Sweater Skirt

Love this sweater skirt from thehautepursuit.com for THPSHOP. I wear a tied around shirt with loads of outfits as a way of breaking up  look - stoked that this skirt's gunna do it for me. So lazy.

More big sandals

Following on from my previous post, here are a couple more big clumpy sandals to work with. Image below taken from my favourite Scandi's Weekly Obsession post from earlier this month.

From New Look, River Island and Marni. Not sure what the background shoe is, but these Jil Sander babies are niiiice as well and kinda similar.

the fluff

Can you believe that Celine S/S 13 was so long ago now? It was in 2012 that these 'ugly' shoes stepped onto the catwalk, bringing with them a lot of opinion. Plenty of us hated them, most of us loved them, and its without doubt that these slides initiated the current sandal / birkenstock trend that's still powering through S/S 15. Minus the fluff of course.

Linda Jeuring by Annmarieke Van Drimmelen

Virtual reality

I have a really fun job, in which I research amazing fashion, arts and architectural content produced via 3D printing for a global series of exhibitions.
One such body of work I've come across recently is that of Berlin based collective Pussykrew. With heaps of interesting experience within the digital media, music, VJ sets and animation modelling, their recent 3D printed work makes the hyper real forms from their virtual animations into physical structures.

A fascination with 'tumblr aesthetic' (which I researched at great length last year on this blog) as well as an interest in virtual, contemporary landscape (via a blog I curate) has certainly prepped me to appreciate the work of Pussykrew. Do check out the stunning animation that heads up their website HERE, or read through the documentation of their 3D printed artwork HERE.

Obsessed with what's Modern

About Couture. Many people argue it's importance as a place to celebrate expression: somewhere that the theatricality of fashion still matters, and where the whimsical outfits of a particular house's dreamy imagination can still exist. But something changed in Paris last week at Dior's couture A/W 14-15 show, presented by Raf Simons. Exploring the fantastical nature of garments was certainly a key theme in the collection - but so too was practicality.

The convergence of ready-to-wear with couture (via a constant reconfiguration of historical context) could have been confusing - but it wasn't. With a backdrop of wall-to-wall orchids around the circular, spaceship runway, almost every kind of costume was referenced. From aerospace boiler suits to structured pannier dresses, Dior questioned the notion of modern aesthetics in fashion, and in many ways, took a deep step back as a means of making progress. The pairing of incredible gilded overcoats with basic straight shapes called for a very wearable kind of haute couture indeed, but there was still a strong element of dress-up with some interesting mixes of garment and accessory materials (I particularly enjoyed the spaceman-esque leather gloves, and dresses made out of the kind of material that you'd expect from a space suit).

What was incredibly clear from this show is that all of the times that were referenced have past. With this simple idea brought to the forefront of the collection (as a concept), the show succeeded in delivering a fresh approach to couture design - and somewhat memorably, that fresh approach included making these pieces wearable. In doing so, some of the magical of haute couture itself does feel lost. But at the same time, don't those long and embroidered overcoats look incredible?
images via stylebubble

#PaddlesON

Last night saw the UK's first auction in which Digital Art was available for purchase. In collaboration with Phillips and Tumblr, Paddles On! received a very mixed reaction. With some lots selling for way over their estimate (around the £20k mark) while others didn't even sell at all, the discussion of where this kind of work belongs within the market place continues to develop. After Saatchi and Google +'s Motion Photography (gif) exhibition earlier in the year, the continued tension between contemporary digital practice, traditional selling structures and established institutions is only lengthening this strange in-between time. Changes are certainly starting to take place, and it will be fascinating to watch the development of Digital Art sales.
More on the matter here, which I wrote a year ago.