thriftandthread

Heavy light

To add to my white furniture collection. Did you ever have to construct makeshift ’shelves’ from bricks and planks? I’d never considered constructing permanent furniture from bricks but I love this club chair and its perceived heaviness offset by the white finish.

//image: White Brick Club Chair by John Houshmand

8 February 2010 | 1 comment

Gown by Gareth Pugh

Late last year Gareth Pugh holed up for three days at SHOWstudio to create a one-of-a-kind dress. The entire process – from cardboard pattern to sewing – was filmed live. The final edited video is both abosorbing and revealing – showing the technique behind Pugh’s trademark slashing technique and his experimental, hands-on approach to design.

The finished gown was energetically modelled by Raquel Zimmermann. If this piece takes your fancy, you can purchase it from SHOWstudio for a cool £7,500.

//image: Gown by Gareth Pugh video at SHOWstudio

1 February 2010 | 4 comments

Prismatic shoes

These customised shoes were born out of a need to somehow hide the superglue repair job on my Melissa brogues (which split!) and my current fascination with mirrored shoes (think Giuseppe Zanotti). While hunting around for mirror tiles I came across a simpler idea: use chopped up CDs. Ok, so they are a little crazy – not to mention attention-grabbing shiny – but I like the way they glint in the sunlight.

//image: thriftandthread

27 January 2010 | 13 comments

What’s in your bag?

You can now follow thriftandthread with bloglovin’

//image: thriftandthread

24 January 2010 | no comments

Black as your soul

Sometimes it just has to be black. Even though the humidity has left you dripping. Even though you’ve been wearing black for the past three days and your boss thinks you’re a goth. It just has to be black. You know what I mean?

//image: Russh, November/December 2009 (my scan)

20 January 2010 | 3 comments

Sabotage

The word “sabotage” comes from the French word “sabot” and means “to trample with wooden shoes.” A sabot is a clog with a leather top. At the beginning of agricultural mechanization French farm workers threw their “sabotes” into harvesting and processing machines (which were taking their jobs), thereby blocking the complicated mechanics of the mowing and threshing machines and rendering them useless. For the sake of their labour, they engaged in “sabotage”.

So now you know! Doesn’t this sculpture look something like a steampunk version of Chloë Sevigny’s boots?

//image: Sabotage sculpture by Swiss artist H.R. Giger at sabotage.at

16 January 2010 | 4 comments

The dress

Remember my stencil t-shirt? This is the amazing vintage dress I won from Bitching & Junkfood. Constructed from acetate, the dress is surprisingly weighty in a nice kind of way and makes me feel impossibly tall and glamorous. There are flared pockets, shoulder pads, a high collar, concealed belt, v-back and a giant bustle-like bow not to mention the great splattered print. Can’t wait to wear it… somewhere!

//image: thriftandthread

13 January 2010 | 6 comments

Smashbox

I think a lot of people have been amazed by what has been achieved in Cami James’ graduate collection Smashbox. The collection has the uncanny ability to be avant-garde yet bang on trend and commercial at the same time. Clearly a sign of great things to come!

//image: Smashbox 2009 at DI$COUNT

10 January 2010 | 3 comments

Matted

I’ve been working on this for quite some time – an extension of the woven idea used on my previous black weave bag – and the holidays finally afforded the time to finish it off. The skeleton of the bag was made from salvaged vinyl (i.e. I destroyed an old bag of mine), ribbon and cord but the addition of tightly threaded feathery and knobbly yarns created its bouclé-like matted texture. The steer stud was an afterthought but it kind of works with the silvery scheme and… folk craft mystique?

I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year’s! Looking forward to sharing a lot more in 2010.

//image: thriftandthread

3 January 2010 | 10 comments

Spray it!

It’s been a while since I’ve messed around with stencils & spray paint. The catalyst for this one was a Bitching & Junkfood spread the love competition. I thought their grungy monochromatic logo was pefect for a stencil t-shirt… and so did they as I’ve been chosen as the winner of an amazing vintage dress! Will share when it arrives from the UK!

//image: thriftandthread

22 December 2009 | 2 comments