Wimbledon & Alex Noble

I'm lucky enough to be off to Wimbledon and Centre Court again this year! Last year we saw Federer and Djokovic on opening day and tomorrow hopefully we'll see Nadal (swoon) and Murray (not at all swoon).   I am eagerly waiting for the order of play to come out and planning my ever so english picnic/packed lunch.

With the whole wearing whites at Wimbledon and it being a sport there really isn't too much to see fashion wise.  The Williams sisters have always made an effort with their earrings and necklaces, and in recent years Federer has been getting into the spirit with his white blazer, but until the arrival of American, Bethanie Mattek- Sands we didn't know what we were missing.  Aparrently she's been making fashion waves on the circuit but it wasn't until she turned up for the pre Wimbledon Ball that I think any of us knew who she was, we sure do now...

So the dress was designed by Alex Noble who also works under Haus of Gaga.  He also designed this jacket for her first match, which she lost, so now we'll never know how she would of evolved over the two weeks. I like to think it would of got even crazier, nothing wrong with a bit of craziness! Great little article with Alex Noble about these creations can be found here

I knew that Alex had designed for Lady Gaga but I wasn't too sure exactly what, so after some investigation these are my favourites.  I really like his work, it's very diverse, but then I guess for Gaga you need to be!

Alex's blog can be found her http://allisalexnoble.blogspot.com/

Now all I have do is keep praying it doesn't rain tomorrow, fingers crossed

Resisting the urge to spend

I made a pact with myself to try not buy any more clothes/shoes/jewellery etc this month as I have far too many clothes that I dont wear and I want to save as much money as I can for fun summer adventures. 
So god knows what I was doing looking at the Topshop site, at winter jackets! I know! Madness! Actually not sure whats wrong with me, I just love coats so much.  But I seriously should know better when it comes to Topshop, especially having worked there that one dip into the waters and you suddenly want and need everything you see.  I'm feeling particularly proud of myself though as I resisted, I mean I'm crazy, but I'm not that crazy.  So here are my picks that I need to stop lusting after, especially the top two...

Topshop £68

Topshop £85

Topshop £80

Topshop £70

Silver Balls & Yaoi Kusama

On the way to work the other day I came across these silver mirror balls on Godliman Street just off St Pauls Churchyard that have popped up in the last 2 weeks.  I've tried to find some information on them nearby and when that proved fruitless I tried to find some info online but so far nada, they are proving to be a real little mystery.

The first thing that struck me about them was how much they reminded me of Anish Kapoor's mirror tree which was at The Royal Academy a few years back which I absolutely loved. I'd much rather have that for the Olympics than the garish red helter skelter!

And the second thing that sprung to mind was Narcissus Garden by Yaoi Kusama, it's uncanny right?!  

I don't really know much about Yayoi Kusama so I've been doing some research and I've slowly become fascinated by her. Short story is, she's a Japanese Artist who moved to America in the 1960's and was part of the Pop Art movement using polka dots and motifs in paintings, collages, installations, body painting etc. She now lives voluntarily in a mental hospital in Japan where she continues to produce work. A really interesting interview with her can be found here and thats her below.

I think part of what is so striking about her work is the echoes that we just saw on the A/W 2011 catwalks, in particular the polka dots of Marc Jacobs and the whole shebang of Louise Gary from the face painting to the painting of the runway!

"Painting bodies with the patterns of Kusamas hallucinations obliterated their individual selves and returned them to the infinite universe. This is magic."