James Freeman Gallery in N1; What I’m wearing: Jacket – ASOS, Dress – c/o AA, Sweater – c/o Maska, Shoes – Cutesyshoes, Bag – c/o JHYoo

I know I’m probably shaking up the blog’s niche bottle blog by posting about random fine art – if I start writing about gas exhaust pipe models then you’ll know when to pull that Niche Alarm. No, not Nietzsche – Niche, ‘fish’ with an Italian accent, and swap the f with an n. Some bloggers can learn a thing or two googling that word, not that I’m being a good example right now.

Anyway, enough with the snark. To borrow the common-used phrase from the web: You’ll poop bricks when you see it. I had the opportunity to pop by HyeMin’s exhibition the other day and really did go in my pants when I understood the illustrations. She’d pen-drawn IKEA products straight out of the catalogue along with their prices, and was then selling the artworks for that retail price. So if the price of the kitchen-set was £820 after the January Sale, then the illustration cost £820. The idea was to explore the relationship between original work vs. mass production, both in price and concept. Throughout the hour circling the basement of the James Freeman gallery, guests were picking up affordable items, (i.e. Lampstand for £12.99) and purchasing them straight off the artist. The amazing thing about this, other than the fact that she was making a lot of easy dough, was that this was essentially performance art – with her acting both as creator and salesperson.

Fun! Me not smart enough to explain how that has any relevance to fashion but I’m sure those smarter than me figured that one out already.

My failed attempt at giving Jen a fishtail braid…

Lovely Charlie of A La Mode | Lucy’s DIY collar!

Carrie of Wishwishwish

Frances & Sandra style challenge looks

Video courtesy of Next; Outfit: Sweater – Maska, Dress – Storets.com, White shirt – AA

I love Next. I mean, aren’t they geniuses? One first class carriage full of fashion bloggers, one innocent explosion and poof goes a sizeable chunk of the UK fashion blogging community. GENIUS! Imagine the article on that. Fess up Next, how much did you get paid by the journalists & editors (those robbed of Danish pastries by bloggers at the last fashion week)? Conspiracy aside, I do think I’m starting to fall for Next, their nod towards the bloggers is proving to be very friendly, and they’ve really played up their game with the trend interpretation. (Although, call me tasteless, but the 70’s trend really doesn’t appeal to me at all. )

The trainride was to Next’s headquarters in Leicester where we were fed and watered, then set loose in the mock-shop in a competition to style an item assigned to each of us. It was like a 9 year old’s birthday party at McDonalds really, in the best sense possible, I love birthday parties. And 9 year olds. As you can see my item was a pair of flare jeans, and instead of trying to smuggle and trade between the contestants with better items I decided, heck, let’s just go with it. On hindsight, I should’ve wrestled Frances to the ground for the white blazer. You should watch the video – I say I wanted to style it ‘boho’ and the only thing boho about the outfit is the misfitting jeans and my speech on peace love and understanding. My, I had such a blast this day.

Thank you Next and Jenny from Spreading Jam for organizing an amazing day, and Kit & Jill for snaps!

Ania Kuczyńska Showroom on Mokotowska 61; SS11 Sacre du Printempts

I may be physically back in London but my backlog has been shooting stink-eyes and I have a feeling that the occasional spark I see in the corner of my eyes is from something very sharp. Again with the silence, I’m sorry about that. Then again, I remember reading somewhere that there’s nothing more boring than bloggers apologizing for their unintentinal hiatus, because, it’s really not like you typed in the url and visited every day to see if there’s a new post. Nowadays I’m just a click of ‘next’, and with another click it’s like I never posted.

I met up with Flora after she spotted me in a hotel in Warsaw. Yeah, of all places. What, I like going to hotels to play detective with my imaginary friend, are you judging me now? During our tea & coffee at Cafe Vincent I asked if she could list a few Polish designers and concept stores in Warsaw, and like I said in the last post – it was like a clean slate – where did all these cool places come from? Where did the fashion scene come from all of a sudden? Last time I heard something was in fashion it had three white stripes and garnished sportswear. Ania Kuczyńska‘s simple and understated pieces seemed to translate perfectly into the international trend of minimalism, yet I loved how it still retained that footnote of Polish sense of no-fuss dressing. It’s really in the accessories that you can see the Polish trace – the distinctive smell of leather from the North and the half-leather/half-silk scarf that curiously reminded me of the red-white flag…

Cape & Shoes – Zara, Coat – Mum’s Roem, Jeans – Courtesy of Levi’s, Bag – The Bridge, White silk shirt – Make Lemonade

This post is not exactly how I intended to ring in 2011 on this blog, so please work with me while I pretend 2011 is still in the horizon and this blog is that country called Republic of Procrastinica that’s about five and a half globes behind in time.

It looks like I should title my posts with more care as I did end up going into an unintentional 10-day-long Silence, as per the prediction of the previous post title. Sorry to disappoint, but the silence wasn’t induced by a bad footing in the snow and a smashing of my peabrain onto the cobblestones of Warsaw (what an enthralling image), although even if I did in most likelihood the pea would’ve survived. (Survival pea knows no danger) I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but the curse (and blessing, somewhat) of growing up in international schools means everyone scatters after graduation; 5 years have passed since highschool and now home is basically a clean slate; shucks, sometimes it feels like starting in a new city. What I realised this time though, was that I was starting to draw on that blank page with friends made thanks to this blog. I won’t name them all, but they’ve really become people I can call ma homeys. Thank you all for saving me from perpetual laundry and dish cleaning, and thank you always for a great time.