Fabulous Fashionista

For her birthday celebrated at the Saint Pancras Hospital gallery, Sue asked me to make a little performance so I made this "present dress" covering my glitter dress with empty parcels recovered by red gift wraps (the only I had at home). 

During the performance, I was singing Happy birthday and offering the present on my dress to the audience. But inside it was just crap gift like a little plastic piggy, a little doll hand or nothing. Then I took from behind the table a box of Crustie fruit that I have hidden, giving it to Sue. 

But actually inside the box I put my gift to Sue, a golden baby birthday holding a cake necklace". It made me think about the performative aspect of offering present. Birthday and celebration generally speaking are always stage in a way and the best present are not always in the best boxes! 

Amazing painting of Sue and Me as "the birthday girl" by Elton Darlo 

Gillian Horsup about my earrings: 

"I admired her earrings which she had made herself out of jelly sweets. She said she had tried varnishing jellies but it did not work very well. At least she could eat these on the way home if she was hungry!" 

I like the concept of eatable jewel! I had them for dessert on the day after! 

I also made a birthday hat with a barbie legs coming out of a parcel. 

On the 18th of november, Sue organised the screening of the documentary Fabulous fashionista, really inspired not about ageing of fashion but about expressing yourself and make the most of your life,  inspiring and really revitalising.  

The film maker Sue Bourne about her documentary "The film’s called “Fabulous Fashionistas” but it’s about a lot more than that

Really, it’s about life and attitude and spirit. The station wanted to call it “Aging Gracefully,” but it’s also not about aging gracefully. It’s about the opposite – it’s about being individuals." 

Because of the title "fabulous Fashionistas" and because the documentary is about older stylish women I chose to wear my favorite vintage dress with dolls stitched one. 

MC GaffE, the great live artist  was also attending the event.  I made her a necklace with a little gaffE barbie face,trying to  reproduce her characteristic orange hair cut and her unique crazy face paint. 

2 GaffE's face on an a crazily colourful body! 

Sue asked me to make an alligator necklace for her because of the Urban legend of the alligator living in  New York .  

Sue telling about the story of the the Sewer alligator. 

The original story was that wealthy families would return from vacation in Florida and ignore the laws in New York City, bringing multiple alligators with them as pets for their children. The time frame of this tale is rather vague, but it most likely originated in the late 1930s. When the alligators grew too large for comfort, the family would proceed to flush the reptiles down the toilet"

Of course, I integrated some barbie on the necklace and I am pretty proud to have created a new mythological creature, especially for Sue's bestiary, the Mermaid Barbie alligator of the Croco-dolls necklace! 

Melusine the snake woman and mermaid in the Odyssey, create your own mythology! 

I also included the mermaid element that Sue love. 

"While editing and working on her 27th cookbook late one evening, Sue remembers picking up a marker and drawing a mermaid on a piece of scrap paper". 

It's like the crocodile version of the Melusine snake woman legend and also in the Odyssey, Mermaid are not only fish tale but are also half women and half birds. 

I came the day when GaffE and Rubbish Fairy had a photo shoot at Sue's house, with amazing tribal head pieces made from junk and beautiful objects. 

picture by Richard Kelly

picture by Richard Kelly

picture by Richard Kelly

My necklace around Sue's House, It's great to feel that you leave a part of you in this wonderful place, even if you are not physically there.

I am really happy and honoured to present my work in Cult Moutain

Cult Mountain 

"We are a concept community based organisation dedicated to supporting and promoting new artists from our base and the vital spirit of Shoreditch, East London.

Cult Mountain is dedicated to finding and exposing the finest emerging talent in all artistic fields, Cult Mountain - NEW ARTISTS EMPORIUM is a Concept Store, Cafe and Gallery, showcasing the work of these fantastic and original hand-picked artists." 

picture by Edge photography 

Cult Moutain exhibits amazing artists and unique creations. They organise party where I always feel underdress!

With the fabulous fashion designer Anto Christ 

My showcase in the gallery

And if you are not in London, find some of my creations on my online shop: 

Safe & Stylish

pictures by Simona Zemaityte 

Because of he title of my blog and my way of life I felt I had to create something about cycling with style.  

People are always asking me "did you cycle like this?" For me, it's not because you are cycling that you have to renounce of  certain style, as long as you are not wearing white flare trousers or pencil skirt there is nothing which can stop you from cycle. 

This is ugly, but come on Karl why you didn't turn it into something fashionable?  I want my Chanel H.V jacket! 

High Heels Designed Especially for Cycling

My friend send me this link "Heels to cycle in! Obviously, they've never met Anne Sophie." 

I mean this is SO UGLY.

Catherine Baba My role model  model for associating elegance and cycle! 

I am always in heels I don't have spare shoes, I just have spare heels, just a little bit more comfy. 

I changed my bike recently because the pedal was too low and the heels were reaching the ground, so I don't choose by shoes because of the bike but the bike because of the shoes.  

It is actually more easy to cycle in heels than to walk in heels, actually I started wearing flat shoes when I got my bike stolen and I have to walk long distance.  

For the Hand-bag performance of Geraldine Pilgrim at the Open East festival this summer, I collected a lot of H.V jackets that we had to wear for for security reason before the official opening of the park. 

I am always doing my project according to necessity. Material always come first, I wouldn't have made this dress if I didn't have this HV jacket in stock. 

I wanted to show that you can be safe and styled and tried to make something elegant and couture with something that is essentially ugly, a "fashion punishment" commonly associated with unfeminine element worn by builders  security guards… 

this dress is like a butterfly! the princess HV jacket 

pictures by Simona Zemaityte 

Halloween -chic & creepy

pictures by Simona Zemaityte

I know it has already been a while but let me introduce you my 2 halloweens costume, (why having just one when you can make two?). Halloween is the greatest time of the year because you can be dressed in the street without anyone questioning it, you can be sit on the tube next to a zombie or queuing at the supermarket just behind Jack Sparrow.  

My only rule in my manifesto for Halloween costume is "it has to be scary. Not like in "Mean Girl" when Lindsay Lohan says" In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it." Don't go for the "easy solution" just by adding fake blood on normal outfit  to turn it into an Halloween costume but be creepy and creative.  

I had all theses theses plastic insects that my Mum found for me in charity shop and I wanted to use them somehow.  So I created the costume of the fabulous witches,  A scarily baroque character. I did a lot of experiment with golden spray but it wasn't drying (apologies to my flatmate for all these sticky gold insects agonising on the worktop of kitchen for age on plastic bags. finally I it worked with gold acrylic paint. 

Elsa Schiaparelli insects necklace

Insect collection, taxidermy & cabinet of curiosity

Lanvin, inspired by insects, catwalk AW13

With Simona we went in the abandoned cemetery with in Mile End, a large area of woodland with derelict grave where the nature took back her right in a really peaceful atmosphere. 

pictures by Simona Zemaityte

Halloween imagery has its own mythology with its emblematic characters like the corpse bride, sleepy Hollow, Dracula…With "Lady hairy" I am pretty proud because I invented a new character from my own mythology. 

I embodied Lady Hairy for the interactive performance "Monster in your Mind" directed by Dalia Yassine in collaboration with the Event Design company Rocking. 

You know hair-dresser but Have you ever seen a hair-dress?  

..Well it have been done by a couple of artist 

Lady Gaga, who experimented with every materials possible in garment

My favorite designer Castelbajac, FW/09

During the performance I was walking to the audience giving them some scissor and inviting them to cut the hair on the dress. Basically it was for me a re-enactment of Yoko Ono's cutting piece. An aspect already explored with my friend Yueer Zhang in her Flower dress show. 

But instead of cutting piece of fabric, the audience has to literally cut hair but not for the head but for the dress. I guess the surprise come from that the hair are at a place they shouldn't be. 

The idea was to get an "evolutive garment" that changing along the performance materialising the durational aspect of the performance. 

Like Yoko Ono piece says about her experience, it is quite scary for both side because you rely on other people. A woman started actually cutting my head piece and my hear, a girl cut the hear of the dolls and the shoes that i didn't think people will cut and inside I was thinking "Nooo….not the shoes..but you have to stay impassible in" characters" in order no to ruin the performance 

Hershman saw Cut Piece in terms of “feminism, violence, and risk”It deals with voyeurism, gender subordination, and violation of a woman’s personal space. 

It is really interesting for a performative aspect as Yoko Ono says "Instead of giving the audience what the artist chooses to give, the artist gives what the audience chooses to take. That is to say, you cut and take whatever part you want". 

"In the Sixties clothes were very important to me because I had so few. But when I performed Cut Piece I always made sure to wear my best suit. It was the total offering." 

I could feel it because at some point a girl went cutting my hat and I didn't think someone will cut that, so I was secretly dying inside "not the hat" but I had to remain impassive, in a "performative mood". 

It always draws something out of people. At Carnegie Hall, it seemed to draw violence out of the audience, like a poison. It is a frightening piece to perform. Very tense, but I wanted to show that we have to trust each other. If I’m going to say that, I have to do it myself. I have to trust people myself. It could be a bit dangerous.

Catherine Goodwin performing the psyco-bride wearing my dolls hand necklace

"Anne Sophie: everyone thinks I say 'it's because I'm hairy' instead of 'because I'm Aires' so I made a hairy dress."

I stitched one by one some barbie heads with long hear on the leather of my shoes, it had a double function, shoes and at the same time sweeping the floor! 

For some jewel I am using just the face of the barbie but I don't like throwing stuff away and waste so "rien ne se perd, rien ne se créé, rien ne se perd, tout se transforme"?  So was keeping all the barbie scalp in a box. 

When I was talking about my idea of making a dress with it  some friend they had a repulsion reaction so I thought it would be a really good Halloween costume. 

I guess it deals with the rejection of the organic of the body. What is the most disgusting thing that finding a hair in your food when you are at the restaurant? 

I was stitching directly on myself the hair on the dress and all the family of my roommate come into the flat, to say hello so I hide myself under a large jumper to come and say hi. 

"she doesn't look really artist", just her brother noticed some hair hanging from my skirt, and for one second saw that something was wrong... 

pictures by Simona Zemaityte

My golden dinosaur necklace

Nothing to do with that but this is an article in the French magazine (Brittany) Le Télégramme about my work

...and the cover of Time &Leisure magazine with my jewels styled by the designer Florina Moss

Find all the jewels of the shoot on my online shop