The Swelle Life

Dior Fall Haute Couture...Things Have Changed

On Monday, the house of Christian Dior presented its first haute couture collection without John Galliano. We all know why. At this point, even dogs know it, so I won't go into it.

Names for an illustrious replacement have been tossed around. But for now, the house is dealing with the situation as Alexander McQueen did with Sarah Burton and have promoted the second in command to the lead designer role. Bill Gaytten got to do what he wanted for Dior this time out. I suspect he was behind the previous few collections as well, under Galliano's direction or creating in the style of to make it appear so. Who knows. Fashion is a glorious illusion in all kinds of ways.

At first glance of the opening looks, there's no doubt which brand this collection represents. The sharply feminine Dior silhouette that celebrates the tiny waist with those full flirty skirts is alive and well, but that seems to be a ploy to ease us in before things take an unfamilar turn. It's clear someone is trying out a new vision.

Style.com's Tim Blanks identifies three architectural influences, two of which I can plainly see as they're quite literal:

The Memphis movement of the 80s

A Frank Gehry skirt with the Memphis movement accenting the look in Stephen Jones' pastel pink sphere hat which is total fun

And I'm guessing as to where Jean-Michel Frank figures in, is it within the texture as opposed to structure?

  

And here's where things boomeranged in a new direction before returning to quintessential Dior style in a finale of those voluminous ball gowns (above). I think an entire collection like this (below) would have resulted in even sourer faces in the seats.

Then things went pear-shaped. Tim Blanks described the most awkward conclusion to the show:

"Then came Karlie Kloss, dressed as a Pierrot, sad clown all alone in the spotlight as the soundtrack failed and glitter showered down. But the stardust missed her by this much. And that felt like some kind of crazy cosmic metaphor."

 

Was this spectacle meant to be a replacement for, or distraction from, Galliano's famous end of show bow? Surely. And it may have worked, if it worked!

Seems a certain ghost is having a play at Dior.

Photos from Style.com

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: ACTOR TIM POTTER

Tim Potter would be a glorious Mad Hatter. He is creative, experimental and intensely loyal to his craft, he seems to relish in a challenge, having played many diverse roles over the years. He was just as at home playing Captain Hook in Finding Neverland (starring Johnny Depp) as he was portraying Spanish genius and serial lunatic Salvador Dali at the Royal Court. He stretched his skills even further playing Blanche DuBois in a production A Streetcar named Desire.

I met Tim at the Carlisle College of Art in the 1970s, we were both in the foundation course and became friends. He was striking, intelligent and hilarious. We had to do a bit of everything, and when Theatre came around Tim and I were in the same group. As luck would have it, it was Panto season. To my humiliation and horror I was chosen to play the Princess to 200 screaming kids twice daily for a week of torture. I was overweight, not pretty, a party animal and it was the eve of Punk. I was poured into an ugly Laura Ashley smock dress, hairpiece and make up that would have horrified the worst drag Queen. Tim played a brilliant Dick Dastardly type villain that was so scary one little boy had an accident when Tim went into the audience. As I climbed reluctantly up a wobbly high scaffold tower, stuck my head out of the "window" and cried help, one kid went as far as to shout "I wouldn’t marry her if you paid me!"

It was in this Theatre that one lunchtime I found Tim playing, very loudly, a fantastic record by a band called The Sex Pistols, and before I could say "Anarchy" I was hooked and soon morphed into "Looby”, the bow-loving colourful punk, egged on to be more OTT by Tim and his childhood friend Richard Ostell. When we went home at weekends we went to Maxim's disco in Barrow where once a week they had punk night. If the bands turned up (in those years it was always if) they would play to a handful of people - Tim and friends pogo-ing madly and Richard and I posing.

When Foundation finished Tim and I headed South - Tim to the Central School of Speech and Drama me to Ravensboune which fortunately was near Bromley, the town that the infamous" Bromley Contingent" which included Siouxsie, Steve Severin, Billy idol and Philip Salon, had put on the punk map. We had great nights up in the West End and at Croydon Greyhound. One afternoon, Tim and a friend popped a note through actor John Hurt’s door (he lived opposite) inviting him for coffee, and to their amazement he came and was just great. What a gent, what an actor! He was filming the Elephant Man at the time and told them David Lynch had shown the cast Eraserhead on set.

One of the last times I saw Tim in person was at a soiree celebrating his birthday held by his friend Rupert Everett at his flat in Chelsea. Tim was sitting in a rocking chair dressed as Miss Haversham, full of great expectations. (HA couldn’t resist!) That was the last memory I had of him until recently when we got back in touch, so very Tim. I spent many years living out of the country and so we had lots to catch up on. He told me that around 1979 he was a member of Acme Acting, explaining that the troupe would take the play to people’s homes. I was so interested and asked him if he would write a piece about his experiences way back then. He did and sent me some fabulous, startling pictures of himself in some of the productions he has been in. Enjoy!

Judith (as 'Looby') with Tim Potter (far left) and Richard Ostell, 1977

Over to Tim Potter...

Tim Potter as Captain Hook in Finding Neverland, 2004

ACME ACTING performed plays in people’s homes. That is, we used the whole of the house, and the audience followed us room to room. The doorbell rang, and that was the start of the show. In Psycho, Norman Bates would enter, showing his guest, Marion Crane, around "The Bates Motel", i.e., your flat. Speaking dialogue from the movie, he'd fix her a snack of milk and cookies from your fridge, and chat to her over the kitchen table, with you watching, sometimes inches from the actors’ faces. When Marion took her shower (Marion was me, in black 1950s corset and knickers - well, I lacked the required female "bits"), I remember one householder, in a panic, begging us to stop. She got really freaked out. We didn't stop. How could you stop in the middle of a murder? In fact, we generally had the upper hand in the house, running up and down stairs, rifling through drawers and "personal things", using cutlery, serving up meals. The main shows, Psycho and Streetcar Named Desire, were played as realistically as possible (despite the inherent absurdity), so audiences ideally would be moved as well as amused. It was helped by being acted in real rooms and hallways, and peoples' homes took on a new dimension as backdrops to the drama. Your washing machine might go into a spin cycle, noisily interrupting one of Blanche and Stanley's scenes in Streetcar. Your pet dog might get very friendly with Norman Bates’ leg. Would you ever sleep soundly in your bed again, after witnessing Stanley rape Blanche there? (to the sound of jungle drums.) Would you ever step into that shower again? We left fake blood on the bathroom tiles, and people with a whole host of cracked memories.

ACME ACTING were Jim, Tim and Louis, recent graduates of the hated (to us anyway) Central School of Speech and Drama, a very conservative place. We needed to rebel against that authority (they'd expelled our friend Rupert Everett, so what the hell did they know?) and the youthful mood of the times was punkish, experimental, in a way perhaps unknown today. Our theatre company reflected that. It was a surprise hit, having a life of its own, and we performed to a lot of thrilled audiences - although it could go wrong, and I'm thinking of one Psycho to a solitary lady and dog in a council flat, where the performance was greeted only with a depressed silence. Ah, well...

For Tim Potter's full acting credits go to IMDb. Tim now lives in Brighton and is writing a children's book - perhaps a copy will find its way to the child of the child Tim scared all those years back? Alas that we will never know but in true dramatic style let’s assume it will!

    Tim Potter and ACME ACTING in i-D magazine

Tim, Jim and Louis of ACME ACTING

Apocalypse Now

Psycho

  Psycho

ACME ACTING photos courtesy Tim Potter; photo of Judith Frankland by Denise Grayson

  Judith Frankland wears a top, skirt and earrings of her own design. The perfect transition outfit for busting out of the convent.

BALENCIAGA HEARS THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Act 1

That was the description given to my graduation collection by a very generous journalist  back in 1980. My name in the same breath as the Spanish genius Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972) and my beloved "I want to be a nun when I grow up" film The Sound of Music - how fabulous! I accepted the comparison and compliment with delight - after all, I'm only human! My graduation show at The Cafe Royale in London was attended by some of the most glamourous faces from the Blitz and the Head honcho himself, Steve Strange. Thanks to them it was received with an enthusiastic cheer! I was told years later that Vivienne Westwood was there, this was before the McClaren-Westwood Worlds End collection had been unleashed on an awestruck London.

My small collection was predominantly black and white taffeta, brocade, velvet and satin.The black and white striped satin had embossed polka dots in turquoise and yellow in two different sizes and widths; it also came with a tale or perhaps a tall story . The delighted salesman who brought the bolts up from the basement of the shop in London "especially for me" proceeded to tell me that this fabric had been created for the Rolling Stones some years back for a tour and this was the last remaining yardage. With glee I didn't hesitate to say "I'll take it all" and the story, to this day I don't know the truth, but then again I still believe in Father Christmas!

THE VEIL AND STEPHEN JONES

 On the day of the show, my Mum who had travelled down from the Lake District with her friend was backstage with me while I nervously put the finishing touches to the frocks. Today, at 81 years old, she still recalls seeing a rather unusual looking young man coming towards us. He was wearing a suit complete with knickerbockers and ballet style shoes with bows, carrying what turned out to be the crowning glory of my ultimate piece, the black Wedding Dress. This gracious and polite young man was Stephen Jones who had kindly created this architectural wonder for me. This veil headdress was made of stiffened lace on a metal frame and was simply amazing. Who would have thought at that moment that a few years later he would be hailed as one of the world's greatest milliners? Hmm...actually anyone who came into contact with him or his work knew, it was so obvious. The dress and veil was to be worn by the beautiful statuesque model Sheila Ming, possibly best remembered now for her role in the Duran Duran video for Hungry like the Wolf.

After the show, Steve Strange contacted me and bought the dress and veil along with a couple of other pieces. One was a medieval-style taffeta jacket he later wore on the cover of the Visage single Fade to Grey. One of Steve's friends Vivienne Jagger bought the opera coat with striped polka dot lining and a huge stand up collar.

THE BLITZ, DAVID BOWIE AND ASHES TO ASHES

The icing on the cake however was the night David Bowie came to The Blitz searching for extras for his new single which would be named Ashes to Ashes. In a wonderful twist of fate, Steve was resplendent in the wedding outfit that night and was chosen straight away. He was also asked to select people he felt could be right. I believe designer Stephen Linard had been asked but due to pressing circumstances was unable to partake. I was invited as was Darla Jane Gilroy over to the table where David Bowie and his P.A. Coco were sitting and offered a glass of champagne. Darla and I were both dressed in a similar ecclesiastic style and were also asked to take part for what at that time was a decent sum of money for penniless, decadent students. We were told Coco would call us the following day with the details. I awoke with a jolt, seriously wondering if this had all been a dream. I chose to believe not and sat at the door of the "palatial" bedsit for hours waiting for the communal upstairs phone to ring so that I could sprint up in time to catch it. When the call finally came, I was instructed to be outside The Hilton the next day at some ungodly hour, fully dressed and made up the same way I had been at The Blitz, and to get the coach to a secret location.

  That wedding dress from Judith's graduate collection with the veil made by Stephen Jones

 

Judith performed in David Bowie's iconic Ashes to Ashes video along with three of her Blitz friends, including Steve Strange who wore her wedding dress and veil in some of the scenes. Judith is on the far right in the first screen cap.

When we arrived at the beach near Hastings, the crew was set up and David Bowie greeted us dressed in the Lindsay Kemp outfit he would wear that day. He coached us for a few minutes on the words we were to mime and then the day was spent in sinking sand and mud. We had "done well" we were told at the end of the day and asked to come to the studios in Wandsworth to shoot another scene. May I add that at the studios David Bowie had lunch with us mere mortals in the canteen. Yummy. The scene we were to do at the studio involved an explosion and I was at the back. In fact if you look at the video you can see my crucifix swing in. We were told to duck out and run after we had mimed our piece or we could be hurt. This was difficult in a hobble dress, so I hoisted it up as high as I could and got ready to run. Quite a sight for the superstar sat behind me. It took about three takes and we were done and told we could stay to watch the rest of the filming and that we should tell no one about the details of the video. It was all very hush hush.

The night it aired on Top of the Pops I was working at Hell (another Steve and Rusty club - more about that next week). As I had to get there early I would take the tube alone, a daunting affair. However, this particular Thursday I was wearing the outfit I had worn in the video, totally unintentionally. I was recognised by some people who had seen Top of the Pops and ridiculed by others, as usual. But it was worth it. To this day that video still interests and intrigues lots of folk. It was at the time the most expensive video ever made and the song went to Number 1, perhaps we should have bartered for more money. The mileage I got out of that collection had only just begun and I was an established New Romantic.

Adieu for now from this Old Romantic who will never be a nun.

Judith, who was known as Judi back then, had pieces from her graduated collection featured in Viz magazine where it was described as '"Balenciaga hears the Sound of Music'"

Special thanks from Judith to David Johnson for "reviving the mucky 30-year-old slides and bringing them back to life." The photographer who shot them was Niall McInerney.

Header photo of Judith by Denise Grayson.

Come back next Tuesday for Act. 2 - with more delightful (and some bitchy) surprises!

Judith Frankland's Wonderful Car Boot & Museum Living Room

Judith's mother and aunt in 1955.

The first time I walked into Judith Frankland's living room I was taken aback. I had never seen a room like hers, ever. There are knick-knacks, or tchotchke as Judith likes to call them, everywhere you look - rainbow colour, texture galore, kitsch - and personal photos and artefacts from moments in fashion history I've only read about. I was in awe. I was just getting to know Judith, we'd only spoken on the phone before that day and the sight of her flat told me there was a heck of a lot to explore with my new (then) platinum-haired fashion designer friend, and it wasn't going to be done in one afternoon. It took about thirty minutes before I'd absorbed enough of my surroundings to be able to settle into it, I could not stop looking around. I found it a challenge to engage in conversation which says a lot as Judith is so full of fascinating stories.  A year and many visits later I'm still noticing curiosities on the tables, the walls and the shelves. And I'm still hearing new stories.

She has a pink microvave. She doesn't use it. Her kitchen is a bit like a 1950s version on acid, and the bathroom is lushly decorated with marine-themed objects. Of course it is.

There's a method to the madness. A quick glance around might have you thinking 'A crazy lady lives here' if you're devoid of imagination. Take a closer look and you'll see that's it all arranged quite meticulously and is dust-free. These are all things that she or someone who well knows her aesthetic leanings has picked up at flea markets and car boot sales, including her TV. She loves nuns and The Sound of Music. She has an original Sex Pistols t-shirt from Seditionaries, they were printed inside out, as well as the handkerchief. Not the fake kind Damien Hirst unwittingly paid thousands for, poor chump. These were made by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood on their kitchen floor and somehow they remain in her possession; Judith's had many things stolen and even left some at John Lydon AKA Johnny Rotten's flat one time. Considering how much Judith has moved around in the last 30 years it's really a wonder anything's left.

And in case you're asking 'Who is this Judith character?' see her blog Frankly Frankland here or in the sidebar for a closer look.

  Judith has the first issue of Anarchy in the UK, pubished in 1976. That's the whole newspaper in there and she's offered to let me have a look and take some pictures of what's inside. Oh yes, please! You can't see this and not ask 'Who's that on the cover?' It's Soo Catwoman, a well-known figure from the London scene of 1976-77, the period we now know as punk, although as Soo says on her website it "defied description and didn't get its name for quite some time, having taken everyone by surprise." And as you can see, Judith is a fan of Tupac. Yep, she loves him. That's what great about Judith, you can't shoehorn her into a label!

The original Sex Pistols handerchief. I didn't ask Judith if she ever blew her nose on it.

There's the Sex Pistols t-shirt, among other items. That terrifying looking thing on the shelf is a form for making ventriloquist dummies. She sometimes helps out a friend who makes them by creating tiny little outfits with matching hats.

 
That's Judith in one of her designs, that fantastic skirt.

 

Judith designed and made the outfit featured on Visage's Fade to Grey single cover, worn by her good friend Steve Strange. The blond man with the glasses was also a friend, I believe he was in an 80s band and I'll check on that. He passed away. Judith lost a lot of friends to AIDS in the 80s.

  One of Judith's many abilities includes incredible flexibilty. Or maybe they're mannequin legs.

Her coffee table. It is under there.

 

 
 "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the pinkest of them all?"

 
 
 
 

Photos by Denise Grayson

Summer Re-run: Steampunk: Mr. Technology Meet Ms. Romance

Originally posted May 14, 2008

This is the last of the Summer Re-Runs. I'm back on terra firma Brittania, jet lagged and in need of a shower. I look forward to being lucid in the near future.

Love your iPOD and flat-screen TV but have fantasies of gearing up in Victorian corsets and crinolines, maybe throwing on some old aviator goggles? If that mix of antiquity and cutting edge feels incongruent, don't shy away just yet - you don't have to make a choice for fear of appearing hypocritically ingenuous. You may in fact be an ideal recruit for the Steampunk movement.

Steampunk is, most simply defined by one enthusiast, as 'the intersection of technology and romance.' A more encompassing description according to Ruth LaFurla of The New York Times, states it is "a subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world, one that embraces music, film, design and now fashion, all inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of dirigibles and steam locomotives, brass diving bells and jar-shaped protosubmarines." Wow. I love my tea dresses but now realise they are sadly devoid of protean context.

Hmmm, one of these groups seems a bit cooler than the other...

Steampunk arrived on the scene in the late 1980s and now thanks to the internet is seeing its popularity increase exponentially. Using the web as a show-and-tell venue, steampunk inventors are taking the technology of today and by adding elements of the past, creating new/old hybrids that are taking design aesthetics to an exciting new level. One especially impressive specimen is a computer with a brass-frame monitor and vintage typewriter keys, built by Jake von Slatt (shows sleek and minimalist isn't the only way to move forward):

Giovanni James steampunked his LCD television by wrapping it in burlap:

While steampunk fashion draws on the styling and detail of the Edwardian and Victorian eras as well as pre-20th century military uniform, some of today's most exciting and respected designers are supplying inspiration for the steampunkers' DIY approach to dressing. Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and even Ralph Lauren (falling into the 'respected', rather than 'exciting' category) make for worthy idols with their interpretations of period-costume elements such as bustles, crinoline and puff sleeves, figuring prominently in their designs.

These references are clearly visible in Alexander McQueen's exquisite, British colonial-inspired collection for Fall 2008 RTW (said to be his greatest collection in his 14 years of shows):

If you're interested in hearing what the influential von Slatt has to say about the movement, you can read this interview at Bostodelphia (try not to be hypnotised by his intense portrait - look quickly, then look away).

Altogether I find steampunk quite endearing: its love for treasured items from a distant past, the celebration of craftsmanship and detail not universally cheriched in our time, and its inclusiveness - the capacity to not only avoid shunning modern advances but find room to embrace what our technology provides us.   

von Slatt sums it all up beautifully when asked to compare the cultures of steampunk and cyberpunk: "In many ways I think Steampunk is a reaction to Cyberpunk, its a desire to inject an element of humanity and passion into something cold and virtual." We too, welcome that.   

Photos of Steampunkers: Robert Wright for The New York Times

Cities Under Seige: Attack of the Yarnbombers!

Cozy bus by Magda Sayeg of Knitta Please, Mexico City

They're like Banksy or Poster Boy, and in some ways more akin to a small-scale Christo and Jeanne-Claude. But instead of spray paint and stencils, razors and miles of synthetic fabrics, the so-called 'Yarnbombers' use, well, yarn to add beauty to their environment while making a statement. "Yarnbombing is all about using the street for making art", says Sarah Hardacre, an artist from Manchester, in a story in the Telegraph.

There are yarnbombing groups all over the world, using their knitting and crochet skills to tag their targets. One is Denver's Ladies Fancywork Society, who prefer the term 'fancywork' to yarnbombing, and use 'putting skirts on the world' to describe their crochet guerilla activities. The Ladies use code names like Vivian, Jeanne Lois, and Lady Magdalena Pompelthwaite, and meet regularly for crochet and cupcakes. Here's one of Vivian's bicycle rack fancyworks:

 

And there's the Yarnbombing blog that features projects from all over the world, and even gives standard measurements for street furniture such as telephone poles, park benches, dumpsters and pay phones found in Vancouver, where the blog is based, so bombers can get stitching without having to first venture out with a measuring tape. The two knitters behind the blog, Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain, have a book coming out in the fall called Yarn Bombing: The Art of Knit Graffiti. I sense this is just the beginning.

Now, this may be 'radical knitting' as it is played out, but the patterns and loud colours suggest a very 'granny' type of knitting and crochet, from what I've seen - kind of reminiscent of the 'cosy'. (I once saw a toilet bowl cleaner cosy in someone's bathroom. That's right, a bottle of bowl cleaner with a custom-made cosy over it, and my friend Tammy can back that up.) So if this is what the traditionalists are doing, I wonder what fashion's knitwear designers could conjure, those whose knits are radical by design?

But wait - is it not the granny style that makes it so compelling? It's funny, unexpected, vibrant, and what is typically perceived as benign and old-fashioned becomes a force to be reckoned with. Try ignoring a full knit-clad bus in clashing, bright colours.

I think this is just fantastic. I have yet to see a tag but I certainly hope to. Have you?

If you're a yarnbomber and want to share your work, give us an email. And if you're a knitter and want to find a network in your area, a quick google search should turn one up. Or start your own!

Fellow feltmakers, are the wheels turning? Oh, the possibilities...

kpdalston's add-on to a Banksy, from Yarnbombing

 
Knitted street sign in Vancouver by Lauren Marsden


A tree wrapped in red yarn in Bejing's art district, Factory 798
By Aaron Robertson via Yarnbombing


Bejing tree detail, as above


The Sweater Tree, Brooklyn. Unknown, via Yarnbombing

The Adventures of Captain Mouse: A Steampunk Short Film

Jake von Slatt, a Steampunk Maker, sent this short film to Boing Boing:

"Here's a delightful short from some SF Steampunks I met at Maker Faire. I'm not sure if they are LARPers, but from the appearance of a McIntosh MC240 tube amp and a serious electronics workbench in one scene, I know that these are the sort of kids that Marcus Yallow would've hung out with!"

I don't know what that means either. But I can help with you with a rudimentary introduction to the Steampunk subculture here.

I love the effort that Steampunks put into their costume, which is heavy on the dress and not so much on the hair and make-up. I do wonder - and I'm not making fun here - what do the hardcores wear to the beach? Just have it on the brain considering the subject of my last few posts and the fact that summer is approaching.