and suppliers, and organise your sourcing throughout the 6 shows that make up Première Vision Pluriel”. I took a lot of notes, caught up with some old friends, mingled and enjoyed the buzz on the first day of the show.

Première Vision also surveyed a panel of international buyers in June 2010 to identify their fabric and decoration needs for actualisation products for Spring Summer 2011. Fabrics addressing these needs were presented in the ‘Actualisation forum’ in one of the halls. There is also TextPrint which allows new talent within the print industry to exhibit their graduate work. Understandably they are very tight on security at this show, therefore taking photos is not easy. I have however included a few taken from the Première Vision website.

It was very informative and fun. Spending three days in Paris with friends and colleagues, going on shop reports and purchasing some inspirational vintage scarfs went down a treat!

N x

Brit Insurance Designs of the Year.

I was in London last week and went to the ‘Brit Insurance Designs of the Year’ exhibition at The Design Museum. It was very interesting, and broken down into several categories such as Fashion, Furniture and Architecture to name a few. Click on the link above and check out the website. There are some very impressive design contributions and the way they impact our lives from every day use as well as presenting us with strong global and social messages. The Graphics exhibit was very cool and I liked a few of the magazine covers which encouraged me to look into a few more printed editions, of which I have included at the bottom of the page!

N x

Graphic: 032c- Contemporary Culture magazine from Germany shortlisted for the best of international design. http://www.032c.com

Product: 'Folding Plug' designed by Min-Kyu Choi. http://www.minkyu.co.uk

Architecture: 'Monterry Housing'-Elemental.S.A.Chile. http://www.elementalchile.cl

Graphic: 'The New Yorker, 2 Nov 2009 edition, USA. http://www.newyorker.com

Graphic: Corporate Diversity, Swiss Graphic Design and Advertising by Geigy 1940-1970. http://www.museum-gestaltung.ch

Here are a few more designed covers from Geigy that I also like…..

Another lovely graphic cover from the chemical and pharmaceutical company JR Geigy AG who produced a large body of work across identity, advertising and package design during the 1950's and 60's.

'Dyestuffs'-Geigy cover

'It's Nice That'- another graphic printed publication at the exhibit.www.itsnicethat.com

Snow White and the Seven Designers!.

I read about this article  on Vogue.com a while back and would love to go but can’t unfortunately make the performance dates. ‘Snow White and the Seven Designers’ is aptly named as designers such as Vivienne Westwood,  Jean Paul Gaultier and Giorgio Armani have come together to design costumes for a new pantomime that will be performed on stage in London this coming October 2010. Other names involved are Zandra Rhodes, Pucci, Amanda Wakeley, Paul Smith, Thomasz Starzewski and Bruce Oldfield. The ‘seven’ are- Dapper, Snazzy, Natty, Classy, Dizzy, Snappy, and Taupey! The story retells the well known fairytale and they fight together to challenge London’s biggest threat- ugly interiors and bad taste! It stars some of interior designs leading people and promises a beautiful visual of costumes.The pantomime is showing at the Garrick Theatre, London from the 12-16th October 2010. All of the proceeds raised will go to Dementia UK. Love the idea and hope it goes well!

N x

‘All Saints’-Singer Sewing Machine Display.

I walked past All Saints high street store today and noticed their window display which is impressive and a little different from most. What looked like 200 or more Singer Sewing machines all in rows, lined their windows and in-store walls to make it look like a working factory floor. They are in your face! I am a little envious of the window dresser and the people behind the scenes who were given the budget and time to source so many which we can see throughout ALL of their stores in the U.K!! I know that some of you may think me a little weird for staring into their window for so long but I thought it was aesthetically pleasing none the less. However, the All Saints installation comes with some controversy as I discovered in an article covered by the Evening Standard and more. It made me think twice, where have all these machines come from? and true to some points made in the article, has this taken away the antiques niche market and the areas that surround these large chain stores??? and more so, what will they be doing with them after????

While I am currently making up garments on my ‘modern’ Singer Sewing machine, it was topical to read a little more about the legendary machine that Issac Merritt Singer invented in 1850! Do not worry I am not going to give you all a detailed history lesson but  I am going to include some visuals and a commercial from back in the day.

N x