Christian Louboutin at The Design Museum, London

This evening I went to the first UK retrospective of the work of living legend Christian Louboutin. It was an unusual retrospective, due to the fact that the contents was far more recent than feature in most fashion-related retrospectives. Louboutin's relatively short exhibition spanning 20 years were mostly filled with recent designs of his from the past several seasons. 

For instance, the spike shoes, which have sparked a recent trend for adding spikes to bloody everything.

Of course I found it predictably delicious all the same.

As far as I'm concerned, his shoes are purely sculptural. I can barely walk in 3-inch sturdy ankle boots, let alone the 5-inch stiletto "Pigalle" pumps that are apparently the designer's bread-and-butter... I also, crushingly, lack the legs required to complete the 'Louboutin effect' of exaggerating and emphasising the wearer's already beautifully shapely pins. 

Much of the writing on the walls (literally) spoke of his inspirations, and views on the life purpose of shoes. He, famously, was initially drawn to the effect of high heels from watching showgirls perform in Paris, dazzling like brightly coloured Birds of Paradise, with their glitzy-feathery effect stunning him into a seemingly lifelong, all-consuming leg fetish. 

There was even a section explicitly for his "Fetish" series. Louboutin reasons that there are shoes for running, shoes for dancing; why shouldn't there be shoes specifically for the bedroom? Not made for walking, but made to elongate the legs and accentuate the - according to Louboutin - extremely sexual instep. These shoes, with barbed wire, with heels longer than the foot itself, with metal shackle straps, were accompanied by photos of the shoes on large screens creating a dark, kinky, maze-like feel. The photos by David Lynch, are blurry atmospheric shots of naked dancers, chosen specifically for their shapely feet.

Another interesting feature was the remarkable 3D holographic show of Dita Von Teese in a burlesque dance short, an homage to his early inspiration taken from the dressing rooms at the Folies-Bergère. 

There was also a very sweet short black-and-white film featuring the designer himself - where he goes to his shop and daydreams of performing a dance on stage, where him and his accompanying dancers are wearing his shoes, the only bit of colour coming from his famous red soles. 

There was another section which set the scene in his workroom, one of the things that really encouraged me in terms of design environment - apparently Louboutin despises empty spaces, believing them to be paramount to a prison. He collects and fills his workroom with bits and bobs from his travels that he likes and that inspire him. This gives me a new angle when defending my incredibly messy house: "It's INSPIRATIONAL. I need to be SURROUNDED by my creative influences!"

Louboutin's sketches even demonstrate his preference for aesthetics over comfort; half the time the ankles look broken in an eerie/statistically accurate premonition.

The main space of the exhibition is laid out like a lavish shoe shop. The friend who accompanied me was so suckered into this image that the "Do Not Touch" signs preventing her from trying them on elicited small growls of frustration. 

My favourite shoes featured were the Guiness can heels (inspired by a conversation about recycling), the Rolls Royce shoe (not only amusing and clever, but beautiful too), his cut-out designs:

   

his lace "undressed" style shoes:

and his "Mexibeads" shoes:

Louboutin's shoes are exquisite objects designed for exquisite people. They are works of art that are: astonishing, inventive, witty and unique to the designer. Most featured in the exhibition are for looking at and cannot possibly for wearing on  a regular basis. (Despite what the very precocious pair of twelve year olds were loudly exclaiming as they pranced around the exhibition). Unfortunately, as my friend pointed out, they are very surely moving into the reality TV domain. They are worn by Kardashians, by Desperate Scousewives even! This alarming turn of events needs to be stopped before the brand goes from Dark, Mysterious and Alluring to Loud, Obnoxious and Trashy.

Aside from that, the most important thing I took away from the exhibition was a sentiment expressed by Louboutin; that the most important design of a shoe, is not the object itself, but how it makes the leg look. It's a simple and obvious statement, but it is one that's easily forgotten. 

When applied to hats, I must remember that the most important thing in the design process is to ensure the hat flatters the face of the wearer, rather than upstaging it.

My Great British Menu

This might seem completely random and off-topic, but then, so am I.


I am currently engrossed in Great British Menu, and being a genetically-disposed foodie, I decided to imagine my own menu. If I suddenly start sneezing pound sterling, and wake up magically knowing all the techniques involved, I might attempt to cook a course or two.


Starter: 3 sweetbread ravioli (medallion-shaped, obvs) with rocket and apple-cider-vinegar-marinated seaweed, plum jelly cubes, morel/sweetbread juice and morel smoke (a la Roca brothers). Small, shallow, rectangular perspex/glass dishes with matching lids. Think a cross between a Ferrero Rocher box and a standard plate cover. 

        


Ish.




Fish: Great British Ceviche! Fresh raw Coley, cockles and crayfish marinated in lemon juice and set in a tarragon jelly (like jambon persille), cut into slices and served with sage/chili crispbread and some grated red onion and daikon. Served on a ceramic round plate made to look like yer average white paper plate.

(Daikon is a white Japanese radish that looks like this:

but one usually sees it like this:

or, if you're a Miyazaki fan like me, given life to as the Turnip Spirit from Spirited Away:

Main: Wild garlic-smoked wild boar medallions with wild boar head cheese/brawn and bone marrow croquettes, parsnip mousse, grilled baby turnips and gailan with blackberry gravy and mead vinaigrette. Served on a very shallow black slate podium, with the medallions in the gold spot, brawn in the silver and bone marrow in the bronze. Veggies scattered and smeared around the base and sauces in two thin glass vials standing on either side, with flame-shaped stoppers.

Gailan -

Dessert: Rose and water-chestnut (jelly) cake with rose jam and mini banana spring rolls with sea salt caramel sorbet. Plus little sugar-coated rose petals of course. Rose popping candy? I LOVE ROSE FLAVOUURRRRR. Served On a flat, black, laquered, square plate to show off the pinks and caramels.



Whew. Now I have that off my chest, time to watch the next episode!


  

  

Black Milk Clothing

A few Saturdays ago I went to the Experimental Cocktail Club in Soho (http://experimentalcocktailclublondon.com/ ) on a date (*enter silly childish noise made by my housemate here*). The guy was lovely, and was thoroughly approved of by my friends when we joined up with them afterwards. The cocktails were good, and pleasantly different to my usual vodka tonic served in a plastic cup (try La Medication), but when the bill came I suddenly remembered why I usually order the former.

However, the best discovery of the night was the waitress. Her legs, I mean. Or rather, what was covering her legs.

I couldn't take my eyes off her most fabulous of leggings, and I just had to ask - even if it was just to let her know I wasn't a creep. She directed me to this:

http://www.blackmilkclothing.com/

An online shop, started by an Australian designer called James Lillis that sells stretchy nylon clothes - mainly leggings, but also swimsuits, dresses, etc. - in absolutely fabulous prints! I'M OBSESSED!!!

I still can't work out which I like most!

Aurora Skye Leggings?

The TETRIS leggings??

or - OH MY GOODNESS WOW - the Jellyfish Swimsuit.....

If you have a look at their "Museum", you can see all the incredible things they have produced in the past: http://www.blackmilkclothing.com/collections/museum

There are faaaar too many awesome items here to pick out individually, but obvious stand-outs include: The Great Wave Swimsuit, with the famous Japanese print by Hokusai;

the Sharks vs. Mermaids swimsuit; the Mucha series; the Clouds series; the Dali, Koi vs. Samurai and Caterpillar swimsuits; the Jellyfish leggings; THE LIGHTNING LEGGINGS:

OH MY GOD THE LIGHTNING LEGGINGS.

Damn, those are cool. And they're gone forever :(

Also, any of those prints on a catsuit = automatically fashion gold.

I love catsuits.

And in the time it's taken me to faff around and publish this post, a substantial amount of the products have moved from the shop to the archives. This brand is selling very very fast, I'm guessing it's one to watch - it's going to be huge!

Hatwoman

I AM A MILLINER. I AM. NO, REALLY.

I made the decision to go into millinery almost with a shrug and a non-committal "Meh. I could do that..." After acquiring a Bachelor's degree in Art History at the University of Nottingham, I, like most of my friends, was nowhere close to knowing what I wanted and millinery seemed as plausible an option as any. But as I've progressed over the past year, learned the basics, gained experience and begun to develop my own style, I've come to realise - I fucking LOVE IT.

It all began, as it often does, with My Mother. She decided a couple of years ago, suddenly and without warning, that she should start wearing a hat every day. In part because it was more flattering, and partly because it doubled as a tool to disguise yourself in plain sight. Unfortunately now, as one of the only regular hat wearers in Hong Kong, that second point has probably been rendered null and void. At first I thought she was just asserting her right to be a little bit odd, and I chuckled and went along with it. Now, of course, I realise she was ahead of the curve. As per usual. Or, depending on how you look at it, waaayyy behind the curve. People gave up wearing hats on a daily basis in the 1960's, when the fashions at the time began to focus on hair and the shapes created by stylists like Vidal Sassoon. Indeed, the millinery industry has mostly survived on the back of traditional events that require wearing hats; weddings, races and the like. As a being that puts little to no effort into taming her hair/mane, or care when applying make-up, hats are the simplest and most fabulous solution, darling.

After a short while, it dawned on Mother Dear that it was nigh on impossible to find quality hats in Hong Kong, and she needed to take matters into her own hands if she was going to be Odd But Cool. She dreamed of a magical place, a place where fashion pilgrims could come and stand in awe at the heretofore unheard-of collection of beautiful, sculptural, functional, bizarre, but all hand crafted, completely individual pieces of millinery. April 2010: the dream becomes a reality. If you believe this to be an exaggeration, go check it out for yourself - HATWOMAN, SHOP 209, MAN YEE ARCADE, 68 DES VOEUX ROAD CENTRAL, HONG KONG. And if you're not lucky enough to live in Hong Kong, take a gander at the website: http://www.hatwoman.hk/eng/index.html

This astonishing and sudden move by Mother Darling simultaneously seemed idiosyncratic and made perfect sense. Ever since retiring from soliciting - hee hee - I mean lawyerdom, and during the years she was a foreign office spouse to My Father, she had visualised several business ideas that she would occasionally vaguely pursue. Until Hatwoman, none of these venture seedlings ever developed further than the germination stages and when she finally followed through, I was delighted. Proud. Inspired.

I've always been more creative than academic; I think it was obvious from the get-go that Big Bro had acquired all the brains in that department... The memory of Mama trying to teach me to read springs to mind. I believe she worried that if I was having trouble reading Ant and Bee at the age of two, I would be destined for a life working behind the counter at a fast food chain. So, when Hatwoman opened at the long-awaited close of my academic career, I knew instantly that millinery would be something I would enjoy, and something that I suspected I might be good at. This statement, even now, when I have been making hats for a year, still feels uncomfortably cocky.

However, whether I myself am good or not, the subtle power of hats is undeniable. Wearing them continues to be edgy and unusual - people today seem to believe that it requires a certain amount of confidence. This is not so - while wearing a hat attracts more attention, it can also be used to either create a flattering light on your face, or as a shield to hide completely, if you're in that kind of mood. Hats can be used to make you confident. Mysterious. Coy. Invisible. Alarming. Anything you want.

After a year, and for the foreseeable future, I remain in love with the fashion, the art, the design and the creation that makes up the millinery world. And My Mother remains my inspiration.