Style Bubble

Dirty Digitaria

I've been meaning to check out Digitaria after Buck Style's writeup but haven't had the chance over the past few weeks.  It's been open for a few months and I've had some good words coming back so on the balmy Saturday I had to go take a peek...

It's the oddest kind of treasure trove to be found in London and adds an interesting label roster that can't be equated elsewhere in London.  It also benefits from a cool location at an old tailor's shop hence why it's got the old fixtures, mirrors and wooden panelling.  Digitaria is an Athens-based label that makes the kind of loose and interesting silouettes that would be welcome in most wardrobes.  The menswear is especially interesting with tightly pleated wide legged trousers and double layered shirts.  I might talk about Digtalia, the label elsewhere as here's it's the shop that's the star.  Other than the Digitaria label, the shop has gathered up a number of labels that I've not heard of... and ones that I'm just getting wind of... Tian Wang who I talked up last week was selling here for a bit. 

There's an impermanence about the labels moving in and out, showing a flexibility that means every week, it could be different.  When I visited, it was stocking Euphemia, Stone of Surrey and paper neckpieces by Millie Cockton.  I can't even give links, that's how new most of the pieces are... next up, I'm excited that Katie Eary and Gemma Slack will be coming into the store...

Millie Cockton..

Downstairs is a gallery area that will be rotated regularly...

I loved the mannequins that Lee Benjamin, a close collaborator of Leigh Bowery's has designed for the store...

Loving these pieces by Euphemia... exactly the sort of interesting muted pieces I crave for summer layering...

I came away with a white satin finger painted top by Stone of Surrey...

...and some rather controversial (or maybe not...) printed thigh high socks by Lee Benjamin's label Sanatorium....yup, it's pretty obvious what's printed on them.  I can't really explain why I bought them other than the fact that I love the sort of rubbery texture of them (though they're not rubber...thank god...) and the way the print is on a very neutral colour.  I wore them today as below and they did get a few eyebrows raised but I'd like to think that we're not five anymore and we don't have to go "Uuuummmm!  I'm telling, I'm telling!" over something that's just a print and nothing more. 

Gussied up Oxfam

I hate covering shop launches etc that I haven't actually been to myself as I can't actually put a genuine bit of opinion in as what is portrayed in pics can often be a bit of a fallacy.  I'm making exception for a few posts seeing as last week, when a LOT was going on, I was in my plastic box under the orange glow of Earl's Court 2 (FYI.... most unflattering light ever...).  I said a few weeks ago that there were a few stirrings at Oxfam, not in the poshie Notting Hill-direction but more towards a DIY ethos at the Camden Town store.  Well, the store has been given a complete revamp by stylist Mrs Jones, with a mini fashion show opening party to boot and it's looking much like an styled up vintage store.  Reminder to non-Brits, Oxfam is supposed to be a thrift/charity store and this is a set-up that they plan on rolling out beyond London.  It also comes rather conveniently timed with all this Mary Portas: Queen of Charity Shops hoo-ha on BBC and her Grazia/Westfield charity shop that is selling Mulberry and Stella McCartney (not fussed about this enough to go all the way out West... but report back if you have been...).  The idea that charity shops need to be restructed, made-over, glossed up to entice a mainstream audience of shoppers is something I'm a little ambivalent about and so cue shouting very violently at Ms. Portas when watching the show.  Whilst I don't object to store make-overs that results in a prettier shopping environment, I feel like shoving charity shopping down people's throats, people who were never into charity shops in the first place, does somewhat kill the joy of thrifting through piles of crap for those that never minded awful 70s' shopfits and smelly carpet.  IS spending £££ making shops look boutique-like or an upmarket market when the money could have gone towards um...charity, going to actually shift profits sky high to benefit the charities?  I don't know and I'm stupidly skeptical.  It's a question better suited to Imran of BoF perhaps but not me....  

Still, Oxfam have done no bad thing by giving the walls a lick of paint and buying a few nick nacks to spruce the place up given that it is ONE store out of their many many stores, and as I've yet to venture in to check out the wares to see whether the pricing has been Portas-ified ("people will pay more if the quality is there"...she justifies...), I can't comment yet as to whether charity shop makeovers are the bee's knees...

The most I can muster up is err... "Nice display cabinets...!"

Jeanette's Emerges

>> I wasn't there to witness the opening as I was stuck in god know's where on a random overland train (thanks...RMT...no, really THANK YOU!).  But Jeanette's is up and running and I spy some rails that I want to rifle...

Woody Woody

First port of call when arriving in Vienna yesterday was the Wood Wood Pop-Up store that will close in about a month's time.  I was fearing that they might not let me take pictures but it turns out the girl working there is a blogger (of sorts...) too and knew who I was.  Given that I had no intention of spending any moolah, I was merely there to check out the store.  The pop-up store is called WWXV, and opened in partnership with Vice and Pool Gallery in Berlin.  Like the Wood Wood stores in Berlin and Copenhagen, as well as stocking Wood Wood, there are other branded goods too with a heavier emphasis on latest collabs going into this particular pop-up space.  One big Hypebeast-coveted affair really with added girlier touches like Carin Wester's dainty florals and Edsor Kronen embroidered ties and bows...

Apparently there's a lot of hoo-ha over these Nike Gladiators which come in black/white leather... I'm sold if only that golden tick was removed...totally superfluous...pah...

Dinky beauty bits with Uslu Airlines nail polish stealing the show...

The latest Mykita x Bernhard Willhelm along with all the Linda Farrow collabs too (Henry Holland, Chloe Sevigny Opening Ceremony, Charles Anastase etc...) On the top of the cabinet, there was some interesting coloured cord jewellery by Sabrina Dehoff.

Jeremy Scott's S/S09 piss take toile de jouy has its place in the store alongside Wood Wood womenswear pieces which included a denim oversized jacket with an attached waistcoat inside...Jessie from Les Mads was eyeing this up...

Happy Socks arranged in a Happy way // Was very drawn to the Wood Wood blue rose print tote...

It's a sparse/minimal space but the little written touches count... as does the wonderfully illustrated catalogue which goes with the pop-up shop.  All artwork was done by Ben Ross who is also a streetstyle photographer...

Saw these trews in the Henrik Vibskov shop in Copenhagen but the love affair resumed when I saw them in the window yesterday... having a bit of an obsession with comfy yet easy-to-gussy-up pants/trackies.

The shop is also playing host to an exhibition of American photographer Peter Beste's photography of Norwegian black metal...infiltrating the scene as one of the few 'non-insiders'. My favourite shot has to be the contrast of the green forest with the black metal dude looking like he's angrily telling a sparrow to f*** off.

Jeanette Mystery Solved

>>Finally information and a website surfaces on the mystery of Jeanette's and it's the goooooood shit...

To start with Richard Nicoll, Louise Gray, James Long have designed new, never before seen pieces keeping in the spirit of their influences...

We are also stocking previously unavailable pieces from Giles Deacon, Christopher Kane and Judy Blame .

Jessica Ogden, Kim Jones and Joe Casely-Hayford have let me delve into there extensive archive and picked some really gorge garms!!

I am also incredibly excited that Turner prize Nominee Mark Titchner has designed limited edition printed t-shirts exclusively for Jeanette's...

inside the shop the very talented Benjamin Alexander Huseby has created sculptures/furniture...

the shop front has been built by the acclaimed set designer Tony Hornecker

and artist Giles Round has installed a hanging drape.

It's opening next Tuesday and I'll be there for sure...

Hogg is Home

The natural conclusion that I have come away with after Pam Hogg's shop opening last night is that I need to stop chomping on so much crackling, bacon bits, toast and sugary vitamin drinks if I'm to look good in a Pam Hogg catsuit.  I don't yank up the ol' subject of weight that often because to be frank, it's mostly irrelevant and Now/Heat/Ok/Hello/Hey/Ho already pollute the world by banging on about weight in the most grotesque ways anyway.  Still, the heavy dosage of lycra, spandex and shiny mc shine coupled with the fact that Anouk Lepere was looking excessively glorious/glowing in her bit of Hogg Couture all naturally leads to the conclusion above.

The store itself is very to the point; a whole plethora of Pam's catsuits and a few pieces of Pam Hogg souvenirs (mugs, tees...plates???) but the joy of the pop-up for a month is the chance to meet the woman herself in the store and she might gab about the days gone by and what other cunning catsuit plans she has up her tight lycra sleeves in the future.

I loved that in the basement of the shop, she projected a sweet bit of footage of Pam Hogg and co at her original shop on Newburgh Street...

I also loved these contact sheet images of Pam and a model for her 1990 collection...

The King and Queen are Ruling

The picture below might look like it was taken in 1982 but in fact, on 41 Temple Street, a lone shop on a mainly residential street lies something of a curiosity hole called King & Queen of Bethnal Green, that certainly isn't restricted to the 80s'.  I was first alerted to its existence by designer Brooke Roberts who sent me the pictures of her window-takeover at KQBG.  More about Roberts when I get images of her debut collection.

At King & Queen of Bethnal Green, I was literally assaulted with a wonder of things.  When I walk around looking at wonderment, my eyes literally got a bit googly and my mouth is also a little open in an 'o' shape.... rendering a spaced/monged-out look.  I think I had this look on my face the entire time.  Kim, the owner opened her emporium three and a half months ago, the first one to take a gamble on an empty strip of shopfronts (incidentally, the boyf and I apartment hunted on this very street few months ago and remarked how lovely the shopfronts were...).  A Central Saint Martins grad from around the Christopher Kane-era, Kim opted to fill a space with a curated mixture of things, supporing young designers, showcasing her found objects/vintage, selling/lending pieces to stylists and in general getting her taste out there... that is best illustrated with the slew of pictures...   

There's vintage Westwood, Comme des Garons pieces...

Kim's own leatherwork label is also on sale- weathered brogues, ponyskin boots, battered saddle bags all mingle with a mixture of her travelling finds - trinkets, accessories and pieces from all over the world...

Like any multi-faceted curated space, music and literature feature.  At KQBG, you get collectible records and in the glass cabinet at the moment there are first edition William Burroughs books, a space that Kim intends to change on a regular basis...

The mix is further augmented when you have the likes of Lily Allen dropping off Alexander McQueen dresses (the blue on the right.... beautiful print...) and Parisian vintage finds...

Delving a bit further and Kim tells me she did some extensive fur work for Jean Paul Gaultier, the A/W 08 collection in particular where fur has been painstakingly cut and ingrained with different patternations...

This month, King & Queen of Bethnal Green is hosting the work of some seriously unsung talent... Wendy Olver who makes headpieces, hats, ranging from the simple to the dramatic.  A snakeskin pillbox hat particularly took my fancy.  Gabriella Ingram makes corsets for the Royal Opera and upon browsing her website the most extraordinary range of materials are used that are not restricted to conventional corsetry fare.

Then there's Brooke Roberts whose tailoring I'm looking forward to talking up as she has just established her own label after stints at Giles and Louise Goldin....

Kim's multi-stranded work extends to leatherworking to the finest quality and I tried on a draped Edwardian puff sleeve jacket, where the puff can be adjusted in supple black leather and grey suede... me thinks I've found a potential leather collaborator for another dressmaking tale...

I ended up buying a vintage cream satin undergarment dress from Paris that has this ruching detail on the hips on my underwear slant (when am I NOT on an undie as outie rage...?)...

Just talking about all of that is a bit exhausting and in all honesty, King and Queen of Bethnal Green is a place that needs to be seen and given that it will be expanding into an even bigger basement space (for showcasing young designers/graduates and doing appointments in) and Kim is also getting into designing her own silver jewellery, who knows how multi-faceted this kingdom on Temple Street can get.

SoPi

I don't want to go all Fodors/Gridskipper on ppl because when I get emails asking for recommendations on cities other than London, I'm notoriously vague.  Reason being is because I have an awful habit of forgetting where I've been, meandering aimlessly and seeing what I stumble onto.  This particluarly works well when you stay in areas that make for good wandering.  In Paris, I like the 11th, 3rd/4th for this purpose and now the 9th, or specifically the SoPi (South of Pigalle).  Hotel Amour gets the big thumbs up from me partly because of a) the hotel and b) its proximity to various vintage/fashion emporiums Woch Dom (which supposedly started the SoPi thang...), vintage accessories/clothing Chezel and Homes For, Mamie et Mamie Blue, NoGoodStore... and Pigalle... where I slipped on some heels in what has seemed like a good age and a half. 

SlamXHype has given Pigalle a few good write-ups namely because of its head honcho Stephane Ashpool, part of creative collective Pain O choKolat, who dabble in events, production, entertainment in all things cool and completely alien to me.  It seems like Ashpool's multi-stranded career has resulted in the blend at his store Pigalle - the streetwear elements from Wood Wood, Nike, Adidas and Pigalle's own t-shirt line is his Pain O choKolat side and then at the back, where you get past season pieces by Anne Valerie Hash, Rick Owens, Sharon Wauchob and show-used shoes by Gaspard Yurkievich, Givenchy and Dries Van Noten come from Ashpool's other venture Vida9.  With his mother Doushka Langhofer, they have been doing show production and choreography for the likes of Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh, Christian Dior and Sharon Wauchob.   

I liked the minimal selection and the fact that you never know what is gonna come out from the back cupboard of Pigalle, smoke ash PVC dresses included.  Collaged walls and astone path in a dark and intimate interior, the friendly attitude from Ashpool (at one point a customer was asking whether she can touch a necklace, indicating the prevalent 'Don't Touch' policy in overly conceptual places, to which Ashpool said "Of course, you can try too!") and a bench outside makes for a laidback store with a nice haphazard feel to it.

Specifically for womenswear, the pieces for ex-season, were reasonably discounted and in a heel-starved moment, I picked up some S/S 08 metal-heel, printed/dyed Dries Van Noten shoes used in the show.  The tie dyed pattern is something I've been ogling via Nicole Farhi's current season heels and it was the metal stiletto that did it for me.  Hopefully it's broken the heel stalemate for a bit.  I'm working on training the ankle back up with these surprisingly comfortable newbies. 

Ice Ice Baby

The red sale signs have come down to make way for something fresh at Selfridges.. icy fresh... classical icy fresh...classical icy fresh with lots of tin foil, light sabres and silver foil leggings.  So ok, the displays for the start of S/S 09 at the deparment store isn't overly conceptual or pushing the buttons but it is a clean slate that wipes out any notion of troubles ahead; a blank space to ponder uncomplicated beauty... and it's my regular ritual to scope out their windows so here they are...

Chloe fitting in quite serenely... 

Vivienne Westwood menswear serves up hip baggage trousers...

Thakoon under the arches...

Miu Miu // Alexander McQueen

Maison Martin Margiela styled beyond recognition...

Alexis Mabille's S/S09 finale piece flanked by lions...

Ashish shimmers as it normally does...

Phillip Lim // Burberry Prorsum

Stella McCartney... at this point I was beginning to wonder whether Selfridges might want to donate their chainmail hoodies and give one to me...

A happy accident that Eun Jeong Hong (aka Go By A Secret Path)'s winning Fashion Fringe collection fits perfectly into this icy setting and probably gave impetus for the theme, because this particular window is by far the most impressive....

After a palatte cleansing S/S 09 refresher from  Selfridges, did I go forth and purchase S/S 09 with a rejuvenated mindset?  No, I bused it down to H&M and binged on some buy 1 get 1 free items from the sale for no apparent reason.  My New Year's Resolution to buy more of the good/right stuff, buy less of the unncessary shit stuff has so far been working out fantastically well.  It ain't even February yet!  Pah to new year's resolution...

Roll up, roll up for Doillon...

So this is old news which I've just latched onto and had bags of fun rehashing in my own way... it was reported that Lou Doillon was seeking out a location in Paris to open up her own concept store and it would open early 2009... I haven't a clue how this has been proceeding but I have taken her quote to heart...

“We’ll have a mix of fashion, literature, modern and old, with more of an English than French influence, and not conventional.”

...and have been imagining what sort of store it would be like and have come up with a shop that sold something along the lines of...

...all manner of vintage top hats which dear Lou is extremely fond of, the unisex yet playful men/womenswear of Yuko Yoshitake, Baptiste Viry's equestrian waistcoats, jewellery and straw hats to nochalantly perch on the head (whilst wearing denim dungarees, Reem Alasardi's vintage fabric creations, Obesity and Speed's slouchy tees to slide off the shoulders perfectly, Todd Lynn's Dickensian touches, Uncommon Matters strong porcelain collars, Arielle de Pinto's delicate threaded jewellery, actual dance shoes by the likes of Bloch and Capezio, flat lace fancies by Givenchy, a good array of battered leather shoes by Marsell, vintage crinolines to add a flash of colour or to peek out from underneath layers of Charles Anastase, Hermes scarves tied up in an assortment of ways as a tribute to Doillon's mother, a constant stock of Luella's S/S 08 cat masks that go so well with the top hats, Holgaroid cameras and film in store for people to snap the fun and hi-jinx that goes on in the store, lovely Etsy injections from I Heart Norwegian Wood (aka Angie Montreal...) whose jersey fringe skirt needs to be taken to cape/top/dress form, tea in vintage cups for everybody with a PROPER selection of infusions, a selection of Persephone books with wonderful inside covers...and...

...an early Noel Coward soundtrack playing on a gramophone...

This is of course pure fantastical tosh that probably bears no resemblance to the actual outcome (given that my imaginary shop doesn't stock the Doillon staple of Lee Cooper denim...) and yes, perhaps I am just not-so-secretly churning out my own shop fantasies...

Still, if Doillon is after a non-Parisian store, then I think the formula above does the trick...just pick up the phone Lou, and call me on +44 SHOP-CONSULT and we can have a natter about it...