Joanna Hynes & Helen Steele

My favourite discovery of the summer was this collaboration between Joanna Hynes and Helen Steele.

Joanne Hynes is a fashion designer and Helen Steele is an artist and they are working together to redefine the established ways of combining the art and fashion worlds. Their work is focused on "the present, the gesture and spontaneity of creating," which they to capture in the designs. Their aim is to produce living works of art and fashion. By experimenting with these two art practices with such crazyness and fun the pair challenge trends of minimalism and tailoring, and resemble the warrior queens who inspire them. This is raw creativity and very exciting to see.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2011/ready-to-wear/joanne-hynes-helen-steele

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2011/ready-to-wear/joanne-hynes-helen-steele

The clothes are truly beautiful. The contrast of colours is eye popping. Theses two coats remind me of a mature technicolor dream coat or a creativity cape! I imagine when you put it on it transforms your personality and mood. You could never be unhappy when wearing one of these coats!

People would look at you and most likely instantly like you as they are so colourful and the fur is such a soft, tactile fabric.

I really like the mix in the pile of furs and how the colour is placed. The pops of colour bring out the colour even more than if it was an entire pink or orange jacket as its contrasted against the natural fur.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2011/ready-to-wear/joanne-hynes-helen-steele

I was really drawn to this cardigan, I don't think it is as wearable as the coats but it would be a huge statement piece to try and carry off! Im not sure I could carry it off. I love the colours in this again, the contrasts really draw you in.

Im not sure where you can buy these but if anyone finds out let me know I need one of those coats in my life!

Where the Wild Things Are part 2

In this post I'm going to talk more about the film adaptation than the book as they do vary in the depth of the story and I think the film is more of an adult fantasy film than a child's film. 

I love the beasts within the story. In the book the illustrations are beautiful. The beasts have a real human cross over. Some of them have human feet but are then covered in fur where as others have horns and chicken clawed feet. They are totally brought to life in the movie and its so worth a watch! It will open up your imagination and heart. 

Plastic dolls of the beasts.
Courtesy of Doobybrain.com

The main difference in the film is the depth that Jonze takes the beats personalities. 

They are very reflective of human emotions and when you watch it you will so be able to relate to most the situations and emotions! 

They are vast, feathered, horned, clawed, beaked and definitely wild — irrational and dangerous, even when showing affection.

You've got Carol, who is an impulsive wild thing,

KW is a loner,

Douglas is a peace keeper,

Judith is a pushover,

Ira is an aggressive and suspicious girlfriend,

Alexander is ignored, belittled and mistreated

and Bull is a quiet intimidating but hulk of a beast.

The film has many positive quotes through out it and this is one of them. We should never stop dreaming, hoping and imagining. This is something that we sometimes loose sight of when we grow up but we should never stop and this film really hit this home for me so I decided to right the craziest ideas and hopes down and I am going to do something about every single one of them!

My favourite quote from the movie.

I also think that the story is empowering to children and is the opposite of a nightmare or Brothers Grimm story as it is enabling children's imagination in a positive way as Max overpowers the beasts are scared of him and he is brave and no harm is done. 

I would like my designs to reflect this mismash of emotions and contrasts in behaviour and also aesthetics. I want something colourful but dark, warm and protective, textured and smooth, big but also small. I wonder if this is possible?!

My favourite image from the entire movie when all the animals and max are at one with each other.

Where the Wild Things Are

Naturally after the Secret Garden Party I had to revisit Where The Wild Things Are as it brings together all of my ideas and memories from the summer. 

 

This has a real nostalgic pull on my heart strings as I was read this book as a child and me and my brother would play at being max and the beasts! It has since been developed into a feature length film by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers that I am also a huge fan of. 

The front cover of the book. 

The basic outline of the story is of A young boy named Max has an active imagination, and he throws tantrums if others don't go along with what he wants. Following an incident with Claire (his sister) and her friends and his Mother paying more attention to her boyfriend than to him - max throws a tantrum and is sent to his bedroom by his mother. He runs away from home wearing his wolf costume at the time. Max not only runs away physically, but runs toward a world in his imagination. This world, an ocean away, is inhabited by large wild beasts, including one named Carol who is much like Max himself in temperament. Instead of eating Max like they normally would, the wild things befriend Max as he is not scared of them and he proclaims himself a king who can magically solve all their problems. He gets caught up in all of the beasts separate issues but also manages to make them have fun and gets them to dance by declaring that the wild rumpus has begun. He eventually misses home and realises that he can't save the beasts from being upset and angry. He realises that sometimes people do things they don't mean and that people are complicated so he decides to leave the beasts and go home. When he gets home he finds his mum has left his dinner by his bed and its still hot so she does still love him.  

I love this story as it is simply about childhood innocence and how children aren't adults and do confuse their emotions and don't yet understand how other people feel or why they do things. 

Im going to do a few posts about this as I'm fascinated by the story and the imagery involved in the book and film.

p.s. Im thinking of using the front cover as the colour palette for a autumn/winter collection what does every one think? Maybe too bright or too green?

Fever Ray

I was shown this video at the start of the summer and it quickly stuck in my head and gave me nightmares for weeks! It plagued me when I was awake and when I was asleep.

I have now grown to love it and in particular the imagery within the lyrics. 

The video portrays a wild girl lost in suburbia. She has come from the surrounding forest and stumbles across a pool and is totally confused by civilisations mod cons. She is used to water in rivers and lakes, not crystal clear blue water. Her inner energy forces her to react in a jolted and convulsive way. 

What I am particularly inspired by in this video are the textures and colours. I love the fur and feathers concealing the nakedness of the wild child. The colours of the fur contrast against the foggy wilderness behind.

The lyrics are also as beautiful as the video. 

"When I grow up, I want to be a forester, run through the moss on high heels.

When I grow up, I want to live near the sea Crab claws and bottles of rum.

I never liked a sad look from someone who wants to be loved by you.

Waiting for you to embrace me I wait for him to catch me"

I think the lyrics are immature but in an innocent way. They are about love and life and also the innocence and fragility of emotions, especially when it comes to love. This girl just wants to be loved and saved. The imagery is incredible and I think that it could influence a beautiful photoshoot.

Lost and found

Over the summer I found myself getting lost and being found, wandering and being stranded.
I discovered I had broken my neck over the summer and had to go through a lot of painful treatment which left me delirious and lost between dreamworlds and nightmares. I was trapped but then eventually freed.
I spent my summer in the wilderness camping and wandering, this sparked off my summer research which became focused around nightmares, the forest and its beasts and other wonderful creatures.
The following posts are a summary of my summer research.