A room with a view: Levi van Veluw

This artist is amazing - Levi van Veluw - unlike anyone else I have seen in a long time. All of his work seems to involve modifying the head, using it as his canvas to create a visual object. The work is drawn, applied and then photographed by Veluw himself, making this one-man process a series of self portraits. Below is his most recent work, which can be viewed in more detail here, with a video of Landscape installation.

A series of four self portraits, titled 'Landscapes' I-IV respectively.

Below are some of his older works which caught my eye. All are from various different projects, but check out his website for more detailed information.

All Saints deconstruction

I'm loving All Saints at the moment. I seem to have an on-off relationship with them - sometimes I am blown away by their creativity and technical prowess, and other times I simply feel like I've seen it all before. I don't want to bombard you with images you can quite happily get from the website yourself, but there are a couple of special garments I wanted you to see. They remind me of the Japanese in the 1980's, such as early Comme and Yamamoto, especially Kawakubo's opinion that 'Perfect symmetry is ugly...I always try to destroy symmetry'. They even reveal that the above dress (Klara shirt dress, for those of you who are interested) on their website that the idea was taken directly from the Japanese theory of deconstruction: "The Klara Shirt Dress was inspired by Japanese construct/ deconstruct ways of working. This style has been created by cutting up garments and re-constructing together to make one piece naturally creating random seaming. Panelled with contrasting wool jersey."

Nice, I'll take two please.

Also please, pretty please can you answer my mini poll on the right hand side? It's just a little 'research' I am doing. Being a guy I have never fully understood the female attitudes towards dressing (there are obviously many different dressers out there) so this little piece of information would be seriously handy to me as a designer.

EDIT: YOU CAN SELECT MULTIPLE ANSWERS IF YOU WISH.

Inspirational Monkeys

Don't judge me, but with age I've come to quite like curling up on the sofa with a cuppa, watching a nature programme or two. Last night there was a programme called 'Natural World: Cheeky Monkey' on BBC1 (watch it for free here - why did I pay the TV license?), with the cutest little monkeys I had ever seen. I haven't really captured them very well here, but it gives you a taste. Their colourings, fur length, facial features etc were all superb, and something which could quite easily be translated into fashion...idea I may bare in mind for my freelance work. Beautiful little critters...

Bracher Emden: get me a man-bag!

Admittedly I am a full supporter of the man bag - I run around London with a coffee in one hand and my man bag in the other, every day. I thought mine was brilliant and would last me a lifetime (it's a manly black leather one from Hurwendeki), however I was reading Stylist Stuff and nearly fell off my stupidly high desk chair when I saw the perfection that is Bracher Emden. These bags are so incredibly detailed and have immense craftsmanship involved, they look really heavy and could hold my entire life - who could want anything more? The skeletal qualities in the design are giving me palpitations - they are beautiful, period. So if anyone I know is reading this, save up your pennies as I want one for Christmas.

Meryl Smith

Only a quick one this evening, as I am busy making my housemate a t-shirt for his birthday. I have famously left it until the last minute, and as with everything I do it's not at all simple! I shall post photos in due course. Back to the point...Meryl Smith is amazing. For the last hour of work today (don't tell anyone - it's a secret) I was looking at images of her flat on theselby.com (which, if you love a little voyeurism now and then, is one of the best sites you could imagine). I was literally mesmerised, and as I'm compiling images for the post I am still amazed at the beauty of EVERYthing she has. It's such a cluttered space, but every nook'n'cranny is filled with all wonder of creatures. She is an artist and a lot of the items are of her own making, which makes this lady even more beautiful. It has me thinking of papier mache, wire mesh and I'm suddenly getting an urge to make everyone I know some little sculptured creation for Christmas.

Reality Studio: one to watch

The label Reality Studio have recently found themselves on my style checklist. Their A/W 08 collection is wonderfully unique, with multi-purpose dresses and blouses, HUGE arm/hand bags and a brilliant muted colour palette of dark teal, slate grey and black with splashes of red. I found this quote on their website explaining more about the brand, putting its deconstructed aesthetic into words better than I ever could:

"Beat author and icon, William S. Burroughs preferred to speak of a Reality Studio rather than of Reality. A place where the movie of Reality is played in endless loops and where Artists are given the opportunity to dive in and cut away, giving the movie a new message. Those who find this idea this too philosophical should simply have a look at the clothing of Berlin based designer Svenja Specht. Inspired by Burroughs, she transfers his approach into fashion design. In her clothing, she cuts up fragments of memories, mixes up impressions and adds experiences. The result is a demanding new combination that is left up to the person who wears the fashion to define it. Her dresses, all-in-ones, hoodies, skirts, pants and jackets move between street and avant garde and are created from silk, jersey and cotton."

They have kindly sent me a preview of their Spring Summer '09 collection, titled 'Boatnik'.

Unfortunately I don't know much about this German brand, but one thing I do is they are not stocked anywhere in the UK. Do not fret though, styleserver stock a good selection of their work.

ASOS and me

Has it really been that long since I last posted? Apparently we are due to get the Internet in our new flat today, but I got tired of waiting. Things have (luckily) been quite hectic in recent weeks, so although I've missed you guys, I've had plenty of fashion-y things going on. The job hunt continues, however I've had a couple of interviews (after months of scouring this fine city for even a hint of a design job) and been approached to do some freelance work. I'm uber excited, and if the freelance is successful it could be the start of something amazing. I can't say too much, but it involves a new brand launching in Singapore - the single most challenging yet exciting project I have ever taken on, so cross everything you have for me!

I would love to hear from anyone who has done freelance design in the past, or who is a full-time freelancer (not necessarily fashion), as I have a few issues (contracts etc) which I would love to discuss with someone. Any genuine advice would be greatly received! My email is on my profile page, so don't be shy.

Some of you keen ASOS shoppers may have already seen this blouse, some of you might have even bought it, and I'd love to know if you have as it's a design from my fair hands. It's not my most contemporary or ground breaking work, but it's really cute with beautiful little details. I know you want to buy it...it would look perfect for that Christmas party, or that meeting you have coming up with those buyers. Haha. I'm not sure if you're aware of how ASOS (and most high street chains) work, but other design companies - suppliers - are bought in to design and produce garments, which are then bought by the chain...in this case ASOS. I work for one of these suppliers, and this was my first garment to be presented to ASOS, so I'm rather proud.