David Armstrong - Boys

Images from 'Boys' by David Armstrong. Exhibition 'Mad About the Boy' Fall 2010

Obsession - Kate Moss

Kate Moss by Mario Sorrenti for Calvin Klein (1993)

Fashion folklore states that Calvin Klein requested Mario Sorrenti to take then girlfriend Kate Moss to a remote island with no one else, and to just take photos of her for over a fortnight, alone.

The result was a collection of very pure, black and white iconic photos of Moss, without even a scrap of make up, in sun scorched tropical surroundings, naked. Some of these photographs then famously went on to front the new campaign for Obsession, and properly launched Moss' career into supermodel stardom. It was this campaign that also sparked the controversy surrounding Moss and her success, attributing it to glamorising anorexia and herself unknowingly fronting the heroin chic trend at the time, which was taken so seriously that even Bill Clinton spoke out against this 'craze'.

For me, these images are some of my favourite of Moss. They represent the turn in the fashion industry, one instigated by Corinne Day, but took a couple of years and a big designer like Calvin Klein to finalise it. I love them because they remind me of hot summers and they are very pure, perfect for their time. Personally they remind me of being 15, 16. My interest with Kate Moss began around then and when I had started working, aftershaves by Calvin Klein were the most popular to want. My first ever boyfriend bought me CKb, and whenever I smell this now quite dated fragrance, it's similar to seeing these photos. But that's a whole different story...

Lady Quinlivan

Friends in Wales

Amy Winehouse 1983 - 2011

I've never been a huge fan of Amy Winehouse, yet you would be ridiculous to deny that she had talent. I enjoyed her music, bought 'Back to Black', and thought she was cool and fresh for the time. I don't think I have ever met anyone who really disliked her music. Unfortunately for her, the media took over and distracted us away from the talent to document a rather ugly downfall.

My memory of Amy Winehouse's music is associated with the end of my time in Manchester, between 2006 and 2007. A friend said he thought she was amazing, and that she was always getting pissed, and when everyone heard 'Rehab', no one ever forgot the catchy song and her amazing voice. It evokes a sunny time and a time where, ironically now, we all felt invincible and did a lot of drugs.

RIP Amy Winehouse

The Lawrence Tree

The Lawrence Tree by Georgia O'Keeffe, 1929

I recently wrote about stars, and this is one of my favourite paintings not because of the tree but of the stars around it.

This painting in the past has often been hung incorrectly, because of the perspective of the tree. O'Keeffe painted it as if looking up at it when lying down, which she did, on a wooden bench. To some people, it looks upside down, but that's how it was painted.

I love it because I love trees and I love stars and it reminds me of the tree I used to climb and again looking up at the stars at night during the summer, thinking about the vastness of the world and the universe and how there is so much to see and so much we don't know about.

DSquared A/W 2011/12

Especially love those braces

Mother II

STYLE ICONS

Mexican Tranny Chili-Con-Carnage Night

It's been an alright week, but my computer has a virus so I haven't had a chance to write on my blog or do anything. I know nothing about computers, and when something like that happens ordinarily I get my dad to fix it, but these days I try to avoid getting my dad to do anything that he can moan at me for, so I haven't been able to even switch it on. David said he'd fix it when he comes back to visit in two weeks, so it should be okay. David knows loads about computers. He did a degree in Nerdology... I mean Computer Science. Or maybe it was I.T. Whatever.

Anyway, it's been an interesting test as recently I've been harping on about going back to nature, and spending more time doing things that are practically and spiritually productive. I've been wanting to spend less time sitting infront of the computer, and would like to get rid of my facebook as I think it's a really bad habit that I check it first thing when I get home. It will also motivate me to keep in touch with people properly, by seeing them. It will also sift out the friends from the 'friends'. Not that it bothers me or is important, but Facebook has more times than not given me a false sense of attachment to people I actually never see.

So this week I've not been on the computer once. I've actually been sleeping better. I have read, and really got my energies into the Gay Tarot cards by shuffling and reading from them every night. I've also watched some films. I watched 'IT', it's really long and as a child it really scared the shit out of me. Watching it all the way through made me realise it's quite shit, and the acting was good in an over the top way, but I really enjoy it. Saying that, I'm still annoyed my computer is broken, and it doesn't change the fact that I want an Apple Mac lap-top.

Anyway, pay day saw the much anticipated Mexican Night 'Chili-Con-Carnage' where we had nachos and cocktails and I tried my hand at 'food photography'. We wore genuine sombreros and fake moustaches. At the beginning, it seemed all quite nice and standard, but the party back at mine turned into a tranny fest and as you can see from the photos, a slightly trashed living room. I woke up to music still on, doors and windows all wide open and candles still burning on the window sill and in the garden. I treated my guests to rehydrating ice water and bacon and eggs with fried bread. It was great to see FiFi after so long, she'd been to Sonar and saw Surgeon. My hangover has hit me now and I've eaten some chips, so I will leave you with the best photos from the night.

Do you trip on love? Do you run from magic?

pics - windows from alternate points of view

Darling, will you ever learn? The grass is always greener, it's everywhere you turn.

selection of pictures in manchester depicting the stages of my life there between the years 2003 and 2007 with musical references to what was being listened to at the time and locations in order to where was being frequented at the time

oxford st
big hands
via fossa
satans hollows
5th ave
cathedral/cross street
poptastic princess street
plattfields park
the rampant lion
birchfields road

An Oost, Ghent, and the beauty of Europe (part 1)

I used to be a huge fan of An Oost and just read an interesting (and recent) blog involving her. Read it here.

An Oost

It was around 2000 and 2001 when I started noticing models like An and Anouck Lepere in the editorials of Vogue and The Face which I had started to read and collect. A 'Belgian Model' explosion it was called around then, where a lot of butch, fierce looking girls dominated the catwalks of shows with equally butch and fierce collections at the time, from designers such as Dior, Luella and Ann Demeulemeester.

Ghent, Belgium, at night.

Oost now runs a bed and breakfast in her hometown, Ghent. I think I'd like to visit this place, along with the break planned in Amsterdam. Since David has been in Oslo, plans have emerged to visit parts of Europe that are a bit unusual, and I am looking forward to visiting Tromsø to see the Northern Lights sometime this year. It truly looks like a magical experience.

Northern lights

David writes frequently about his new life in Oslo, and his blog can be read here.

Lush Factory Visit

Yesterday I went to Poole to the Lush factory for a tour. The journey took hours and we got to stay in a nice little hotel called The Antelope. We got there quite late due to delays so we managed to grab a beer and a burger from a Wetherspoons just before it stopped serving. I had a long shower and some tea and wrote a letter I probably won't send and had a not too great nights sleep. I did take a photo for my 365 project but I looked like a pervert, I blame the glasses. I didn't really see the point, I was annoyed because I didn't get the chance today or yesterday to eat anything proper but instead spent 5 hours on a train each way, and I hate traveling on stinky British trains.

I've always wondered what the Lush factory would be like. In a fantastical view I imagined it to be a bit like a yellow brick factory perched on the coast, with big chimneys like the Battersea power station and a huge lush sign with all sort of magic going on inside. Realistically I imagined it to be happy and a bit more colourful, and still by the sea. I imagined it to be like this focal point of Poole. I imagine the factory workers to almost be like the shop staff and for the tour to be this organised trove of fun. It in real reality, was a bit dull. I was intrigued to see the size of machinery and the strength it takes to actually make some of stuff, but it gave me a true insight into the workings of a factory, and whether your packing meat or making shampoo, it's still a factory, and it made me feel horribly lucky that I have worked in a selection of good places and at least got a chance to go to university and can technically in time have my choice of a career that'd I'd be interested in. I sometimes feel helpless in that arena and am quick at dismissing myself as useless and always bad at any job I've done, but a lot was put into perspective. I feel bad for this because it sounds like I've looked down at people to make myself feel better but it hasn't. We all get paid the same, they probably actually get more. It just made me see stuff I was blind to about myself before.

Anyway, I'm back now. Poole is really unimpressive and dull. The harbour wasn't that great. What I saw seemed to be just an uninteresting, typical coastal town with some really ugly brutal 1960s concrete buildings. But I can hardly talk... being from Birmingham (sort of).

I've also decided to write a handwritten diary again. It helps to clear my warped mind.

Books

Funny Picture of the Week: only cats allowed

Only for cats