A PLACE WE CALL HOME

WE LOVE GAGA

... and Jonathan Ross is pretty cool too. Hilarious interview!

WONDERFUL ONESIES

I am so excited about getting into my new Seventh Wonderland swimsuit (pictured) that I got through my lovely friend Emma at P U B L I C L I B R A R Y.

The Summer 09/10 range titled 'Bijou's Escapade' is simply gorgeous. Made from high quality Italian fabrics, these cossies are super comfortable and can be worn as outer wear with your favourite denim cut-offs as well as wearing them to the beach, obviously. Although I'm rather hesitant about wearing mine to the West Coast – black sand would most definitely be my enemy.

Come on, summer. Where are you?

www.seventhwonderland.com

FALLING INLOVE ONLINE

We flirted with each other for a month or two. 

I waited tentatively for one week, hoping – praying – that we would be a good fit.

Turns out we were.

xxx

 

PHOTOSHOP RESCUES UNSEEN PHOTO

My father (pictured above), among many things, is a photographer. Go up into the attic of my family home and there you will find hundreds of Ilford Photographic Paper boxes full to their capacity with black and white prints and sleeves of negatives.

The other day Dad was having a tidy up and he came across a strip of negatives which he didn't recognise. He scrambled out in search of a good light source to penetrate the acetate and reveal the images it held.

It bared some old photos that he had taken as an 18-year-old. Among them was this self-taken photo sitting in the back of a car wearing a suit and tie with shoulder-length hair and a moustache.

But there was one frame on this negative that revealed nothing – too underexposed to allow the light to reveal it's secret. It virtually had no image.

Intrigued to find out what this 35mm rectangle was hiding, he scanned the negative and then heavily played with some adjustment layers in Photoshop.

It resuscitated this image of my mother, aged 15, standing in front of her family home in Ranfurly Road in Gisborne. Dad took this photo after they had just met. The roses around the perimeter of the yard were planted and cared for by my British Grandfather whom I never met.

A lot of photographers hate on Photoshop these days, claiming it is slowly "killing" photography. To some extent I agree. But in this case, I am very grateful for Photoshop's capabilities and how it revived such a beautiful and innocent photo that my father took of my mother when they first met.


Thanks, Photoshop.

NOT OF THE NOBILITY

Photos: Tim White

COMMONERS_ALIKE
Winter 2010
By Jae Mills

MAD ABOUT MADGE

Simple, I love Madonna. Watch this video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVI_PvdEBT4&feature=related

ODE TO THE CRANBERRIES

I was just listening to Dreams by Fleetwood Mac on YouTube, and what do I see on the side panel of related videos but Dreams by The Cranberries.

I eagerly took a trip down memory lane...

I reminisced over Zombie, Linger, When You're Gone, the slightly more hardcore Salvation and then lastly I came across Ode To My Family. You know the one... "dooo do do do, dooo do do do..."

I don't remember ever seeing the video clip. Or maybe I did but my 12-year-old self obviously didn't appreciate how awesome it was and be able to recollect it 14 years later. And who ever knew that Dolores would bring "singer-in-a-band" envy upon me now! She is so cool in this video!

I kind of owe my determination to learn the guitar to The Cranberries. Zombie was the first song that I taught myself by ear. Em, C, G and D if my memory serves me correctly. With my cassette player blaring in the background for the lyrics and a little distortion added on my amp, it sounded just like it! I was one well-chuffed knock-kneed 12-year-old ready to start a band.

'Preface' I think we were going to be called...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xf5ZlTlrgw

VELVET, LACE & THIGH TAPPING

Fleetwood Mac are coming to New Zealand, to Taranaki to be exact, and the news and successful purchase of tickets (they sold out within minutes!) has created some very excited girls amongst my peers. Myself included.

The "Naki" is about a 5 hour drive from Auckland. This amount of time on the road in a car loaded with friends, iPods and a guitar is almost as exciting as attending the concert! Yes Mums, we will drive safely.

See you soon, Stevie babes!!

R.I.P BLESS

BEAU-TIFUL

Carrie Cooper, hailing from London for the past eight years, with previous incarnations as footwear designer for Eley Kishimoto, Bernhard Willhelm, and Alexander McQueen for Puma, brings forth Beau Coops as her debut solo collection. Made in Italy and inspired by her former East London neighborhood ‘London Fields’, the unisex Beau Coops label embodies what the designer calls ‘boyfriend chic’ - reminiscent of that special piece borrowed from a loved one, that makes you feel just ‘so’ when you wear it.

Extract and photos from Beau Coops Lookbook

BEAUTY IN THE BANAL #1

TOILET FIXTURE

Photo by Jaimée Clapham

MASTER COMMUNICATOR

I wasn't even considering attending Semi-Permanent this year due to the hefty ticket price of $250. That was until I discovered that graphic design great David Carson was in the Saturday line up.

It's a bit of a cliche that most young graphic artists, myself included, boast that Carson is their favourite designer. My 7th form art teacher introduced my design class to him during bursary and pretty much everyone tried to imitate his innovative style with wayward typography overlapping a fractured photograph. Or if you were short on time, a variety of different typefaces kerned out all over the show with lots of "white space" always brought home some good marks.

Teacher: "Hmmm, this seems a little unfinished to me"
Student: Well actually, Sir, all these areas are purposeful "white space".
Teacher: "Oh. That's very David Carson. Good work!"

David Carson is an American graphic designer who is best known for his innovative magazine layout design and use of experimental typography. Carson is considered one of the most influential graphic designers of the nineties. His signature style lead to him being dubbed the "father of grunge"

So with that in mind, I will eagerly be rocking up to the Aotea Centre clad in plaid and ripped jeans to sit there quietly and listen to a master of visual communication.

HEDI SLIMANE / MC ISSUE 23

What can I say? Hedi Slimane is a genius. He is probably one of our generations most influential talents.

He has however been pretty quiet over the last few years after leaving the LVMH group in 2007 where he was the creative director for seven years and in charge of re-shaping Christian dior.

So we haven't really heard much from Slimane of late so I was pretty exicted when I picked up the latest copy of Monster Children magazine to find one of his photos of Kate Moss on the cover. (In my opinion one of the best MC covers yet!)

Hedi Slimane's photo's are amazing. They have a real identifiable look and I am always fascinated at how he captures the subject matter so well.

There are some great examples of his work in the mag and also a good little interview. You can also check out his work on his website

www.hedislimane.com or www.hedislimane.com/diary

A note though, not all magazine outlets will have this cover due to Kate's exposed breast. So the best thing to do would be to pick it up on line or from a specialist book store.

Check out Monster Children's site for more info www.monsterchildren.com

SWEET LITTLE LIES

We love White Lies. And if you love or have loved Interpol, Joy Division (lead vocalist Harry McVeigh's voice has been compared to that of Ian Curtis and Julian Cope of The Teardrop Explodes), Editors and even The Killers, then we are sure you will love them too.

White Lies are a British alternative rock band from Ealing in West London. They played their first gig at the beginning of 2008 in the East End on the other side of town under the new name White Lies (they were formerly Fear of Flying) at our old local Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, right on the hem of fashionable Shoreditch.

Upon the release of their debut album To Lose My Life, White Lies became the first British act in 2009 to achieve a number one album, and the first album to debut at number one.

Last Saturday Harry, Charles, Tommy and baby-faced Jack treated fans of all ages (there were a lot of baby boomers hanging out on the outskirts of the mosh pit, probably due to the Joy Division similarity) with a dark but uplifting performance at Studio on Auckland's colourful K' Road.

We're no music critics so I will stop short of a review. But we thought they were amazing... what we can remember anyway.







PHOTOS © JAIMÉE CLAPHAM
Saturday August 1, 2009
The Studio, K Road
Auckland, New Zealand

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE

The very first post... where does one begin?

Isn't this where I'm supposed to showoff my extensive vocabulary and comprehensive knowledge of all things cool all the while trying to not come across like a complete twat (rhymes with bat)? And all in one paragraph?

Well, I can tell you now my vocab isn't very hot, I quite often get my sayings mixed up and I'm a terrible speller. Apologies in advance.

Luckily my other half is a bit of a wordsmith, knows a lot of great sayings (thanks to his grandfather) and... is worse at spelling and grammar than I am.

All this aside, we love a lot of things – each other, friends, travel, food, film, music, clothes, shoes... And just for, well no reason at all but because blogging seems to be what everyone is doing, we decided to share all the things we love both as a couple and individually.

Why?

Because LOVE'S FREE.