I woke up with a real craving for a US-style breakfast on Friday, I was specifically craving Ella’s skillet eggs. I don’t think I will ever forget them, not least because I was out of my mind on jet lag when I ate them, but also because the hearty combo of eggs, potato, peppers and cheese was the best way to start the day. When I was over skillet breakfasts seemed to be all the rage, second to oyster bars on the New York food trends.
It’s the perfect dish to use up all all that slightly dodgy end of the week veg, I used a sad-looking courgette and some over-ripe tomatoes but you can vary the recipe according to what you have lying around. You need a really good nonstick pan, because you want all the lovely crsipy bits of potato and bubbling bits of cheese to go onto your plate, not stay stuck on the bottom of the pan.
Ingredients:
3 small potatoes, courgette, 4 mushrooms, 2 tomatoes, shallot, spring onion, two eggs, cheddar. Herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Serves two.
Method:
Cut all your ingredients into small chunks, including the cheese. Parboil the potatoes and then drain and salt. Heat some oil in a skillet or heavy bottomed pan and fry the potatoes. Do not stir too much, you want the potato to get all crispy and browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
Fry the shallots, add in the mushrooms and courgettes and cover to cook through. Once the courgette is soft stir in the tomatom spring onion and cheese. Then make little dips for the eggs to sit in and crack them into the pan. Cover and allow to cook until the eggs are done.
Serve with hot sauce and buttered toast on the side. For a totally authentic Yank experience make yourself a weak coffee with half and half (a mix of cream and milk), cheers!
This is the second Studio Visit of the year and another South London label, Moxham (I’m not biased, honest!) Madeleine Moxham designs what she calls ‘wearable construction’, bold but simple statement accessories. I went to her Camberwell home to find out a bit more about her…
Does the creative gene run in the family?
My mum went to art school when she was younger and dropped out for various reasons and is a Social Worker but she does lino cutting and that kind of stuff, my dad is a doctor. There’s three of us, daughters, my older sister is an architect and my little sister has graduated in set design. None of us got the doctor gene!
You’re from London but you chose to study in Leeds and Nottingham
I’ve lived in London my whole life but now I do feel like Leeds and Nottingham are both a bit like home. My friends are here in London, so I thought if I stay here I’ll just hang out with the same friends. I’m really glad I went away, I don’t regret it in any way. They’re lovely to visit and it’s just nice making connections, in February and March going back to Nottingham to do some workshops and lectures with the MA group and I’m going back to Leeds to do talks with the students.
I soon realised you’re only going to get as much out of it as you put in. A lot of people on my course were there to have a really great time, which was fine because I was there to have a really great time as well, but I realised quite quickly I was serious about it and wanted to do as well as I possibly could. Some of the things that they were showing us to do, the way to draw or whatever wasn’t quite the way I worked, for some people that was stressful, whereas if you just worked really hard and came to it in a different way then it didn’t matter. My teachers were no longer saying ‘you haven’t done it, you haven’t ticked these boxes’.
It was a really nice learning curve when I realised I could do things in a roundabout way so when I did my MA I had quite a lot of confidence.
Tell me more about your MA
I actually did MA Decorative Arts, which is a rubbish title but I said I’d like to make constructed jewellery and accessories, what course should I do? You can use the sculpture and fashion studios so it didn’t have the limitations. Before that I came back to London and I worked 6 months for Aquascutum, which was really interesting. I was pretty much always at a desk, there was a lot of practical know-how, range planning, going up to their factory in Corby, doing fits there which was amazing.
Then I went to work for Felder Felder, in their house in West London. I was probably there for 5 months, by the end I was kind of in charge of the team, it’s a small team but it meant I’d be making a press piece, another day I might be going to an exhibition to look at some spring summer inspiration, when I was leaving I helped interview for interns, 100 people turned up! They were snaking out of this West London flat.
Again, I look back at that time, the amount that I learnt from being at a small company, you learn a bit of everything. I then moved to Nottingham and worked for a branding agency, and thought ‘this is totally unrelated’, but in terms of what I learnt, fantastic. We worked with really big clients like Carlsberg, it taught you to meet with people who are kind of terrifying but it’s a lot about presentation as well. Managing to put down information and digest it and help with rebranding their logo or whatever. Which is why when I did the MA it was really important for me to look at branding and the whole.
How did you come up with the brand and the logo?
I started using my name on the blog and it was working quite well, visually the M and the X are really strong. I love Aesop’s work, it’s so unisex and international and I don’t want to have that feminine boutique feel, I wanted it to look more international. So I worked with a branding agency on the logo. I wanted it to be geometric shapes, monochrome, Rodarte and APC typography, all those things together you can see. I love the repetition of my shapes to make something quite simple and wearable, you build it up to make a statement piece.
How did you get started and selling? Bengt saw me at new Designers and got in touch just as I was finishing my MA which was a great learning curve as well because I had to think about pricing delivery times etc. They were brilliant, I started working with them quite small but now I’m selling really well through them and they’re lovely. For LFW we’ve got some exclusives that will be interesting. For London Fashion Week there’s gonna be some accessories I’m gonna do, some specific colourways, target some bloggers who want to push it further. I’m going to be doing some oversized bags and accessories for Spring Summer.
I’m not a particularly conceptual designer, I’ll sit and work things out I really like it and go back and compile things contextual research, but generally it’s sitting down and working it through. I think it’s something to do with the people I want to design for, who aren’t necessarily a certain age. You’re not just going to put it on and forget about it. I hope to introduce a selection of clothing down the line anyway, when I’m designing it a see it as a finished product, how I would style it.
Which designers inspire you?
I love the aesthetics of Acne and the Scandinavian look. I love the branding of APC and things like that because they’re pared down and international and not too boutiquey. In terms of designs I love Rodarte, they’re incredible, the Ricardo Tisci stuff for Givenchy is also incredible you can’t even comprehend the craft that goes into it. The kind of woman they’re working for is very stylish but not too feminine, really contemporary even if they’re using old-school techniques.
Who is the woman you are designing for?
It wouldn’t necessarily have to be age-related, I did a quick shoot with my mum on the blog to show it doesn’t really have to be a specific age. When I studied design they said ‘don’t design for yourself’, but I do now design for myself and my friends because why not? And the way my friends wear the pieces is really interesting, what they do with it, how they style it going out.
Age doesn’t even apply anymore really, the kind of person who will wear my stuff is going to wear it whether they’re 20 or 50 because they’re the kind of pieces that have longevity. Kind of like Celine, who make beautiful clothes that are simple but not at all faddy.
You’ve got a blog on your site, what is it about the medium you like?
I get lots of emails from lots of different people, and it’s lovely to get feedback and hear other people’s point of view. Certainly because we’re all on the internet and have blogging in common, you always communicate with people and are thinking of interesting projects to do.
Marni’s Winter Edition is a smorgasbord of textures and prints, I love it. It’s slowly kicking me out of my classic/minimal phase I’m in at the moment, otherwise known as ‘I still haven’t properly unpacked all my clothes’, I want to tear things out of my wardrobe and pile them on with lashings on bold jewellery. Really loving eccentric old lady moment the fashion world is having, I can totally get on board with that.
I’m particularly enamoured with the sheer coral business going on up top, but also mentally configuring tartan possibilities. Severely crushing on the flat DM-like ballet shoes and the gold bow pumps up top, swoon.
BTW - Everytime I think of Marni I get a mental blast of the O’Jays much-sampled song ‘For The Love Of Money’, and start singing the word Marni along to all the ‘money’. Anyone else? Anyway, here are the O’Jays doing their thing on Soul Train:
‘Karl’, the new range by Karl Lagerfeld conceived especially for NET A PORTER was launched yesterday at their Westfield offices. The range is quite classic, with a base of hi-shine fabrics in silver lamé, sequins and wet-look. Classic tailoring is given the Karl touch with shirts, tuxedo-style jackets and carrot-leg trousers.
Humourous pieces like the collars and tees have little Karl motifs, a profile shot of sunglasses and backcombed ponytail. In my Catwalk Queen days we loved Karl Lagerfeld so much we had a weekly Karl quote. For fans of Le Lagerfeld this is a great way to pick up a piece of Karl and with prices starting at £50 there’s something for everyone. The collection launches worldwide on the 25th with events in Paris, New York, Berlin and Sydney, find out when Team Karl is coming to your town here.
If you missed my interview with the lovely Teatum Jones duo you can catchup here, or read on for a Q&A and a sneak peek inside their studio.
Fave biscuit for the studio:
Coconut Macaroons!!!
Least fashiony interest/fact about you:
Both grade 8 musicians. Rob is a trained pianist and Catherine is a trained flautist and classical singer…sshhhh!
Favourite designers/influences:
Influences…anthropology, completely fascinated by the study of human behaviour and how we physically and emotionally react to varying situations.
Favourite designers:
Le Corbusier and Cristobal Balenciaga have got to be quite high up on that list!
Guilty pleasure?
American Horror Story on FX…both of us are totally addicted!
About half of my friends seem to be Aquarius and we kicked off the first of the birthdays this weekend with choice ales and musical candles at Cask in Vauxhall.
When a chef offers to cook you dinner you don’t say no. We were served up some gorgeous fish, leeks with mussels, samphire and some purple carrots that tasted of toffee. Definitely some good inspiration for future recipes.
A Saturday trip to the Salvation Army was a total revelation, there were masses and masses of the most incredible dresses, all handmade. I tried to find out who had owned these incredible frocks but no one in the store really knew, such a shame I could totally see these dresses in a museum. If you’re medium to short and a size 6-8 get yourself down there pronto.
After a few days of eating nothing but burgers all you want is some green veg and some brown rice. All you have to do is blanch the beans then fry off with black sesame seeds and garlic, then add a little soy. So simple and tasty!
Giselle made this incredible stout and chocolate cake for a birthday, it’s a Delia recipe so inevitably a little lengthy (sifting flour onto parchment?) but the stout gives it a really moist texture and a dark base note to complement the chocolate.
Whenever I go swimming I have to get out my bright blue swimming cap avec chinstrap, fetching! It’s pretty noticeable at the pool and starts a lot of embarrassing conversations but anything that keeps my delicate ears dry and lets me get a swim in if fine by me, even if it does leave a lobotomy-like scar across my forehead when I take it off. NOICE.
This Pathé video showcases some of the best swimming caps I’ve ever seen, they put my humble bubbly cap to shame. Rosettes, aces & hearts, flowers and even fake fringes (so approve of that one!) I’ve got some serious swimcap envy.
To kick off 2012 I’m doing a series of Studio Visits, meeting established and up-and-coming designers. Starting things off in style, I met up with with London duo Teatum Jones who were recently picked up by Liberty and will be coming into their fourth season.
Catherine Teatum and Rob Jones take a wonderfully meticulous approach to their work, everything from the drinks served at their presentations to detailing on clothes is infused with their conceptual vision and it was a real treat to be given some insight into their creative world.
To help you get into the Teatum Jones world I’ve pasted the beautiful podcast from their SS12 presentation, just press play and we can begin…
How do you approach each season’s theme?
Catherine: Rob will start to develop the playlist, it’s the score to the film, the show, the story we tell. It’s a very filmic approach. I’ll write a treatment and do a semi-script of who the woman is, that is the concept.
Rob: We have a conversation, we start talking about, like last season was about 1950s women and being repressed. That was a turning point which led us to Revolutionary Road, the Richard Yates’ book and then we obviously watched the film. That was the initial starting point, then I started to find all this doo-wop music that had this rock n roll, uplifting feel to it but when I started looking at the lyrics of the songs they were really melancholy. Because they were sung in a very 50s candyfloss kind of way when we played it to friends they said ‘oh it reminds me of jukeboxes and diners’ then when we showed them the lyrics they would say ‘that’s really heartwrenching’.
C: I think that’s something that’s almost a signature to what we do. Our signature approach to design to the collection and to the brand, we often deal with subjects that may on face value be uncomfortable and it may look dark but we always represent it in a polished way.
C: The criteria is that it has to be chic, it has to be grab-able, desireable, it has to be wonderful, but if you want to buy into the story there’s so much concept behind it. We can go on for days talking to people about the Revolutionary Road and that side of it, but what we’re also understanding is that that woman wants a stunning dress, she wants that dress to be on it’s own credits.
R: We try to start with this concept and story but in the fittings and toile-ing stage things really move on. You can have these ideas and you go there, but once it’s in 3D we start to pull back and refine things.
C: Everything has to filtrate into every piece, that’s daywear, show pieces, the more selling pieces.
R: For us it’s a subtlety thing, we quite like to be cryptic. The Autumn Winter print from last year was kind of like a floral, a powerful print but it was warheads. If you want to see it from a distance and you want to buy it because you like the colour, that’s great for us. If you’re interested in the story it’s there as well. What we’ve found is that so many people do ask…
C: People have said ‘I really love it, but there’s something there’, they didn’t know and it’s great for them to get that sense of something else.
R: When someone questions something, like ‘why is that pocket just out of reach of my hand?’ There’s two sides to it, when the fitting girl her fingers were in it and she was playing with it but then also the reason was that it’s a mens’ style jacket and things being just out of reach.
What sort of work goes into your presentations?
C: We spent half a day deciding the gels and the lighting, to get the right atmosphere. It had to be a hazy afternoon, it couldn’t be a cold morning light, we had to source the correct gel colour, and things like that are equally important.
R: Even thought the collection was ready a month before, we spent a month with our music guy and getting the cocktail right. It wasn’t just a cocktail, we searched and got Justin Bowles a top mixologist, we were thinking ‘how do we go about recreating that period?’
C: It was strong!
R: To blur out what they were going through you could be a socially acceptable alcoholic, not drunk, but this I’m not happy in this lifestyle.
C: That being such a glamourised thing but it was really sad, they were really depressed. It is still glamourised, there is something twisted in that how we still do that. We very much love the idea that that woman, whatever she was going through at that time, if she was having an argument with her husband, if she was baking, she would kind of look in the mirror and coif herself. It suited the print and the whole feel of the presentation. We wanted everything to have this serene, glazed feeling.
Your clothes aren’t completely concept-driven though, there’s also obvious craftsmanship
C: We make with the same people who make for Victoria Beckham and Roland Mouret, our tailoring is made by the same people as Hardy Amies, it’s old school Savile Row. We’ve got such a passion that finishing and detailing and it’s the luxury level inside of garments, little details.
R: When we were doing menswear for so long, we said to her our tailored pieces are quite masculine, with menswear you always get such amazing finishing details, you have this tiny stitch that protects a vent, you wouldn’t even notice but it’s those things that men notice.
C: They give us as much knowledge as we give them, it’s a joy to go and sit with them. Last week we brought them all the new stuff and took them through everything and within that meeting we came up with different ways of finishing things because they’re coming to you with god knows how many decades of doing traditional Savile Row tailoring, it’s brilliant. It gives us that balance of telling a story but respecting the craft and having the vision to want to create collections that will be able to hang on a hanger and be stunning pieces of clothing.
Here is part two, as I mentioned before Rachael has got 2K12 exhibs totally covered, but these are the ones that I personally want to see. Apologies if you don’t live in London, but hey! At least your taxes aren’t paying for the Olympics for the next few years amirite? LOL. Aside from the art-rants there is also some exciting beauty news below, and if you missed part one, it’s here.
Art
Yayoi Kusuma
Yayoi Kusuma pretty much invented the polka dot, ok she didn’t, but if Wikipedia was still down you’d could be forgiven for believing me. The Japanese artist has been going strong since the 60s with her repetitive meditative work which very often features the polka dot as a motif but this is her first big retrospective. She’s a really interesting person and it’s definitely worth a visit. Yayoi Kusuma, Tate, from 9th Feb.
Jeremy Deller
Jeremy Deller is probably number one in my top art throbs, his work is totally genius and epitomises that art idea mind-explosion that makes you go OOOO. His past work has included Acid brass, where a brass band played Acid House classics and a re-enactment of the Battle of Orgreave with former miners playing policemen. For his Manchester Procession he got a steel drum band to play Joy Division covers and even more ‘boss’ — as they say up there — things like getting Goths and Emos to walk through the streets. Read more about it here, the man is basically a genius.
Anyway, where was I? The Turner Prize-winner is getting his first retrospective at the Hayward, it’s a great chance to see his varied work in one place. Joy In People, Hayward, from 22nd Feb.
Tacita Dean
Dean is in my top five art throbs for sure and her ‘FILM’ piece at the Tate has drawn comparisions to 2001: A Space Odyssey so on that basis I’m saying you should go: FILM, Tate, until 11th March.
Christian Louboutin
Something a bit less arty and a bit more fashiony, Christian Louboutin has a major retrospective Design Museum this Spring. As well as SHOES the exhibition also showcases the production methods and store concepts. No brainer. Christian Louboutin, Design Museum, from 28 March.
Beauty
Miss Piggy for Mac
MAC are really hitting their stride with collaborations at the moment, after scoring total life hero Iris Apfel, art throb Cindy Sherman and masterstroke Gareth Pugh their latest collab is Miss Piggy! Too good. Available from Feb the collection consists of false eyelashes, felt-tip eyeliner and a piggy-pink shadow.
Meadham Kirchhoff nail wraps
I didn’t know Meadham Kirchhoff’s amazing nails from their last show were going to be made available to the general pubs until I stumbled across them innocuously perching on a table at the Boudoir PR press day. The British duo have collaborated with Nail Rock on a set of fanciful designs which would look great as an accent or as a full set. Amazing. Have you seen nail wrap number 8? Ha. Exclusive to Topshop you can get your mitts on them from mid-Feb, just in time for LFW.
2012 is here and you know what they say, great minds think alike. In a similar vein to Rachael’s exhibitionerama post I’ve been stockpiling Things To Look Forward To In 2012. Great name huh? Anyway, finally at the end of Jan here it is in all it’s glory… Part two, Art & Beauty is here.
Fashion
Topshop X Julia Sarr-Jamois edit today!
JSJ is such a such style icon, the words do get bandied about a bit but she’s definitely up there with Yasmin Sewell and Taylor Tomasi Hill. Looking forward to having a blissfully quiet wander in TS’ Edited section when I’m in town on Saturday to see it for myself.
Marni X HM 8th March
This isn’t breaking news, but more a reminder to mark your calendars as Marni are collaborating with H&M on a collection due out in March. As a total Marni fan I have to say this is the H&M collaboration I have been looking forward to the most. Sorry Donatella.
Hobbs Invitation SS
Occasionwear makes me break out into a cold sweat, all I can think of is ribbons of tonged hair and shiny tan tights but Invitation, Hobbs’ new formal collection is actually pretty good. I can’t help my inner wedding misfit though, as I’m getting a hankering to wear the black(!) suit to the next nuptials I go to…
Farfetch.com Superstore 2nd Feb
Charles Anastase, Natalie Joos and Hannah Marshall (illustrated above) were among the 12 tastemakers picked by Farfetch.com to select their favourite boutiques across the world. The resulting shortlist was thrown open to the vote and it’s now down to Merci in Paris, London’s Primitive London and Voo in Berlin. You can find out which boutique is the Superstore in a matter of weeks!
Y-3 SS
I’m a bit of a party pooper when it comes to big organised events, I was cycling round Holland when the Royal Wedding happened and I’m not exactly clamouring for the Olympics to start. Y-3′s black Union Jack totes are a great way to subtly fly the flag without getting all ‘Vindaloo’ about it and the Oriah heels well because have you seen them?
Uniqlo X Laura Ashley (& more!) Feb
At Uniqlo’s SS12 press day they revealed some cracking collaborations coming up, the only one I can reveal now is the Laura Ashley UT collection which if you haven’t seen it is the epitome of English summer prettiness. Keep your eyes peeled for more exciting collabs coming this Spring.
Hermione de Paula at my-wardrobe SS
Hooray for Hermione! my-wardrobe are going to be stocking the British designer this season, this comes hot on the heels of news that the etailer are planning to go international with their website.
Aldo Rise SS
Aldo have teamed up with Selfridges to offer shoe fans the chance to snap up designs from JW Anderson, Preen and Mark Fast in a collection of footwear which hits stores this spring. I’ve totally fallen for Preen’s pixellated print slingbacks, they’re clean-looking with a dreamy print and futuristic block heel but the rest of the collection doesn’t disappoint with bicolour heels from Mark Fast reminiscent of his knitwear creations and some great ‘hairy’ heels from JW Anderson in mixed materials.
PSSSTTT!
Here’s some teaser news for the coming year…
-YSL‘s arty ring, a favourite among bloggers, is getting makeover for Valentine’s day. No pictures yet, but start dropping hints now!
-Fashion East designer Maarten van der Horst is working on a collaboration with Topshop which will hit stores in April. Uh huh!
-To celebrate their 10th anniversary Lanvin are releasing an exclusive book, again, no images but I just know it’s going to be a good ‘un.
Recent Comments