Madame says: GARETH PUGH FOR MAC
The teeny tiny lady in the image at the top is me DJing at the Gareth Pugh/MAC party on Thursday night – thanks Rebecca!
Almost everyone was wearing black in homage to Gareth, the champagne flutes were also black with a perky red slice of strawberry – so I was pleased I accented my black with a bit of BodyMap red…
The make up is really gorgeous, even down to the packaging, Princess Julia was werking the lashes to incredible effect and the whole space was bathed in a cold, lilac light with water rippling effects all over the concrete floor – a perfect setting. Ruth Hobgen’s film of the make up colleciion (with music by Matthew Stone – he perfomed all the voices too, fyi) is great, above – they dimmed the lights for an enormous projection of it which was stunning.
As we were leaving, we did our own impromptu press shoot, throwing shapes (literally – a square!) and I was relieved I didn’t succumb to the Joiners carnage seeing as I was on the school run in the morning…tempted but iron-willed, that’s me….
Madame says: OFFICE PARTY
It’s been a while since I did a Conga.
Or vogued. Lying down.
Beat Xmas party was my first office party. And it was amazing. With a band (Lois and the Love), as much Malibu as a person might want to drink, PRESENTS…and did I mention a CONGA!!!?
It was perfect. I literally had to hose myself down in the shower when I got home – that’s when you know you’ve had a good time. That Hanna Hanra can throw a party…
Madame says: GERHARD RICHTER
When they weren’t whining about the nerve Alex and I had in bringing them to an art show, the boys had some really interesting reactions to the amazing Gerhard Richter show at the Tate today. Fabulously schizophrenic in this 50 years worth of paintings, I was impressed not just by the diversity of technique and style but also the way he has confronted the ‘problems’ of modern painting throughout his career.
When John came to find us in the throng he said all he had to do was spot the ‘comedy hats’ – and he didn’t mean the boys!
JAMES MAKER’S “AUTOFELLATIO” by Jonathan Kemp
To those in the know, James Maker is something of a legend.
As lead singer in 80s indie band Raymonde and then in the 90s as the big-haired frontman for fag rockers RPLA, he has recorded some unforgettable songs: “No One Can Hold a Candle To You” (which his old pal, Morrissey covered in 2007) and “Last Night A Drag Queen Saved Your Life”, to name but two. Now he’s put his remarkable life down on paper, in words that will have you laughing out loud with their mordant wit, or reflecting on the precision of his insights, into the cultural importance of the New York Dolls, for example, or the rabid homophobia within the rock industry. You’ll want to read it again and again to savour in the sometimes absurd but never dull situations he recounts. The chapter on Morrissey is a must. This book will move you and it will make you laugh. It will also have you hurrying to (re) discover the music Maker has made.
What more could you want from a rock ‘n’ roll memoir?
Madame says: REFLECTIVE GLORY
You want parabolic? You want distortion?
Parabolic distortion we got. M.Goldstein‘s reflective window with Mr Goldstein’s neon pick-up-sticks is a triumph I think.
Madame says: BACK OF THE NET
Finished and delivered my first ever patchwork quilt commission to Sarah and John…and Frieda. yesterday.
Sooo happy with how it looks in situ..
Madame says: LEONARDO DA VINCI
The surprising discovery I came away from the Da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery with was the artist’s ability to depict the beauty of women. The softness of (sometimes enlarged) hands, the geometric perfection of an idealised subject…it was the women my eye was always drawn to and Leonardo’s belief that these paintings could not only commemorate but inspire love is still believable.
Alex and I craned to get inches away from da Vinci’s tiny sketches; science, geometry, symbolism and intense observation are loaded into every intense and immaculate scratch on paper.
The hands. Always the hands.
That da Vinci is thought to have entered the Court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan in around 1482 as a musician, fills me with further awe. Quite apart from his importance as an artist – that he was gifted even on the lyre, and as a mathematician, scientist, inventor – only the helicopter! – and that so many of his ideas about powers of art were so new…this incredible mind informed everything he did.
Madame says: HOMI AND THE MUSE
This exhibition by Hormazd Narielwalla at the Modern Pantry started two days ago but I’ve been rubbish and coldy the last couple of days and unable to concentrate on anything…
However, it does go on until January so I’m not too remiss…
Featuring Diane Pernet - Homi’s “Fairy God Fashion-Mother”- the collages are constructed from remnants of Savile Row suit patterns of the dead, reproductions of 1960s American paper dresses and Victorian pattern drafts. There look to be a few other visual influences of the pop culture kind too.
Homi’s Klaus Nomi collages are featured in Coilhouse magazine this month too – which gives me a warm glow since it’s the reason we first connected…
Madame says: FREE HEAD
The amazing Second Head have put out a free/pay what you like download of three tracks – also available to order is limited edition vinyl of Disease Comes in Waves…
First track, Quadrivium is fantastic – I’ve got it on repeat…Medieval inspiration if you please: astonomy, geometry,mathematics…and rock n roll. That’s Second Head for you, you need them in your life, trust me.
Madame says: NAILZ
Possibly I overreacted at the four HUGE dobs of pink nail polish on my FAVOURITE YSL SHIRT!!!! They were dripped in pursuit of the perfect blu-tack nail art. These are quite amazing I admit, especially the ‘burger accessory’ balancing on the tip of the nail on the left.
BUT HOW DO YOU GET NAIL VARNISH OUT OF SILK??????!!!!!