30 October, 2014

STYLE // BURBERRY PRORSUM Menswear AW 14/15

A photo posted by Burberry (@burberry) on

I've been asked to start writing style posts about menswear, and so, here we go :)

After trawling through a myriad of AW 14/15 catwalks looking for a collection that I was instantly enamored by, I final fell upon the beauty that is Burberry Prorsum's collection. I mean, I just can't.

Set against the backdrop of Kensington Gardens, with crisp daylight flooding the catwalk, Burberry's collection is an ode to loose fitted tailoring. It is a perfect union of the sharp and the deeply casual. Models saunter down the catwalk hands in pockets, as their shirts and coats billow. But this casualness is strikingly offset by the collection's anchor: straight-cut, tailored trousers.

The catwalk begins with outfits that emanate brisk crisp November air - silk shirts and white net vests accented with vivid hand-painted scarves. 

London is everywhere, with maps and landmarks as proud embellishments.

As the collection moves deeper into winter, long woolen scarves and blankets casually draped over shoulders make their appearance. Prints of autumnal leaves add another layer to the already textured outfits.

Sheepskin, leather, fur, woolen jumpers & trench coats are layered over bombastic silk shirts, in turn layered over net vests. As a final touch: the omnipresent silk scarf and it's effortless style.

The over-sized bags lend the walk a sense of purpose as well as added bursts of colour and textured notes.

This entire collection aches style and is an incredible source of inspiration for the coming cold months, for men & women alike. (I know I'm ridiculously keen for the vest/shirt/sheepskin combo, HOLLER)

Have a look at my highlights of the collection bellow, with details at the bottom (it was hard to narrow it down...) and if you want to watch the catwalk in it's entirety, click here.

For more catwalks on STREAKS, click here :)

What do you think? Any designer/season you would like me to review? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for stopping by! :)

Kate :) x
















(THIS is perfection)













HURRAY YOU MADE IT TO THE BOTTOM! 
Please share your thoughts in the comments bellow!
See you next week! :)

Kate x

28 October, 2014

MUSIC // SIMPLE THINGS 2014 // High Lights



Simple Things, a one day festival, providing 17 non-stop-hours of live music across various venues in Bristol, was this weekend's utterly delightful surprise-adventure, as sponsored by two ticket-bearing knights in shining German armor. 

Simple Things is run in partnership with CRACK & FACT magazines, so the sound is eclectic and cutting-edge. And at £25 a ticket WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR?

From raw post-punk to bubblegum electro via ambient shoegaze, we had a multifarious time.

Simple Things treated us to excellence early in the evening with Jaakko Eino Kalevi, a Finnish dream whose weird sound was full of satisfying contradictions, at once dreamy fuzzy pop and calculated beats with rosy melodies carried by his deep voice and airy falsetto.

SOPHIE's set at the Firestation was a barrage of chaotic glittering electro, it sounded like a Barbie made of marshmallows had been struck by a billion volts whilst drinking neon paint. Aggressive, absurd and heaps of fun. 

Meanwhile, on a small dark stage in Colston Hall, Esben and the Witch delivered a gripping, gut-grinding set . Their raw sound sits between anger and despair, their slow primal riffs brushed with eroticism.

Spectres, a Bristol band described as 'nu gazey noise', shared a similar grit, but their thick, noisey sound was propelled by infectious, shape-cutting beats.

Headlining the entire epic affair was the aptly grandiose Mogwai whose layered instrumental sagas blasted the crowd's ear drums to oblivion, rousing a sort of spiritual awakening in their uplifting ambient crescendos.

As if we imagined we could possible take any more, The Haxan Cloak wrapped up events nicely in a pitch black, strobe-steeped set of industrial-drone so heavy, I thought my face would fracture.

Gracious.

And, as always, no matter how many incredible bands you see, there are always the ones that got away, namely in this case: Liars, Eagulls, Onra, Actress and DJ Harvey, NEXT TIME HEY!

Follow STREAKS on Facebook & Twitter for links to photos as soon as they are up, as well as plenty more music reviews!

Now fest your ears on these tracks, Jaakko <3








Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Kate x

24 October, 2014

MUSIC // STILLWAVE, EP Review


I came across Stillwave whilst looking for Bristol based music blogs, to scope the scene since my recent move. 

The blog in question, DrunkenWerewolf (which is a treat & full of great music to sample), describes them as sounding like "Ian Curtis fans overdosing on the music of his juniors. That is to say, this is really very good."

Their sound is at once plaintiff and empowered, with deep, full toned vocals highlighted by dark moody bass-lines, and waves of grinding guitar, steeped in reverb. 

The electric layers of soft synth in tracks like Rich Ones forge distorted misty melodies. The layering of vocals along with repeated escalating riffs give this EP a truly epic scale.

While, no, Stillwave have not reinvented the wheel, they have produced a polished and hugely engaging EP bursting with profoundly textured anguish and longing.

Have a listen bellow, or read the DunkenWerewolf review here and find out more about Stillwave here.

...& Click to read more music reviews on STREAKS :)




So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know in the comments! And what shall I review next?

Kate :)


18 October, 2014

ART // Janie George


I recently visited the RWA's 162nd open exhibition, where I discovered the ethereal and dream-like paintings of Janie George.

In her accompanying text she talks about her fascination with "disparate" objects, and more importantly for me, the function of clothing:
"Clothing is a signifier of human aspirations, vulnerability and loss."
I found these words to be extremely potent, and beautiful. They shone new light on her delicate depictions of bonnets, the transformation of a moth's wings into a tender cloak.

I became fixated on these three functions.

Aspiration. Vulnerability. Loss.

Loss.

In all three, clothing serves to hide - hide the reality of our status, making us into something we are not, shielding our delicacy, our wounds from the open & patching up our loss.

Loss. 

What have we lost?

What have we lost that clothing can cover?

Or, alternatively, what is lost that clothing helps us find?










All images are from George's site, which you can find here.
Check out detail of the RWA's exhibition here.

I hope you find both interesting!


If you want to stay up to date with STREAKS, give us a like on facebook!

Hopefully see you here again soon :)

Kate x


22 September, 2014

// THE PROMETHEUS EDITION // Rodin

Looking at one of Rodin's sculptures is the least passive experience you an have when walking through the V&A. It amazes me how people manage to sidle by without so much as a sideways glance.

Don't they know? Didn't any one tell them? This is a goddamn Rodin!

One in particular - The Fallen Angel, I find particularly compelling. Like poking a bruise. Or rather, punching yourself in the gut. But more of that to come.

Rodin changed the critical and public perception of sculpture. He is heralded as the father of modern sculpture. His pieces provoke an inherently primal response, why? Perhaps it is their extreme poses. Or their extremely natural ones, but perhaps it is best to consider the sculpting process first, as the process is primal in itself.

Indeed, the action of carving, structuring, forming an unformed material into not only logic but beauty and emotion is inherently physical. But as I try to explain the palpable physicality of Rodin's work, I am made maddeningly aware of my ignorance of his process, his method. Google is quick to give me quick answers.

"Instead of copying traditional academic postures, Rodin preferred his models to move naturally around his studio (despite their nakedness).[7]The sculptor often made quick sketches in clay that were later fine-tuned, cast in plaster, and forged into bronze or carved in marble. Rodin's focus was on the handling of clay.[48]"  -  From Wiki.
Jianou, Ionel & Goldscheider, C. (1967). Rodin. Paris: Arted, Editions d'Art.  
Morey, C. R. (1918). "The Art of Auguste Rodin". The Bulletin of the College Art Association of America

[As if my "to read" list wasn't long enough]

From observation of life to the final forgery and carving, the process is one of physical creation - life is given from the tips of his fingers to the balls of his hands. 

The act of creation is, in it's essence, a visceral act.

And so, from the viewer's perspective, this transforms into a visceral experience, that is to experience something in our guts, in our insides. It is an experience of crude, primitive emotion. A visceral reaction is intrinsically un-intellectual. It opposes the outcomes of the great classical sculptures. They are steeped in mythology, allegory and symbolism. They are the product of an obsession with an arguably academic notion of beauty. 

Rodin has no desire to hide behind allegory. He gives us despair. And flesh. And weeping. 

He gives us the body in it's most contorted horrors and it's unadultered platitudes.

And it is here that the form, the medium within which he creates is so fundamental. Sculpture: the medium that allows for radical and absolutely consumption by it's audience. Indeed, from it's conception, through Rodin's method of clay sketches, to it's final state in bronze or marble, it exists in three tangible dimensions. It is beyond the illusory shadows of cinema, the gloss of the photograph, the canvas-bound representations of painting, and the printed cage of words, these forms are by their nature, surface.

In sculpture Rodin stands before you - humanity is here. Pain and torment, passion and lust. Thought itself stands solid and substantial before us. 

I wanted to talk specifically about The Fallen Angel (which is on display at the V&A, so get to it!).

As we move around the pedestal on which these two figures contort in their suffering, we are God-like. In our position as observer we become a character in the scenario cast in bronze. We are part of the power play, the status struggle.

The tension in the calves of the angel, the arching of her feet, how her back curves and how she is held tight in the anguished embrace of her companion. 

The bronze cast muscles captivate. 

Their pain will endure. Captured. Forged. Displayed. 

And as we watch, it is our pain, and our helplessness and it endures with them.


The Cry, first modelled circa 1886, this cast dates 1964 and can be seen at LACMA in Los Angeles.







M. Auguste Rodin, circa 1911



Head of Pierre de Wissant




The Eternal Idol, 1889



The Thinker, circa 1904


The Fallen Angel, 1895, Bronze.



Rodin circa 1862, by Charles Hippolyte Aubry


Any one else into Rodin? Or modern sculpture? Seen those Kelpies up north? Mad keen for that!!

Thanks for stopping by :) Check out my piece on Jordan Eagles' Blood Work if you like your art gritty!



Kate x









16 July, 2014

// THE PROMETHEUS EDITION // [Issue Intro]





Welcome to the first issue of STREAKS! Hurray!

...THE PROMETHEUS EDITION...

This natal issue is preoccupied with the agonies and follies of creation.
From the the Romantic update of the titular Greek myth, in Percy Bysshe Shelley's lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound, to a debate around sculpture as the most visceral medium & finally how Renaissance composer Josquin Des Prez used religious, creationist awe to write exquisite polyphonal music.

With a dash of Rocky Horror thrown in for good measure. 

The Promethus Edition looks at how we begin, and how, in beginning we must suffer. 
How in creation, we must die.


Hope you're excited to read on :)

Kate x

26 February, 2014

Style // Kensington And What
















Photography/Direction: Ellie Rogers
Styling: Kate Maxwell

Outfit: Second Hand
Triple Chain: Ebay
Boots: Sketchers (Old)





























19 February, 2014

Style // HENRY V
















Photography/Direction: Ellie Rogers
Styling: Kate Maxwell

Skirt: New Look
Boots: Sketchers (Old)
Sheepskin Rug: Found....

A masculine look inspired by the Michael Grandage production on Henry V (micro-reviewed here). 

Dark tones, bold textures, regal detailing and androgynous make-up assemble to create a battle-ready whole.

For another stage inspired outfit, click here!

Due to traveling my posting has been hella-irregular and I've not been generating much new content (this outfit was shot a few months ago...). I'm trying to schedule some posts while I have access to internet and a goddamn keyboard. Also, when I get back I'll be creating a tutorial on androgynous make-up and styling :)

Thank you for checking the post out :)

---Kate