// Fade to #C5C5C5

Wapping Project & Moonshine Cinema

Last Saturday we went to The Wapping Project, a gallery/restaurant/bar=cool hang out place at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station on Wapping Wall. The place is hosting a BBQ with outdoor black & white movie cinema for their 10th Anniversary.

As you seen, the place is beautifully re-done. It was originally the local hydraulic power station and bought by this couple who was high in british theatre industry. They have kept the most features and made the place somehow not just a cool place but feeling warm, welcome and homy although you will be sitting surrounded by big machines.

With the soft early evening sunlight, the place looks so cinematic…

Candles were lit everywhere to soften the aged machines… …

…they have thought about every single little details… the rolling bar stools…

…the still water jugs seem to have their own lives… …

…and jars of cookies probably know most of stories about here?

love the coordination of rusty iron…sea green…soft grey and black table…

when you walk downstairs, even toilette area is a must-photograph zone… battered concrete wall with glass doors…

BBQ area is located outside, you have 4 different salads.

1. feta cheese – tomato – black olives – basil – salad

2. runner beans – beatroot – salad

3. big couscous – peas – celery – salad

4. cucumber – crunchy seaweed – radish – salad

Their extremely-crunchy-home-made bread is deliiiiicious!

For BBQ meat dish, you could have either Lamb / Prawns / Sardines / Sausages plus 2 types of salads from above.

If you are a vegetarian, you will have 4 salads. Total BBQ per portion per head was £12 which is very reasonable.

So here is the lamb…

…with Sardines…

…and giant tiger prawns… …yum yum!!

And the cinema showed a black & white classic called ‘Of Human Bondage’…I have to agree that all old movies are kind of confusing. Some of the plots and scenes are not so connected in our modern logic mind, but hey…the atmosphere was amazing. They have deck chairs and lots of cushions. My best advice? Take a blanket and lots of snacks!!

BBQ is £12 starts from 7pm and ‘Moonshine Cinema’ is £7 starts at 9pm.

All movie schedules until 28th August is as below:

Friday 6th Agugust – Timecode (15) 2000, Mike Figgis (97mins)

Saturday 7th August – Dark Victory (PG) 1939, Edmund Goulding (104mins)

Friday 13th August – Samson & Delilah (15), 2009, Warwick Thornton (97mins)

Saturday 14th August – Now, Voyager (PG), 1942, Irving Rapper (117mins)

Friday 20th August – The Unloved (5), 2009, Samantha Morton (103mins)

Saturday 21st August – All About Eve (U), 1950, Joseph L.Mankiewicz (138mins)

Friday 27th August – Sweet Sixteen (18), 2002, Ken Loach (106mins)

Saturday 28th August – What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (12), 1962, Robert Aldrich (134mins)

Magic Margiela

A couple of weeks ago on a sunny breathy Sunday afternoon I visited the Margiela exhibition at Somerset House. Maison Martin Margiela has been the iconic break-through artistic fashion designer since the 80s. In October 2008 MMM celebrated its 20th anniversary. This exhibition at Somerset House pays tribute to those 20 years and salutes one of the world’s most influential fashion houses.

MMM ‘20′ The exhibition is not a classic retrospective exhibition. It’s probably the best fashion exhibition I have been to. I will show you the reason slowly…

One of the most remarkable characteristics of Maison Martine Margiela is its consistent use of white, or better said, all possible shades of white, in the collection, in the interiors of its offices, shops and showrooms and even invitations. I have previously blogged about the new released perfume ‘Untitled’ which was in a white medical-look-a-like bottom.

MMM is especially known for its deconstructivist approach, its fashion shows in unexpected places and its taste for recovery and recycling materials. Entrance hall has a projection of catwalk video in front of a line of statues of ‘Tailoring / Shoulders’. The shoulder is an important element in the MMM silhouette.

Tabi boots have also become one of their most iconic objects. They are inspired by Japanese tabi which are ankle-high socks with a split for the big toe and are worn with traditional Japanese sandals. Tabi boots has the split for the big toe from pumps to platform sandals to boots.

More details and images after the jump…

» Read the full post

Tags: Burberry, Maison Martin Margiela

20 mins Research of…

I really love the pronunciation of Rodarte — Ro-daaa-tay. Can’t name why,  Maybe subconsciously it sounds like ‘Roald Dahl’ and maybe it sounds like a franco-dutch word. I guess it’s just like someone’s a natural-born beauty, this word is a natural born sound-good. But it keeps bugging me, why the talented fine-arty-literature-studying sisters chose this name as their brand’s name??

After a solid researching of 20 mins on-line….(yeah, I really didn’t think it could be that hard to find normally and I know this time is including reading through articles and articles)…I eventually found the answer on an interview on vogue.it. It’s from their mother’s name Rodart, which is an old latin-french name and they add E at the end, just make the whole word sound more artful. (you can read the full interview here.) (and I also wonder since when using their mother’s maiden name become a trend? Proenza Schoulder is also a combination of the 2 boy’s mom’s names.)

During the whole research process I noticed that the sisters have just launched the new menswear line. Although a few pieces only, but totally adorable (same as the price).

Then I realized the famous (or rather infamous) gown worn by Keira Knightley a few years ago  of which appreciated different critics is also by Rodarte.

Then Rodarte, Joyce HK and Unicef collaborated together 4 outfits to raise money and all 4 outfits are inspired by 4 different movies by most influential artistic actress Maggie Cheung. (Very clever move, if they’ve chosen other actresses, i wouldn’t look at the sisters in the same way.)

From the movie ‘Hero’…

From the movie ‘in the mood for love’…

From Maggie’s early year movie ‘Heroic Trio’…

From Cannes Film Festival winner ‘Clean’…

Rodarte’s story is like a modern legend. Their style is futuristic and post-apocalyptic (modern – tick). Within a short a few years, Rodarte fast becomes world famous by mainly spreading out by internet bloggers (modern – tick). Although they started with choosing celebrity as their media-carrier at the beginning, they certainly has won Anna Wintour’s favour with the first 10 piece collection. Rest of all is already history. With the world spinning so fast and many old fashion houses are struggling, Rodarte will become a major part of new blood and a house name to nowadays fashion world.

Tags: Cannes Film Festival, Clean, Hero, Heroic Trio, In the Mood for Love, Maggie Cheung, Rodarte

More Fantasy than Reality

It has been a while that reality TV shows being occupied in people daily life since a decade ago when Big Brother introduced to our life. Then came the pop reality show in 2002 which brings onto another level. I couldn’t agree more when I read the quote somewhere recently refers as ‘reality TV shows bring people back to human-to-human / human-to-beast arena fight around the Roman time’. However, after nearly a decade of pity fight in all kinds of angles, the reality recalls our basic instinct as human being, looking for a hope. And the ‘hope’ which was the last thing remained in Pandora’s box generates more fantasy thoughts.

In 2010, we see fantasy taking in all different art forms, from movie to fashion to illustration.

Avatar is no doubt the number one fantasy sci-fi movie for 2010. The colours (especially the deep crystal blue), the technology (new camera technology evolved just for the film), the message (save the planet)…all of which are quite fantasized.

Then never mention the upcoming Alice in Wonderland. Trailer sounds like a sequel story of Alice ‘returning’ to the Wonderland.

Alexander McQueen brings back the imagination of lost land ‘Atlantis’. The alien-reptile print, the hoof shoe, the titanic heel…

McQueen SS10 show

Clothes become more dreamy for Spring/Summer 2010. Vogue UK February 2010 reports the ‘Pretty Chic’…Natalia Vodianova is looking fresh.

Fashion editorial and illustration are focusing on this romantic power too.

Vogue February 2010 issue

and that reminds me an old illustration I’ve done back in the university.

and again…discovering Reed and Rader’s portofolio

and illustration from Banshee Beat

At the end this simple point of view slowly formed in my head—Reality is from human’s nature and fantasy is from interactions between human intellectuals and the surrounding environment.

Tags: Alexander McQueen, Alice in Wonderland, Atlantis, Avatar, Banshee Beat, British Vogue, Fantasy, Fashion Illustration, Natalia Vodianova, Reed and Rader, Romantic

tokyo through one guy’s lense

there is always something about Japan or let’s focus and zoom into Tokyo. You are living in a city like kaleidoscope.This blog that I have recently been eyeing on is by this chinese guy living in Tokyo. Obviously a fashion media lover, got tons of magazines. He/She had taken a photo to show the stags of mags from floor to ceiling and claim that’s only 1/5 of his/her collection.

I have no idea whether he/she’s an art student or working there, but his/her photography skill is very detailed and vibrant coloured, slightly reminds me of Nick Knight. (look into those night club photos he’s taken, the people are cosmopolitan and mixed with East-London-grunge and New-York-glamorous)

The blog is a mix of street fashion shots, night club people catch shots and artistic object shots. I found street fashion shots are quite inspiring with details into the clothing and accessories while night club shots are great to feel people’s mood which also helps designers to re-think about human’s feeling while designing.

Well…enjoy it…and I’m sure you will, just like me.

Tags: club shots, street style, Tokyo

Art-inspired fashion

Designers taking inspiration from art is hardly anything new.  One thing I find really fascinating though is how different the outcome of different people’s interpretation of the same piece of art can be. One of the most famous examples of “fashion-inspired-by-art” is probably Yves Saint Laurent’s day dress from 1965 inspired by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian’s work. Earlier this summer I was watching the video of La Roux’s Bulletproof and in the video she is wearing another nice Mondrian-inspired piece – a jacket from Jean-Charles de Castalbajac’s Spring/Summer 2009 collection.

One of my favourite Mondrian-inspired collections though, has to be Norwegian design duo Batlak & Selvig’s spring/summer 2009-collection. Click >> here for a video of the fashion show which was held at Galleri Riis in Oslo in August 2008.

For those interested in reading more about Mondrian-inspired fashion, please check out this blog post by John Coulthart. In the post he also links to another great blog post on this topic by Couture Allure.

Photo source: Galleri Riis

Tags: Batlak & Selvig, Jean-Charles de Castalbajac, La Roux, Piet Mondrian, Yves Saint Laurent