the other side.

sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend but i was rather a busy bee doing lots of reading for my dissertation and writing my first post for a blog i've been asked to contribute to. the blog is for the other side magazine and it's all really rather fab. after you've had a sneaky peek at my post i recommend stopping and browsing through the rest that's there.

my post is all about my good friend, camilla seckin, who has been doing rather well for herself over the last few months. the image at the top is taken from the latest exhibition that she's been working on. of course, my post at the other side magazine blog will tell you more... (hint: go there and read it please)

so besides my shameless self-promotion there is of course a MA related reason why i've been so keen to get involved with the other side magazine. all content is contributor driven. you contribute to the blog and your work could be in the magazine which is printed and distributed right across london. it's described as being london's only "blogzine" giving the chance to aspiring writers and fellow creatives to get their work out there in the big wide world. it's a really fabulous, contemporary way to deliver magazine content and i am completely fascinated by it.

being brave enough to allow contributors to post what about what they want whether that be art, photography, culture, fashion, illustration or.... anything keeps a daily updated blog ticking away whilst enabling a beautifully crafted magazine to be created for an audience of publication lovers (i.e. fashion publication obsessives like me) and, all the while, providing a forum for creativity to be presented outside the artist's diary/ sketchbook/ canvas/ memory stick.

the lovely people at the other side magazine are really making a strong attempt to capture the imagination of it's potential readers and contributors in an ever changing media landscape. i haven't seen anything quite exactly like this before and i love it. (and i'm very excited that i'm involved in it too.)

the i-pad saga continues...

another team i-pad update it would seem. and i like this one very much. econsultancy's article is spot on with one very wonderful and very apt observation...

"...by focusing on creating publications solely for a particular type of device, Murdoch and Branson are ignoring the fact that we live in a multi-channel, multi-platform world..."

exactly. my. point.

why on earth produce an "i-newspaper" or a digital magazine exclusive to one type of e-reader/ tablet computer device?! you are effectively alienating a mass potential audience. not everyone is an apple user, like not everyone uses a nokia phone or a dell computer, for example.

whilst i am sure murdoch and branson are confident enough that their high profile names and big business assets will draw the flock to the i-pad and their exclusive i-pad applications, it is naive of them to ignore the importance of user centred/ friendly design in terms of how they present their publication.

consumers demand choice and flexibility... with this venture it seems they'll have to deal with limitations. and i'm pretty sure they won't deal with them for too long.

the royal "we".

i hate bringing up the topic of the royal wedding, as i am sick to death of it as i'm sure you all are, but through my sleepy-dust caked peepers this morning a little snippet caught my eye on the bbc news.

ten days following the announcement of their engagement, a book about kate and wills is to be sold in bookshops, supermarkets and other such retail outlets across the land. this is the very first one apparently with seven more currently in the making and more on the way nearer the time of the wedding.

talk on the news this morning focused on how this book would kind of sit alongside the good old cups, plates and tea towel ensemble in terms of commemorative use. the most interesting thing spoken about between the bbc journalist and the very eager publisher was the fact that a book was considered over any sort of commemorative electronic publication straight away.

the publisher cited the reason for this being that people want something physical to own. they crave the book as a collector's item, something that they can leaf through at their own leisure, maybe not even immediately, but perhaps a few years after the event has passed. an electronic resource would not cut it at this point.

to me it seems the kind of people that demand this type of commemorative book would be part of that patriotic, monarchy-obsessed section of society. like having the book, despite the inevitable poor quality of content (no book put together in ten days is going to be a literary masterpiece), is a status symbol that allows one to be part of their exclusive tribe. this is the most fascinating part of the whole thing.

i know i won't be buying this book... but i like the idea of tribes and books.

well... this just changes everything.

with big thanks to the lovely band thomas tantrum for pointing this out to me, i have been alerted that the big b isn't the only one delving into an ipad only publication...

rupert murdoch has teamed up with steve jobs, aka mr.apple himself, to create the world's first "iNewspaper" exclusive to the ipad. the guardian article confirms that this digital newspaper will not be available in a print or web edition. apparently it was mr. murdoch that came up with the idea after reading a study that showed that, compararitively, people spent longer immersed in their ipads than they did on the internet (where "unfocused surfing" is more typical).

it's thought that ipad users can subscribe to the iNewspaper in a similar way to how music is purchased on itunes. given the fact that itunes monopolises music prices in the music industry, it's doubtful that publishers will want to see the same thing happen with this type of digital publishing and have every right to remain cautious at this point.

unless there some serious competition comes along with something very special indeed, it seems inevitable that the ipad will do for tablet computing/ publishing the same as the ipod did for digital music. with a projected 40 million ipads in circulation by the end of 2011, it seems that another apple revolution is on it's way.

can anyone stop them?! answers on a ipad app please.

Branson's big idea for a little i-pad mag.

so richard branson and his brilliance in entrepreneurship have struck once again. branson is set to unveil plans for a new i-pad only magazine according to mashable.

when first leaked in july, the magazine was said to be about "new creative, business and technological ideas" but further speculation suggests that it could just be a digital in-flight magazine for branson to showcase on virgin flights.

nevertheless, i find the specified and sole use of the i-pad to publish a magazine to be quite intriguing and maybe a little bit strange...

to think that it wouldn't have a sister blog, website or even paper version seems to make the digital magazine appear almost isolated. if it is just a digital in-flight magazine i guess this wouldn't matter as much but if you had another device (similar to but not the same as the apple brand) would this mean that you'd miss out on reading the articles your smug i-pad equipped fellow passengers have access to?

bit of a strange one... not sure what i think at this point. comments and feedback welcomes as always.

Fashion Media Conference: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

whilst this is a little late, i did want to comment on it... so i am. last month, the london college of fashion held a fashion media conference that brought together leading experts to discuss the key issues that are facing fashion media and communications today and consider them in relation to historical and future media cultures.

sounds like something i should have been in the audience for doesn't it?

unfortunately i found out about it all too late and was unable to get myself a ticket in time. gosh and darn it quite frankly.

put together by penny martin, editor of the gentlewoman, and dr. djurdja bartlett, of the lcf, it involved presentations papers from many influential academic figures in fashion including dr. agnes rocamora of the lcf, who is currently putting together the first comprehensive study of fashion blogging.

so it all sounded very interesting and i obviously got very excited about it all due to it's fashion media content but there are lots of things about it that niggle me.

when one googles about the fashion media conference there are, of course, lots of references that pop up but at no point will you find an official blog or website dedicated to the conference. this boggles my brain considering that this conference is meant to be about contemporary fashion media... you'd think that they at least set up a blog about it?!

also... one month on and there doesn't seem to be any videos or recordings taken from the conference that can be accessed online. why not? you'd think that they would want to get the conversation out there. what is happening in the world of fashion media?

finally... and this seems to be the most telling of the lot... despite the obviously brilliant presentations that were on show on the day, i can't help but feel the majority of presentation topics had very tenuous links to the actual discussion at hand.

overall the fashion media conference seemed to offer an academic point of view of their own personal research all gathered up and labelled as a discussion of contemporary fashion media in relation to historical and future media cultures even if their research possessed the most tenuous of links. maybe i'm wrong? perhaps someone that was there could correct me?

however, in my opinion, perhaps a london edition of the future of fashion blogging conference by the Independent Fashion Bloggers network would have been a lot more useful, accessible and relevant. here's hoping they come to london next time.

can't get no satisfaction.

so my morning of searching and achieving was a little bit of anti-climax. my trip to hobby craft did not find me the wool i wanted... it was all sold out. then i thought, well i could always buy that crochet book i've been after. so for about ten minutes i took apart the book/magazine area trying in vain to find it. of course it wasn't there. the thought of asking some smug 18 year old sales assistant if it was out the back did not appeal to me but oh.... my dear mother, no she thought it was the best idea in the world. so the smug 18 year old sales assistant with uber floppy hair told us if it wasn't there on the shelf it wouldn't be out the back but insisted that if he went through the same ten minute search that i had just endured as he was more likely to find it (probably with the power of his floppy hair). ten minutes later and a very impatient me managed to get the smug floppy haired one to stop searching in vain for a book that had evidently been sold out and to stop holding me up from storming back to my car with steam fuming out my ears with frustration.

then i went to the university of southampton's lovely hartley library to get my sconul access card and also get out a book i have been searching high and low for all over the place. found the book... hallelujah! so then my only task was to go and see the nice lady at the desk for my sconul card. this was straight forward enough but then... shock horror... she informed me that i couldn't take out the book that i had so needed for sooooooooo long. it was a one week loan and sconul access only entitled me to three week loan books. cue a massive sigh and a shrug of the shoulders from me... then a a barrage of muttering to myself all the way from the snazzy library turnstiles back to the car.

then i had to take my mother to the range. if you have ever had the pleasure (and i use this word with much emphasised sarcasm) of doing this then you will know how the urge to rip out my own eyeballs was rather pressing. i like the range as much as the next person for about twenty minutes to half an hour tops but AN HOUR AND A HALF with an indecisive mother is enough to try anyone's patience. fortunately i am used to being exuding an air of patience as part of my part-time job is teaching 90 year olds how to control a mouse so my mother was blissfully unaware of my frustration. how lovely.

so back home, i get to eat some homemade soup for lunch and now i am working happily away on some bits and bobs. still need that book though... if anyone knows of any online source i can get the time of the tribes by michel maffesoli then please give me a heads up. i will be eternally grateful.

right... back to cv tweaking and singing along (badly) to roxy music.

the distractions of knitting.

so i know i have been quiet of late but i have been trying my very best to find three very interesting and very needed books for my dissertation. and also knitting...

my time has been taken up with finding books, reading them, making notes on them... and then knitting.

i have also been revamping my cv and will be attempting to contact people i would like to work for in this week to come. i'm looking for freelance work really, with publications that are pioneering the way in new and different ways of fashion publication. whether they are these wonderful style mags that i can normally be found salivating over in a corner of magma or even in mike's newsagents near my work... or the usual gossipy weeklies that i like to indulge myself in from time to time. whatever they may be... magazines are continually evolving at the moment in many different ways and i get so excited over it i can hardly contain myself. i just want to get stuck in.

before i get into that today... i will be visiting my local hobby craft. i need some wool to finish off a christmas project for one of my friends.

knitting can be so distracting.

i'll huff and i'll puff and i'll blow your house down!

for those of you who do not know, the huffington post is an american news website which describes itself as "the internet newspaper" and has been going since 2005. have a look, see what you think... then pick a side.

it's paper versus web once again.

according to a former washington post executive... sites like the huffpost are akin to the big bad wolf. a moron who leaches off others to tower over their much cleverer little pig prey. the little pigs in question being those who work in "real" journalism for "real" papers.

what's your opinion? leave your comments and discuss. whilst you're at it... here's a useful little guardian poll on the subject.

enjoy.

popped out to get some milk.

i've been dying to upload photos for so long now. thankfully i've eventually found my camera lead thus enabling to do so... hurrah!

so back in the summer, amongst all the drama, i managed to get away for a few days to cornwall and to wales. one of the highlights of my cornwall trip was the magnificent eden project. the biomes were fabulous of course but the thing that got me most excited was the eden project's education centre, also known as the core.

its a hub of all things sustainable and eco-friendliness, lots of things to play with and read about. the best thing being the massive wall of fridges complete with fridge magnets.

everyone was clambering to get to the wall of fridges to arrange a message of their choice whether is be a "so-so was ere" message or something jokingly derogatory about their friends. it was a fascinating sight to behold and really got me thinking about my MA project.

the action of arranging a message using the fridge magnets in the way the eden crowd were desperate to do is very much comparable to the way that people constantly update their facebook/twitter/myspace etc statuses. you can't obviously write a long message in either case but you can portray enough to get attention. but, whilst using fridge magnets to display a message on a fridge wall is much more of a physical act (in that it uses more of your body than just your fingers), it's still very much ephemeral in the same way that updating your status is. someone can come along and start rearranging your carefully placed letters as soon as you walk away, it's never permanent.

and so my thought process tumbles along (also very good example of design being used for something it wasn't originally intended to do!)... could i possibly use something inspired by this in my final project solution? hmm...

also got a quite nice pic of the centre piece of the core called the seed. it's one of the largest sculptures ever to be made from one single piece of rock.

very imposing and impressive up close.

Kate Moss in 3D

just when i thought that i had seen kate moss from every possible angle, pose and compromising position that she could possibly be seen in, here comes a film that made me exclaim in a granny- esque way, "i've seen it all now".

another magazine present a collaborative effort between moss and filmmaker, baillie walsh, (who previously worked together on a holographic film for Alexander McQueen's AW 06 show) hailed as the world's first 3D fashion film. cleverly enough, you can get the accompanying 3D glasses needed to view this vid in the latest issue of another. it's also a perfect opportunity to recycle your 3D specs from avatar. failing all of that, it still looks pretty ace without any specs at all.

click to see KM3D-1. is this the future of fashion publishing? let me know your thoughts.

don't panic.

in my undergraduate days i spent forever trudging around london collecting as many free fanzines and mags etc. that i could find/ lug back to chatham on the train. part of the many things i used to collect, and what predominantly adorned the walls of my modest student room, were the posters from the stuffed brown don't panic envelopes swiped from the boutiques of kingly court and carnaby street.

don't panic has been going to for a decade now and is being celebrated in the form of an exhibition at the old truman brewery. dazed digital features a short piece on it with some images to wet your appetite.

exhibition opens from tomorrow and runs until 3rd october.

***EDIT*** Go here for pics from the opening night.

unlike cinderella, i didn't get to go to london fashion week.

so obviously my invitations to the shows at london fashion week were lost in the post, there's no other explanation for it is there surely?! whilst the lure of the catwalk has always been laced with excitement for me (despite how cool i try to be about it) i always find what people are wearing on the streets much more exciting that what i'll ever see on the catwalk.

not being able to be in london hasn't stop me appreciating the weird and wonderful outfit concoctions of the industry insiders and hangers on due to the wealth of blogging dedicated to the parade. my favourite post featured on amelia's magazine blog. written and photographed by matt bramford, the post is beautifully witty, filled with street pics and made me chuckle muchly. susie lau also does great lfw coverage as per (i think everyone is now fully aware of how much i love her- it's a given).

missing out on the lfw shows doesn't mean i've missed them altogether though. and neither have you thanks to the wonders of technology. the official lfw website has a wonderful digital schedule where you can click a button and be magically transported to the front row... well... you get to see the video of the show at least. i'm currently loving hannah marshall, who i think every other industry insider is getting excited about right now. her show this year may have stuck to the dark side of the colour spectrum but showcased exquisite uses of clashing textures (leather, fur, velvet) and fantastic geometric, body-con design features.

and yes, whilst i didn't want to make a big deal of it, i realise that i can't just sneak back to blog without some explanation of my prolonged absence. let's just say that the summer was eaten up by too many family health problems and situations that i needed to be present for. pretty much everything stole me away. now that everything's calmed down and i've constructed a suitable timetable to organise my (sometimes too many) goings on, you'll see more of me.

writer's block.

i have had writer's block for what seems to have been a considerable amount of time now. i know what i've wanted to write, i know what i've been researching and what i want to research... and i know that i should keep doing it. however. sit me down in front of my laptop and my mind turns to jelly. every single thought and idea i had about five minutes before literally disappears in a puff of smoke. there have been times that i've been sat there with my cup of tea and literally stared at my blog editing screen for what seems like forever.

i've tried to figure out what it is and i think i've hit on several things. 1) stressing about other annoying life matters, 2) my nomadism, 3) having too much clutter and 4) lack of inspiration.

and my problem with these has been that i have let them become problems. now, i've decided to head at things straight on and just get on and deal. oh yes, oh yay.

i also feel that sometimes a blank screen on a laptop can be rather daunting. so i'm thinking that i could do with some blank pages of sketchbook. i have desire for something more visual at the moment and i think that the visual could kickstart my enthusiasm and motivation for the wordy.

i'm going back to the drawing board.

never thought i'd hear myself say this.

whilst i will admit to looking at it everyday for a brief 15 minutes in morning or at lunch time it's very rare that you would find me actually talking about or even reflecting upon what i've read on the MSN homepage. today a little article caught my eye and started the cogs of my mind whirring away. MSN has presented a short picture article of current everyday gadgets that could soon be extinct to honour the inevitable demise of the humble floppy disk. this comes as sony have announced that production of the floppy disk is due to cease by march 2011.

the image of the floppy disk reminds me of the excitement i felt as my family got our first PC in 1996 (pre social networking, blogging etc. 1996 was definitely all about the AOL teen chatrooms). we used to have hundreds of the things cluttering up the place with numerous saved bits and bobs on them...who knows what and where because they were very rarely labelled. but they definitely came in handy for when i need to transfer my regular music reviews for the school paper (that would be "Tamsyn's CD Corner" as part of the "Pupil's Eye" newspaper... i kid you not) from home to school. and do you remember the sound they used to make when you'd pop one into the PC and they'd whirr into life? oh yes. those were the days.

but now back to the present day where it's rare to even see a computer with a floppy disk slot. nowadays, it's all about the USB memory stick. i remember getting my first memory stick in my first year of uni... a 2MB stick that cost forty british pounds. nowadays you can get about ten of those sticks for the same price (with undoubtably much more memory capacity). that's in just 6 years. a small example of how digital technology is becoming cheaper and more readily available for a wider audience. the USB memory stick has gone from being an investment buy that i had to ask for as part of my christmas present to being something that i can pick up in poundland (and yes i have seen them) with my toiletries and domestic cleaning products. in a little technology timeline one would see the USB memory stick replace the recordable CD replacing the floppy disk effectively replacing printed information and so on and so forth. i know it's not exact... or maybe even true. it's just me attempting to apply mcluhan theory to my mind's rambles.

going back to the MSN article, out of the list of gadgets soon to be extinct there was one that particularly caught my attention. the alarm clock. despite manufacturer's attempts to jazz it up.. people no longer want or need, what one would assume to be, the essential alarm clock. and what instead is one using on an everyday basis to get up for work/uni/school etc? the mobile phone.

the multimedia/multifunctional capabilities of the latest mobile phones, or "smart" phones, enables an individual to access a plethora of everyday modern necessities. even helping them to wake up in the morning. this use of one central item to control your whole life be it your job, social life or personal leisure time is a trend which looks likely to continue. i wonder maybe if in a hundred years time our destiny will be one similar to the human population of wall-e?

fat, anti-social slaves to technology hmmm? what do you think?

and i think i'll stop that blog there before i go off on another trail of thought.

excuses excuses.

an expensive broken down car, lack of internet and other personal difficulties have equaled a serious lack of motivation for research over the last 6 weeks. these are the reasons why i haven't updated my blog but i don't want to use them as an excuse or in fact keep using these reasons as an excuse. so its time to break the unmotivated cycle and embrace a highly motivated one. please keep a look out for a blog update later today. as usual, i would appreciate any feedback.

dis magazine.

just a short, sharp, sneaky post whilst at work today. my work colleague emailed me a great link to an interview with dis magazine. from my very quick browse it looks just up my street but i will need to read properly and dissect another time.

enjoy for now and leave me your thoughts.

ArtEz

recently, i was lucky enough to be involved in a project collaboration between my university, UCA Rochester, and ArtEz in Arnhem, The Netherlands. we visited them for Amsterdam Fashion Week (you may remember the blog in which i was anxiously pondering over what i should wear to the event?) and they came to visit us during London Fashion Week. split into four different groups we worked together through the topic of fashion as performance to come up with new concepts to revolutionise the fashion show as we know it. the project was very fun and gave me the chance to meet some wonderful creative individuals who were also tonnes of fun.

my tutor emailed a link to a blog about the ArtEz students own work about a week ago which, i must confess, i have only sneaked a peek at today. to my delight and surprise, the work shown are mood movies by the MA fashion strategy students in reaction to the project title "the future of visual communication in fashion". much for me to mull over and be inspired by. may even think about making my own little mood movie myself.

enjoy.

*** just read that susie bubble has quit her role as commissioning editor at dazed digital. whilst not upset, i always thought that her taking on that role gave hope to bloggers everywhere and showed how bloggers were beginning to be taken seriously by the fashion industry. what's interesting about susie bubble's latest post is her remarks on how she feels the fashion industry are not as accepting of bloggers as they like to claim they are. perhaps bloggers are just a passing fashion fad and not as dominant as we first thought? or perhaps its the eternal battle of the establishment versus the revolutionary? whatever it is it, the fact that the fashion industry as seemingly reluctant to accept bloggers just proves what i always thought about the fashion industry... conformed individuality. i hope that time and continued research into this project of mine will prove it all wrong.

The future of fashion blogging.

those of you who have been with my blog since it's beginning about umm.. 5 months ago will know that i regularly read tavi gevinson's blog and am constantly in awe of how right on the money she is for a 13 year old girl. i'm not at all intending that to be patronising... it's just that i was never as stylish, knowledgable or coherant when i was 13 as she is always is. and i am (i said before and i'll say it again!) constantly in awe of it all.

anyways, the wonderful tavi has drawn my attention this week to the Independant Fashion Bloggers conference that happened during new york fashion week. a vast community of fashion bloggers were invited to the conference to discuss what they feel is the future of fashion blogging. *eureka!* how very relevant for me and my field of research.

so currently... there are lots of lovely images on the IFB website but i need more info so i'm continuing to dig for the time being. once i've found what i'm looking for i will be back to update. for the time being i would love to know your opinions on the future of fashion blogging. leave me some wonderful feedback.

it's goodnight from me, and goodnight from him.

my new found love for louis vuitton.

it often seems to me that the best things come when you're not really waiting for them... or, in fact, expecting them. today... i came into uni expecting an all day seminar/workshop on fashion branding. all very exciting i felt. so. in the little quiet time that i set aside for myself before the uni day begins, i check my email only to discover that the all day seminar/workshop that i had so been looking forward to had been cancelled as our guest tutor had succumb to an unfortunate tummy bug and instead we would be having an art and design lecture from our regular tutor. not that this was a bad thing you see but a little "oh" of disappointment did escape my lips.

about half an hour later we settled down to the lecture.... and then two hours later and we're at the end. i don't exactly know where the time went because i was so terribly engrossed with the entire thing. in fact, i almost protested that surely our tutor should be talking to us more as we simply hadn't filled the usual lecture giving time slot... then i realised we had actually surpassed it.

so today, my tutor talked to us about the relationship between art and design and the increasing synergy between the two fields. as well as brief history, we discussed the ideas of quotation/pastiche/copy & appropriation as well as focused on art within the design environment with much reference to fashion (of course... bit of a given.). there were many visuals and references to artists (fine and applied) and designers and i just wish i could gush about all of it for pages upon pages. this would, of course, make for a very boring blog.

instead... i have chosen to talk about the artist/designer combo that made me smile the most.

Takashi Murakami and Louis Vuitton.

i don't feel like i really have to give it but, just for illustrative purposes, here is an example of the kind of bag design we've all come to associate with Louis Vuitton:

and here is an example of Murakami's artwork:

and... lo and behold... this is their love child:

whilst i realise that those of you a bit more up on the knowledge about Louis Vuitton know all this and i am probably boring you half to death but i didn't know this and it fascinates me no end.

i will openly admit here and now that i am not a Louis Vuitton type of girl... never had been and never will be. in fact i would go so far as to say as the brand and the generalised chavtastic connotations that surround the brand absolutely beyond doubt repulse me. so therefore because i have never wanted to know before, i know nothing at all of the brand except the over saturation of it's logo throughout the fashion industry.

i never knew that Louis Vuitton collaborated with Takashi Murakami and i am absolutely in love with the fact that this collaboration exists. now... i will also admit my failings in never really knowing who Murakami is before today BUT i know i love his work being hopelessly in love with anime that i am (yet again... i know nothing of anime details i just appreciate the aesthetics). Murakami's anime style art work led to him creating an art movement known as Superflat Art. this term refers to "various flattened forms in Japanese graphic art, animation, pop culture and fine arts as well as the shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture" (wikipedia... citing Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, artnet.com ) and is a branded art phenomenon design for western audience (again, wikipedia... citing Kitty Hauser, Superflat: Kitty Hauser on fan fare, ArtForum, Oct, 2004. )

even though i love the fact that the Vuitton/Murakami collaboration exists, it's definitely NOT the final product that i appreciate most (see picture of love child above)... it's how it has been marketed to Japanese consumers.

please see the following wonderful short anime films used to promote the Murakami/Vuitton collaboration in Japan. i think you may fall in love with them as much as i did.

Superflat Monogram & Superflat First Love

also.... some images of the new shop design for Louis Vuitton in Japan.

is it any wonder why i enjoyed my lecture so much? your opinion may differ so let me know.

that's how for now.

marshall mcluhan, true life and perez hilton.

i'm being a bit naughty today. i'm still suffering from severe lack of internet at home so i'm taking the opportunity to blog whilst i'm at work (on a saturday! i always thought the perks of being a tutor were that you wouldn't have to work on saturdays... what a swizz). i can't wait for the day bt receive my housemate's cheque and decide to reconnect us. i imagine it to be a very liberating experience. but anyway... i could go on all day about the liberating experience of getting the internet back in my life... but i won't. back to the topic in hand.

i'm beginning to think this research blog is potentially the bestest idea i've had in a very long time. with my first post, i received a fantastic link to a rare audio file of Marshall McLuhan. already a great addition to my research. thanks to the author of the star larvae blog for sharing that with me.

this week i watched an interesting channel 4 documentary, my daughter grew another head and other true life stories, well... i say it was interesting, it seemed initially so anyway...

the documentary was about the phenomenon of the British "true-life" magazine industry. despite the rise of the internet, use of blogs etc as well as the rise of more coffee table or collectable magazines... "true-life" magazines have a readership over approximately 11 million every week. my brain of course went "bing! that's research right there!". so i decided that i would watch it... but it quickly turned into the sensationalist channel 4 documentary that i thought it would. there were some view points from the journalists which i found quite interesting but then it inevitably focused in on the experiences of the people who sold their stories, which wasn't why i watched the programme in the first place to be honest. by all accounts, i got increasingly irritated and switched off at the second ad break.

i mean i could be wrong... it could have got really good and i'm sure when i've got my internet up and running at home again i will catch up on 4 OD so if my opinion does change i'll eat my hat (and write an update).

in other news this week... i wrote an email to Perez Hilton. oh yes. it's of course been unanswered but hell i thought i'd give it a try. it was all in the name of research as he is arguably king of the blogging universe when all he's done is essentially make a career out of bitching about famous people. i think he is a bit like marmite and katie price... you either love him or hate him. either way he is certainly controversial and rather fascinating. as i have yet to hear from the horse's mouth i would love to get some opinions from you lot. feedback would be appreciated whether you love him or hate him. maybe you have a theory as to why he has become so successful? whatever... i would just love to know. leave a comment or email me should you want your opinion to remain anonymous.

anyway i guess i best get back to work... although nothing is happening right now. if you're bored and you're in the area come down to Southampton's Learning Festival to learn lots of ace new things... it will also give me something to do.

project proposal.

severe lack of internet has hindered my progress... blame the british telecom not me. so i shall now make a start by introducing you to the project that i hope to develop and explore by using my blog. be warned... it is rather long but i hope you'll take something from it. please comment with any feedback or suggestions you may have...

Title of Project:

Revolution in Fashion Publication: the struggle between analogue and digital.

Brief Description of Project:

I intend to use my main Masters project to explore how fashion publications are being influenced by advancing technology currently and predict how this influence will manifest itself in the near future. From my research, I hope to develop an innovative form of fashion publication with the hope of taking the relationship between fashion publications and information technology to the next level.

I have chosen this particular area of research as it follows on from my undergraduate dissertation “Paper VS Web: What does the future hold for traditional paper publications as the internet takes a predominant hold on our daily lives?”. My dissertation focused on the effects of internet self-publishing and the popularity of social networking sites on traditional paper publications. Research for the dissertation was based on Marshall McLuhan’s late 1960s work on the “Extensions of Man”. McLuhan’s predictions that technological development of man’s communicative extensions/tools would lead to a “global village” became the backbone to my dissertation’s conclusion. In the dissertation’s conclusion, I suggested that the internet would become an increasingly reliable cultural medium but something that we would have to learn to embrace in a different way to the printed publication. As nothing will rid man’s ability to use his legs for basic transport, no new technology will ever completely rid civilisation of the simple printed publication. New technology could enable the printed publication to grow and develop into an entity completely removed from its original intention. The Internet’s predominant hold on our lives could even encourage the printed publication to become the most creative, physical art-form in society.

Since the submission of my dissertation in January 2007, information technology has developed even further to accommodate the internet’s influence in our daily lives. Mobile devices, such as iPhones, have grown increasingly sophisticated, internet connections have become faster and personal computers have become more affordable. It has never been easier to access and contribute to the internet. The past time of internet blogging has exploded leading to fashion blogs becoming a huge commodity and a reliable form of fashion publication in their own right. However, despite this continued and rising popularity of internet publishing, printed fashion publications are still going strong evident in the introduction of Love magazine in 2009 and the rapid sell-out of it’s first issue. It seems that, despite the convenience, affordability and increasing reliability of internet publishing, people still crave the physicality of the printed publication. This poses a dilemma in terms of fashion publishing as relevant as the debate of high street fashion versus couture. Should we, as fashion followers, use the ephemeral, limitless arena of the internet to keep ourselves updated with continual fashion news and trends posted by bloggers that know what the average fashion lover wants rather than reacting to demands of advertisers treating our reading as we would a throw away Primark purchase? Or do we continue to invest in expensive yet beautifully designed printed fashion publications created by the influential players of the fashion industry treating our reading, in this instance, in the same way we would cherish a classic Chanel suit?

Faced with recession and environmental issues, both fashion publications and readers must consider the effect of their choices thus design ethics are central to the development of an innovative form of fashion publication for this project. With regards to both recession and environmental issues, the idea of recycle and reuse will also be a key factor in my research and project development as well as issues surrounding collectibility versus desposibility. I am also interested in how collage and detournement can influence the development of an innovative form of fashion publication. As we are currently caught between analogue and digital media, magazines versus blogs, surely the next logical step would be to combine the two? During research in semester one, I came across an online BBC video demonstrating the use of integrated mini screens in a paper magazine. The mini screens were being used in advertising but could also be recorded over providing opportunities for reuse and for the reader to introduce their own content to the magazine also providing opportunities for collectibility and recyclability.

When I initially researched this topic for my undergraduate dissertation, I found that there were not many academic resources I could use to inform my research. From my reading over the first semester of my Masters I have been more successful in finding academic resources and have found some key texts from which I can continue to develop upon McLuhan’s theories. “Digital Shock: Confronting the New Reality” by Herve Fischer looks at the relationship between humans and digital technology comparing the importance of the “digital revolution” to that of the discovery of fire suggesting the rise of digital media affects all aspects of human life. “The Legacy of McLuhan” presents essays and discussions on McLuhan’s theories in light of digital technological advancement of the last two decades. Both these texts have acted as good starting points in my research but I hope to build upon these with additional academic research as well as primary research.

I hope to arrange an internship to help inform my primary research. Alongside my internship, I intend to utilise the opinions of readers of both printed magazines and blogs to analyse the relationship between people and both forms of publication. I will do this through questionnaires and focus groups. Additionally to this, I hope to take inspiration from blogs and online fashion publications as well as using newspaper and magazine articles for research.

From this research, I shall compile a thorough investigation that shall lead to the development of an innovative and interactive fashion publication. I hope that the final outcome will help to take the relationship between fashion publications and information technology to the next level.

pastures new.

so my new year's resolution kinda fell by the wayside.. i haven't updated in over a month.

naughty me.

but i figure that all i can really do is say sorry and hope that you can forgive me so we can move onto better pastures new. agreed?... yes. good.

to use one of my number one LEAST favourite phrases in the world... "going forward" (urrrrgghhhh... that just sent shivers up my spine) there is to be a brand new direction for my beautiful blog. i say a brand new direction but i don't think i've ever given it any direction until right this very second. boogaloo shoes + cups of tea is about to become all about my MA project work. i know.. it's genius isn't it? i think it was what i was trying to aim for all along in my meandering writings that have always previously come to a full stop.

so... brand new spangly pastures new should see an increase in daily blogging with lots of thoughtful writings about research, project development, articles, mini projects and so on and so forth. the first blog following this one will give you all the details about my plans for the project and then we'll see how we go from there.

in sharing my work with you i hope that you'll feel free to comment on or question anything that i post. your feedback is much needed and appreciated!

so here's to the new direction. hope you enjoy it. xx

dutch courage.

i'm very excited at the moment... in a week's time i will be in amsterdam on a much anticipated trip with my fellow MA students. we have a full to the brim itinerary of fashion lectures and we will also be attending amsterdam international fashion week in the evenings which i am most excited about. i should be worrying about essentials like budgeting and preparing for the weather and so on and so forth... but instead my worries consist of a) how much luggage can i take and b) what the hell am i going to wear to fashion week?!

i'm the kind of girl who is in the perpetual state of having tonnes of clothes but never having anything to wear (despite having some really ace pieces if i do say so myself). i think the next few days need to be spent sifting through my wardrobe and much planning of outfits need to be done. i know it seems very lame of me, and i normally wouldn't care that much, but i always get super paranoid in the presence of a throng of effortlessly fashionable people. but also... comfort is a massive factor with me. i have never been one to sacrifice my comfort and the thought of being uncomfortable in the inevitable fashionable bundles and bottle-necks that are likely to occur at such events is enough to make me stay in wearing pjs and uggs in protest.

so the ultimate goal over the next few days is to curate a effortlessly fashionable yet comfortable wardrobe. i think i may need some opinions...

distinctly average.

after a long hard day of trying to get up to uni to hand in my essay and revised project proposal through the increasingly annoying snow and ice, and not being very successful at it (in fact... not at all- thank god for email and royal mail), i am currently treating myself to the network premiere of slumdog millionaire on channel 4. according to the vast majority of my housemates it is meant to be distinctly average so its just me and luke with a sofa each to ourselves enjoying the spectacle. i'm not one to buy into hype, and slumdog was pretty over hyped, but i like it. i like the colours, the subtle subtitles and the whole range of emotions i've been through so far in watching it. and... i'm nowhere near the end yet.

if this is distinctly average then i'm a very content girl snuggled under a duvet on a wednesday night. happy days.

blue monday.

today has been a test of my new year's positivity. after a series of less than positive things to overcome this morning, it all came to a head with a phone call i found very hard to make and got a less than desirable response from. the tears came a streaming and i got that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that makes me feel like i am an absolute failure in everything i do. thus i was compelled to turn to my blog and write for a while until i feel better. and it already seems to be working.

i think post christmas blues hit all of us at some point whenever that should be. apparently last year we all felt most depressed on the 19 january when they decided (i would love to know who "they" are) it was to be forever known as "blue monday". maybe things seem much worse this year when we're neck deep in recession and everything just seems to be going progressively tits up... especially for our "lost generation" of uni graduates. who knows.

what i do know is that making plans can cause things to appear much less bleak and give our much bashed about souls a much needed dose of hope. even little things that we have achieved in our day can make us feel better about the negativity rubbish that clutters us up. i'm going to take solace in the fact that despite having a pretty crappy day so far i have managed to do the washing and put it out to dry, i have managed to deal with the annoying admin things i have been putting off for a while and i have kept to my blogging non-resolution.

i have made plans too... i plan to get a certain amount of things done today so i can enjoy my evening, i plan to start booking accommodation for my eagerly anticipated summer trip to california, i plan to find a new job and i plan to kick ass on my MA this year.

it's all beginning to feel a little less blue.

happy new year.

i've missed writing in my blog. it's been way too long. and i'm very sorry. in many ways. but it's a new year so it's effectively a new start so it's time to start afresh. i would like to say that my new year's resolution is to write a new entry everyday but i fear that it will just set me up to fail. instead i think i'll just say i'll try my best to do that... and if i don't then i'll try not to beat myself up about it but get back on the wagon the next day. very much in the way of a dieter or alcoholic. ish.

continuing with the theme of new starts, i am now in a new abode. back in the arms of my boy but with additional extras... namely in the form of 5 new housemates. i think i'm bit in love with all of them. we've spend the last ten days of severe weather (slippery pavements have meant we've only ventured as far as the co-op, local pub and kfc) drinking, eating, sitting around in pjs and talking about unnecessarily disgusting porn whilst watching mighty boosh, brasseye and big train. we've made lots of plans already including a mighty boosh themed party for one of the boy's birthdays and potentially a james villas holiday. all very exciting.

besides being what can only be described as a reliving of my uni freshers week, 2010 has so far made me feel a lot better about things. the last half of 2009 was very rubbish for me and i'm determined that 2010 will not be like that. and i'm about 90% sure it won't be. of course i'd be very naive to believe that the whole year will be like the last ten days, and it would get very boring if it were all like that, but i like to think that i'll keep feeling as positive as i do now about things.

on that note. i'm off to get dressed and do some uni work. substantial new year blogging to come from tomorrow.

xx

p.s. i treated myself to a brand new macbook and i think this is gonna make it ever so easy for me to keep up my non-resolution. it's too yummy to put down.