Lomography: It Should Be My New Hobby

Lori gave me a lesson in lomography a few weeks ago, and with my first go, I got a couple of pictures I really like while we wandered around East London:

Portrait with Tea

Photo by my favourite redhead ever, Lori Smith

Night of the Senses

I found myself as Kitty Stryker's +2 last night at the follow up Erotic Awards Ceremony where she was nominated and WON in the Innovation category. It was an interesting event, gave me lots of think about in terms of how I approach our next Kinky Salon event at the end of this month.

Anyhow, I don't have much else to say here except that I ran into many sexy people I knew, got lots of kisses and hugs, and left early like a rockstar. Oh yeah.

Oh, I wish I had a full length photo, but you can imagine- this skirt reached the floor and has a bustle in the back. I wore it with black fluevog shoes.

Boozehat

Two of my dear friends hosted the Boozehat party this weekend, at which everyone had to wear a hat that corresponded with their booze of choice. Of course hats were switched and things got silly.

I have goofy friends. Goofy friends with photoshop.

What I Wore

What I wore today was surprisingly normal for me. I never wear skirts like this, but now I really like the length. It will be good for spring....

Body of Modeling Work (some nudity)

In response to my previous post about the design work I do, I've decided to post a bit about the other work I do, which is in front of a camera. I feel I've had much better luck in this department. I love being part of the creation of interesting images, and since I haven't been able to do much in my own design work, I can take a little comfort in having made lots of ridiculously over-lit, carefully posed, and photoshopped facebook photos....er I mean, um, tasteful art.

A smattering:

Body of Work

An artist I've recently become acquainted with has asked to see my work. I get this question a lot when I say that I am a designer, but it's a question I dread answering. I don't think that any of my design reflects my artistic sensibilities yet. In my meager body of work there are many failed experiments in "pushing myself" and "trying new things", but surprisingly little work that actually shows the sort of thing I really want to do.

I have posted a number of entries about various design projects I've done, and I don't think the collection of work, much less any single project reflects my aesthetics all that well. However, maybe you all see something I don't... So here I am going to collect my "Body of Work" via all the blog entries that contain photos of what I have spent the last few years doing:


I Need an Internship with a Shoe Designer
Ignore the text, and take a look at the photos at the bottom.

Visual Overview
Some repeat from the entry above, but some other photos as well

Making Shoes
Making some shoes!

The Spaces In Between
A photo heavy journal entry about a project I did at Saint Martins.

Thinking In Fabric
I did a lot of draping to get ideas for projects

 Some Old Work
A collection of crap I did in art school and fashion school before CSM

A Little Artistic Venture
A few photos my flatmate and I took when we both had time and wanted to start up a photography blog. Yes, I mostly just modeled, but I had a lot of input and put a lot of work into the final product as well.

Last Two Weeks
Again, the text is useless, but I loved this retro-future I created in my sketchbook. This page on propaganda and conservative politics felt so cinematic to me....

Hair Fabric
The text is useless, but I loved making this plastic hair creepy fabric, even though we ended up not being able to use it.


That's all for now, folks.

Shoe Box Shelving

I bought a desk when I moved into this flat, but it hasn't gone to much use. I spent most of the summer being too mopey to do art. But I'm back in the game and it is now time to start making it into a useful space where I can focus on my work.

There is very little storage in this room and so I struggle with cleaning up clutter. But I came up with a rather appropriate solution to my problem- shoebox shelving! I grabbed some boxes from work that were going to be thrown out and clipped them together to make some mini shelves for random stuff, and books, etc. Elegant? No. Useful and funny for the time being? Yes.

(Also note the roses that appeared at my job on Sunday.... *kisses to boyfriend)

My First Girly Brogues

I brought these beauties home with me from work today. They are H by Hudson -which isn't the most well-made brand in the world, but I do think they are designing with me in mind almost all the time.

Not only do I LOVE them, but I don't have anything like these in my closet. I'm trying to expand my style into the tights-with-old-man-tweed-shoes look, even though I think my leg shape might be a bit too thick for it.... (photos to come, and I want honest opinions!)

I was just so thrilled at how comfy they were. Also, I LOVE herringbone tweeds. And yellow leather. So, what's not to love?

36 Pairs, and They Each Have a Story

You know what this picture says to me? This says I need to buy more colourful shoes. It also says I have an addiction to boots and heels. It also says I need to find a way to organize them so they don't keep ending up in a pile in my closet.

With three pair at the cobbler, one on loan to my flatmate, and about ten more fetish heels back at home in SF, I have 36 pairs of boots or shoes here in the UK. And I think when I have some free time I might share with you my favourite and most interesting ones....


For now though, here are a pair I bought in San Francisco when I was there last month. Vintage white leather victorian superhero boots. I tried to wear them out the other day, but it started to snow. Due to this weather mishap these little darlings don't have a story yet, but I'm sure they will eventually...

 

Northampton Shoe Museum

A few months ago I went on an expedition with two classmates and one of my shoe design teachers to Northampton. It's one of the last places in England with a working shoe factory that we could see in action. Of course I didn't take any photos within the actual factory, but I did manage to get a few snapshots at the shoe museum...

Despite being very dark, I got a couple snaps of some amazing shoes. Check out this fantastic fetish boot print on these incredibly mod boots.

A few vintage foot binding shoes. Look how ornately embroidered these things are. I guess when you can afford to be ornate when you're dealing with such tiny things.

On the other hand, these brogued shoes for bound feet are surprisingly simple and modern looking.

Gotta love the crazy cantilever heel on this shoe. I am counting on someone to help me balance a one of my shoe designs in a very similar way. So sexy and weird.

If Dorothy wanted to be a little more practical about walking all the way to the emerald city, she might have considered these. But the clear Docs with the baby picture? I have no idea...

How fabulous are these vintage silk uppers? Can you imagine wearing boots like this every day? I would relish it.

Vivienne Westwood's famous platforms. Not the blue ones, but the exact same model. What I love about this shoe is the delicate shape of the toe, the curve of the platform and the unobtrusive colour.

Spice Spice Baby! (sorry)

Sorry for the blurry photo. This one was particularly dark. But it was too awesome not to share. Wish her ass was a little more shapely though, don't you think? I found this section of the museum the most interesting because it had a few examples of the evolution of fetish shoes. How mundane this heels looks to us, and yet at the time, it was an incredibly high heel in SHINY black leather. How provocative!

Some very mod spurs. I love these.

And if you thought I was tall before... The extreme high heel is taken to a new level (see what I did there?) with this pair. The logical part of me keeps thinking "you might want a closed toe with a back if you want to balance in those." Of course, I imagine they would never be worn by anyone standing.

                              Try walking in them. I dare you! I love the choice of colours in this one. Bright 70s yellow and ruddy orange. Nothing says sex and fetish like mustard yellow, you know?

How awesome are these Pete Murphy shoes? I love this sort of print, especially on leather.

FABULOUS boots. If I recall correctly, the black design was patent and appliqued onto the soft white leather.

And last, but not least, some metallic snakeskin 70s platforms. Again, I apologize for how dark the museum was. In order to protect the shoes they hired blind lighting designers.