LONDON TRIP, DEC 2009

I did sort of forget to create this little visual post, but after being so inspired by my new London buddies over the weekend, I thought...'Well, now seems an appropriate time!'

So whilst traversing London, & seeing the huge upsurge in a Satorialist movement obvious from 'new' men's fashion stores & labels such as PRESENT, NUMBER 6, GARB STORE, ALBAM, THE THREE THREADS, London's all about men's mature, aristocratic-esque fashion right now. For once the ladies are following in it's wake.

Still, saw some great looks whilst there....Thanks to Nouks_art for the dope pictures!!

Corrections!

Whoops!..A couple of errors in the last post, lovingly bought to my attention by Ruby Pseudo after a few amaretto-sours, whilst starting a UK temp-expat night at Bitterzoet....with some soul performances of a night promoted by Narik of Full Crate, the highlight being the singer Szjerdene's, promo off [for free!] Collage: The Demo -- Then ending up at Amsterdam's oldest hip-hop bar, The Duivel.

[A thanks for the picture goes out to a photo stream from Lucy Rose, on Flickr. For those of you that don't even know Tipp-Ex, it was a correctional fluid used for typing, and was pretty messy as I recall!]

So...
1] I wasn't thrown out on my ear from my flat for Ruby's kids...I was kindly coaxed! & they've taking care of it too...thanks guys!
2] Curt Kobain = Kurt Cobain -- things got switched around in the old noggin when i was typing.

Thanks Rubes!

Way too Long

Yep....I'm back! After a crazy few weeks that have included tours of duty with sportswear brands [you know who you are!] it's time I get my Blog-On! So over the next few days, you may just get some short & sharp hits, but it's better than what I have been putting out lately....urhm...Nothing!

So here's a little something first. For you fans of unconventional, pioneering fashion, from now until April 11th 2010, Bernhard Willhelm [I had dinner with him once in Paris...lovely chap!] & Jutta Kraus, are having a 10th years working-together anniversary. It's at the brilliant [or so I've heard] museum in Groninger.


Speaking of exhibitions, for those of you into pop-art portraits, go to Maastricht's Bonnefanten Museum to see the 'Live Forever' exhibition of Elizabeth Peyton's work. I saw it with some mates at London's Whitechapel Gallery, & has some cool paintings of pop icons such as Jarvis Cocker [top image], Curt Kobain even the Queen, taken from press images & photographs...Good to see & get inspired. It's on until March 21st 2010.

Gotta get ready to go as I have some of Ruby Pseudo's kids coming to stay at my place...causing me to have to move out!!

"One's Day Shopping!"

I'm LOVING AMStitown right now...getting some time to hang out with some locals, giving me the skinny of what's up & coming....so as the-- good-blogger -- that I am, I feel it my duty to share the love.
Last week, whilst propping up my bike against De Baile's wall, I bumped into Richard Soesanna, one of the organisers of the MAFb [Music & Fashion Battle]...For those regular readers [hoping that there may be one or two] I was on the jury earlier this year & this year's battle was won by Wiam.
As THE winner, Wiam will have the opening fashion show at DOWNTOWN, just before/during Amsterdam Internation Fashion Week [27th-31st Jan] -- sorry but the dates are a little confusing --
Downtown is a lovely little concept in that in collabo with AIFW, it's the only week to have fashion shows open to the general public...that's you & me btw! But this time around, Richard & Marianne from MAFb, have given Downtown an extra filip by adding a concept called the One Day Shop on January 23, 2010, in Imagine IC (Bijlmerplein 1006-1008) in Amsterdam. Giving a nice bit of exposure to upcoming designers & labels like Fresh Cotton, Hanazuki & Blazinbell, you can get your shopping & pin-card on & support local talent!

Speaking of new local talent, Richard told me about this dude, Guillaume Chin, releasing some new luxury kicks...here's a link to his blog Whatpeoplewearthesedays.

Finally, much love & luck to Edson, Gee [From Patta] & Wix, opening a new store in 3 weeks time. You can expect a brilliant mix of style & street, done with a Global Village etiquette.

Lovely!

Sleep-over

I don't want to spoil this for anyone living in Boston, so in the old parlance of England's BBC1 news..."If you don't want to know the score, look away now."

Gone--Good--

Brand books, marketing bibles, hyperbole & blogs [this one not included of course] tell marketers to create consumer experiences. I'm not sure that any brand experience can ever beat the age-old, time-honored, exquisitely created, theatre production. So when a good friend of mine told me with wild, wild-eyed wonder, to go to a play called SLEEP NO MORE. I could hardly turn down the recommendation.
But seriously, if you ever want to have one of the best theatrical experiences of your lives, go & see it, even those of you in NYC! This play contains everything brand-builders crave. You, as the 'audience' are an interactive element of a play that goes on around you--in the rooms, corridors & other nooks & crannies of an old 4 floored school.

From the time you enter the building, you're enticed into the plot. You're given a white mask by actors in 1930's costume, with instructions not to talk whilst your in the building. You're then taken into a lift & [in my experience anyway] get dropped of...alone in a darkened, black corridor, illuminated by a few spot lights, not knowing what the hell to do. What you end up discovering are rooms decked out as film sets & actors appearing randomly throughout the building.

As an member of the audience, you intuitively realise that it's not a house-of-horror, but you're supposed to follow the characters through labyrinth of a school. As you follow them, scenes unfold from room-to-room, corridor-to-corridor, as they interact with other characters. You, the voyeur, have to work out the plot, as you decide which of the cast to follow...do you stay in the room with the character you just tracked in there, of chase after the one who just left, running down the dark corridor, pursued by other audience members also in white masks??? the beauty of this experience is it's sensory, it's emotional, it's tense... but better that anything else--the choice is yours.

So please please please...if you can. go & see this play...oh yeah & for you brand guys...you really can learn something from this.

Oxfam x Jamie Hewlett

Whilst casting my eye about East London last week and in particular the high-street which the Truman Brewery & Brick Lane is turning out to be [do you REALLY want to go out there over the weekend??? no not me sir!]. I was sadden to see so many of the retail stalwarts, those with a quintessentially modern English-ness to it...Gloria's trainer store & the fantastically retro-named Butcher of Distinction, have disappeared, gone-under, or whatever recession-type vernacular you would care to use...

What did warm my little heart though, was stumbling across the Dray Walk Gallery, that was showing UNDER WATER COLOURS a 'multimedia exhibition with Jamie Hewlett's [Gorillaz, BBC Olympics, Monkey: Journey to the West]' bloody genius if you ask me! 'refelctions on how climate change costs lives in Bangladesh'. Unfortunately it's finished now, but it was a beautiful, artistic & poignant view from a cutting-edge artist on a freaking important topic. The selection of artist, the positioning of the venue in ultra-hip [?] Truman Brewery, was very shrewd, to capture the attention of the creative crowd & get them to 'move'/do something.

So if you missed it, get on board for THE WAVE, another Oxfam initiative & 'join the UK's biggest ever demo in support of action on climate change'. Taking place on Saturday 5th December, starting at 12pm, thousands of people will stream through the streets of London, settling around the Houses of Parliment.

It doesn't take THAT much to get involved, just a change in attitude & a consideration on what is important.

Do It/Do Something!!

Smells Like UK Teen Spirit

If you want to learn a little bit more about the secret lives of teenage boys in the UK between 13 & 19 years old, read this article written by Simon Hattenstone, in the Guardian from October 10th 2009, summarising the Guardian Weekend commissioned survey of 1,000 boys by Echo Research.

Here are a few of the more interesting stats from the report...

'Some of the findings are predictable – 57% of boys spend at least one hour a day social networking online. More alarmingly, 10% spend at least five hours a day social networking online, 55% have been exposed to inappropriate online content, and 21% have had experience of cyber bullying. But perhaps the most astonishing finding is just how positive teen boys are: 95% believe their career prospects are good, 96% are ambitious about their future careers, 94% are happy in their home and family lives, 93% are happy in their social lives and 91% are happy in their school or work lives.'

The most annoying part of the survey is the continued demonisation of youth culture by UK institutions. Another more shocking story, concerned the children's charity -- yes charity!-- The Kids Company, who's poster was cited as being 'racist' by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, for reinforcing negative stereotypes of young black youth.

If young people can't even be protected by a so-called sympathetic ear, then other institutions have an even further journey to travel.

Mulling Around Paris

Whilst wiling the way in Paris' over-saturated/over fashion-tourist area of Le Marais, we stumbled upon a copy-cat pair studying fashion at La Chambre Syndicate de la Couture Parisienne, in the store Noir Kennedy.
Marion Fan, the 22 years old short-haired from Taiwan explained when asked about their style -- "We just wanted to have a nautical theme of dress today -- we decided it yesterday". Along with Alpha Mo [is that right?], 21 years old from Beijing, it was great to see their enthusiasm & exuberance in fashion.

What was so evident [apart from the exceptional attention to detail, from Marion's glitter makeup to the plethora of over-sized accessories] was the partnership & friendship between them both.

Check out Marion's musings on her blog www.ms-eyes.blogspot.com. It's really interesting to see & hear how someone from a completely different culture see's fashion, music & street-culture in Europe, in particular London & Paris by really living & being a part of it.

Big thanks to Anouk_arts for the beautiful pictures. Check her out on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nouks_art/

ARE ALL THINGS DIGITAL FOR ME AT THE MOMENT?

Yeah, I've taken a sabbatical for a few weeks as I've been rushing headlong into my new world.
So that said, what's it looking like then:
DIGITAL DESIGN WORKSHOP
On the 19th of Sept, I worked with Afarai [Afaina de Jong], the organiser of the Cut & Paste digital tournament in Amsterdam.

We ran a 2 hours workshop with 6 talented 2D/3D & motion graphic digital designers from Amsterdam with 17 people from Nike -- the purpose to inspire them on how creative the digital realm IS & CAN be!

WORLD YOUTH STUDENT TRAVEL CONFERENCE [WYSTC] a bit wordy eh?
Then I swooped over to Manchester to give a talk on co-creation with the talented Steve Lee a senior designer from Prospect Design. His presentation delved into 'service innovation through digital experiences' -- it took a very consumer/human-centric point of view on design. Check out the site. It was moderated by Steve Lowy young UK entrepreneur of the year 2009 with his youth oriented Umi hotels. He encourages his guests to give as much feedback on their experience & his hotel is full of pretty young [working] things -- in common with the clientele -- they even promote talented young photographers!


The weirdest thing about the whole experience at the conference was first of all getting random Twitter requests from people who I then realised were AT the conference -- having them Tweet about you -- quoting you in their Tweets -- then reading the Tweets on the train to the airport, whilst overhearing 2 young Manch teenage girls talk about boys -- 'They're just rubbish anyway. They're from another planet" -- great insight!

Rushed back to Amsterdam to put together & present on Monday 5th October with Anouk from Intuitive Patterns, on the FUTURE OF DIGITAL. It was for the steering committee of the International Sport & Development Organisation. The premise was that -- as a platform to encourage the pursuit of sport for the empowerment of people -- & that they've spend a fortune on a website since 2007 -- they only have 680 members! We were there to inspire them on the potential of the social web...
Here's a link to a film you might like from Microsoft about how they see the web in 2019 -- I'll post the presentation soon.

Finally, I started & finished a presentation that I gave to the Global Benchmarking Group conference on Wednesday 7th October -- the room was full of data miners & market researchers -- my presentation was on YOUTH THE RECESSION & BRAND REACTION. But one of my favourites was from Levi's & what they're doing with tracking consumer shopping behaviour in store with devices, in collaboration with Envision Retail. we also saw their revamped website...nice.

Sooo, now you & I are up to speed. Everything seemed to be digitally related, even some of the references & case studies I gave at the Wednesday conference. So in the spirit of FREE digital sharing, I'll upload the presentations as soon as I can.

Lata

Mexico City Kids

It was my third day in Mexico City -- My first day to really walk its central streets -- as I would in any other city. It is supposed to be a bit dangerous here -- I heard stories about Express Kidnappings, but that'll be in another post.
Through the torrential rain that eventually broke -- the Ambercrombie & Fitch-styled young-uns -- straight outta Iberia -- with their thick, spiked-gelled hair, I found some gems, that looked inspired by London a couple of years ago. Check them out -- their boldness of colour, the plethora of it -- accessories & the graphic tees. It seems that though the world is a big place, it's refreshing to see that youthful exuberance reigns in the rain.

Baseline, BOSS & UKG

When's the last time you've been to a rave that -- your t-shirt doubles in weight because of your sweat -- that it clings your body & feels like it's been plucked -- damp -- from the dryer & thrown on you. When your legs are so sweaty that your jeans drag themselves down when you -- jump, jump, brraackkk -- when your hair shrinks & flops -- when you wake up the next morning, your legs aching from dancing.

Welcome to a Bassline & BOSS night at Amsterdam's famous Paradiso, where the multi-cultural Dammers stunned me with their love of UK subculture -- 2 Step, UKG, Grime, Funky House & DubStep --
With fingers as guns -- arms were raised in homage to the excellence of DJ's Melly Mel, Gomes & Steve Boomselecter, with Mo MC.

The rise & rise -- the splintering of subcultures -- into yet more subcultures, is fascinating to track, But even more so when they jump an ocean, sea or continent & transform itself. In Amsterdam UKG & more was appreciated by Moluccans dressed as if they had come straight out of Gran Torino -- or Straight Outta Compton -- hip hop heads with their over-graphic tees -- fashionistas with high heels & long legs [I'm seeing more high heels at 'street' club nights these days btw!] -- & casuals with jeans & plain v-neck tees.

But also how the digital world fuels the spread of it, & elements of it -- a case in point is a dance called the MIGRAiNE Skank by Nappa Man K. It's THE tune rght now, huge at rave's & clubs -- has an instruction youtube vid on how to Migraine Skank -- Has Ciara doing it & has Radio 1's Trevor Nelson asking fans to post themselves doing a Nelson skank!

Next time I'm in London, I need a volunteer to take me to a rave, to experience the style & dance origins -- a comparison needs to be made!

Placeholder Pics update

Yeah--I've hardly been a prolific blogger for the last couple of weeks...sorry!

For now, here's a lovely pic of Rashida & Vanessa who I saw at the G-Star Raw Rhythm Festival in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago...I love the matched Adi outfit & the hazy b+w graphic tees!!

Oh--yeah the sneaks look good too--colourful creative!