Despite the bank holiday we are still kicking off this week’s guest poster on a Monday so that you don’t miss out on your usual weekly fix. Expect bags of colour and excitement this week as we are pleased to welcome Fred Butler to the It’s Nice That team to kick May off. I’m certain if you don’t know her work already, by the end of the week you’ll be a fan, so without further adieu…
At its finest, art direction is about creating brilliant imagery that fulfils the brief it’s been set. Tip the balance too far one way and the results can be sterile or obvious, go too far the other way and you can get wackiness for the sake of wackiness.
It’s not often you get to hear the opinions of models. Unless you’re the next big thing in the world of cat walking and clothes-horsing – a Moss, Campbell, Cole or Delevigne – nobody really wants to hear what you’ve got to say. Which seems unfair really, particularly given that they live more exciting lives than most. It’s clearly something that bothered photographer Martin Zähringer too as he’s set up a side-project that gives some of his favourite models a voice.
It’s a well known fact that no matter how impressive the debut of new trends on the catwalk are, the ones hanging around outside the auditorium are probably more exciting. Responsible in no small part for the creation of this theory is Tommy Ton. He started street style fashion blog Jak & Jil back in 2005 with zero formal photography training, and has since become the go-to man for all things street style, particularly when it comes to the fashion.
Living as the fashion industry does a full hop skip and jump ahead of itself, the menswear Spring Summer 2015 shows are currently in full swing, and though we might not have the discerning eye of Vogue we thought we’d share our favourite collections from the London Collections: Men and the Paris and Milan shows with you. Behold then, giant wooden frames, autobiographical shirts, 1970s details, kimono necklines and men in skirts. Plenty of men in skirts. Feast your eyes.
Kit Neale is not afraid of referencing British culture – and his isn’t “teacup-clinking in the Dorchester” Britishness, either – this is England as it’s experienced by the masses. From folkloric traditions like Guy Fawkes day bonfires to hen and stag-dos and pearly kings and queens, his print-heavy colourful designs see Englishness come to life in all of its varying guises, including the quintessential summer holiday which was the star of his Spring Sumer 2015 show.
Jasmine Deporta’s new project is created in the spirit of those hungover Sundays when you lie in so long that you start to blend in with your soft furnishings, and not even the sound of the kettle boiling or the usually-irresistible presence of a packet of Hobnobs in the kitchen cupboard can tempt you from your cushiony couch.
The game of pairs never gets old – snap is of course my favourite version because of the raw, adrenaline-pumping, thrill-inducing pace of the game. BUT Bianca Luini’s blog, Where I See Fashion is now my new fave.
Paris is constantly referred to as the fashion capital of the world, awash as it is with chic ladies dressed head to toe in black, with the occasional breton stripe thrown in to liven up a dreary ensemble. What they aren’t talking about, on the other hand, is the people who really make up Paris’ burgeoning street style scene; the people who are obsessed with wearing all one colour, the people who are obsessed with wearing every colour all at once, or the people who go out with a tiger-print shawl thrown nonchalantly over their shoulders.
The nature of the fashion industry (determined, pervasive, ubiquitous) means that after a while those ads that are on every magazine stand, every billboard and every double decker bus get a bit… boring. Even the most impressively designed garments can become as objectionable as an itchy animal onesie when you’ve seen too much of the same glossy images, and this is perhaps why Charlotte Trounce’s work is so easy to enjoy.
It’s been a while since we last checked in on Amy Woodside but the New Zealand-born, New York-based graphic artist has been as busy as ever. She’s a creative whose long been fascinated by the visual properties and potential of text and some of her new word-based work explores these qualities in quite an abstract way. She has also just launched a set of printed sweatshirts with the AYR brand, giving some of her pattern work a new lease of life on the sternums of trendy young things the world over. Nice.
Some Friday mornings you need something super-bright, super-colourful and super-fun to kickstart your day and send you headlong to the glories of the weekend. With that in mind, may we present this great shoot by Michael Burk for a new collaboration between Sight Unseen and Print All Over Me which is about to go on show at New York Design Week.
You know when you stare at the sun for too long and your eyes turn everything dark around you? That’s the feeling that pervades Dawn in Luxor, Kahlil Joseph’s new short for KENZO, which falls alongside their Spring/Summer 2014 collection. The LA-based filmmaker is known for the “fragmentary, paradoxical and beautiful” lens he casts over the world he captures, and all three adjectives are at work here.
We’re furious to have only just discovered this (it’s almost two months old now) but one of our favourite designers, Nathalie du Pasquier, has recently launched a new collection with American Apparel. The legendary Memphis Group founder has created a selection of custom graphic prints, evocative of those she designed in her heyday, on a selection of simple garments for both men and women. Personally I’ve never been able to pull off bold prints, but for the fashion-challenged like me there’s a selection of beautiful blankets available too.
