Posted by admin on Dec 7, 2011 in
news,
style,
technology
We all come in different shapes and sizes but this isn’t often very well represented by the mainstream media. Sure, we have ‘real life’ features where the women have been Photoshopped orange with a glossy veneer (a’la TOWIE) or we can read gritty down and out stories where everything looks tinged with canal water, but how about some variety in shop windows and magazine advertisements?
I’ve previously looked at the rise and insanity of vanity sizing, where you see how retailers pretty much create their own dress size guidelines, and I’d like to show people just what a size 12 actually looks like- and then we can see how much we all vary from the ‘guidelines’. Remember, clothes sizes are not life sentences and garments are cut in order to cater to mass markets- we are all individuals and let’s start looking at our bodies that way. OK, if we all wore custom made garments that would be horrifically expensive but we can share how we vary in size on a website called My Body Gallery
The website works on a easy to understand premise where user submissions make up the bulk of its content. You click a few buttons and share your weight, height, dress size and more and voila, your image has been added to their database. The fun really starts when you start sifting through the pictures they have on offer and start analyzing how women of the same basic specs can differ greatly in dimensions. Read more…
Tags: My Body Gallery, Real Women sizing
Posted by admin on Oct 28, 2011 in
geekery,
style 
New Era is known for their caps, producing approximately 35 million per year, and they supply all the Major League baseball teams. New Era Introducing is their global way of nurturing new talent with a competition based around created a statement using the New Era 59FIFTY caps as the starting point. They’ve just announced the inner of this years competition and there are some pretty amazing New Era hats to feast your eyes on.
Entrants came from all over the world, as the participating countries were the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Students from all these nations have spent the last few months creating unusual hat designs, and now the judges have finally chosen a winner.
To be honest, I think every entrant is a winner, and not in a ‘it’s the taking part that counts’, soppy way, but more, ‘would you look at the talent these kids have?’. Two of my favourite designs are featured above, a cute teddy bear cap, designed by UK artist Matt Saunders and a geek chic typewriter hat created by Spanish artist Pol.
Read more…
Tags: Lina Al-Amoudi, New Era Introducing
Posted by admin on Oct 27, 2011 in
geekery,
style
I love it when people create work that is not only visually attractive but also makes a statement, and the Patterns of Science project by Ian Addison Hall fits this remit. Inspired by the similarities between human DNA and retro imagery, Ian created a series of pictures that used catalogues from the 50′s as a starting point. You get to see a large amount of nostalgic prints with a twist, as Addison Hall has re-imagined classic images by extending the print of the clothes to cover the whole of the models body. He says this is because ‘Using vintage catalogue imagery, each piece in this series explores the relationship between the patterns that exist in fashion and the patterns that comprise human genetic’.
The idea is that by replacing the models skin with textile prints, you get to re-imagine the models whole body as if looking at their genetic makeup, and there is a certain resemblance between DNA prints and the way that these retro flowers cover up the female forms. Read more…
Tags: Ian Addison Hall, Patterns Of Science
Posted by admin on Sep 6, 2011 in
geekery,
style 
I like wrist candy as much as the next lady, but I like to tell the time geek style. This tends to mean complicated binary systems and watches where you actually need a manual to decode the time, but hey, who doesn’t suffer for true geekdom? To make purchasing your next watch a little bit easier I’ve created my top ten geek watch brands- all which offers styles suitable for both men and women. Yes, watches are unisex in general (minus those with unsightly pink sparklies) but women have more delicate wrists so sometimes it’s good to also be catered for. From the big brands such as Tokyoflash to newer makes that are starting to get into geekery, I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible. Get ready to drool…
Ziiiro Watches
This brand may be hard to spell and pronounce (they like you to say Zero) and their main selling point is that their watches lack any hands or obvious time markings at all. The minimalist design does allow you to read the time, but you do so by focusing on the pattern of rings inside the clock face, as the coloured swirls indicate the passing of time. Might be a little trippy to start with, but the simplicity is very attractive and they come in a lot of colour combinations. They were created by Robert Dabi, a German designer, and there are a number of models available.
My favourite is the Ziiiro Mercury (far left) which comes in four colourways. The inner swirl tip denotes the hour and the outer blue swirl is the minutes- and the watch colours will constantly be moving, in a rhythmic, almost ocean like motion. The Ziiro Orbit (bottom right corner) uses a ‘planetary’ display for time, whereby the hour and minutes revolve around each other,the coloured orb representing hours and the white orb displaying the minutes. You kind of get the idea now right- once you’ve got your head around this concept I think you;d really start to enjoy using these pretty timepieces.
Prices start at Euro 129 plus shipping. Read more…
Tags: Black Dice, gadget watch, geek timepiece, geek watch, nerd watch, Nooka, Rebel Swap, Tokyoflash, Ziiiro
Posted by admin on Aug 22, 2011 in
geekery,
lists,
style 
In the last year I’ve become a huge fan of mopeds. This stems from having got one and discovering how free I feel when driving, the fact that traffic is now a game of Tetris rather than an angry throbbing in my temples and feeling the wind whip my hair as I zoom away incredibly liberating. In order to celebrate my love of all things moped/scooter (different names for different countries) I thought I’d do a small celebratory piece on how a moped devotee can bring their enthusiasm for the two wheeled treasure into every aspect of their life.
iScoot Charm Necklace
This pretty necklace is a perfect way to highlight your two wheeled preferences, as well as being sweetly decorative as well. Created in sterling silver it’s a sweet charm that I’d be happy to wear. $38 from Juella Designs
Christmas tree Scooter Ornament
Decorate your tree scooter style with these sweet ornaments. There are a variety of colours to choose from so you can match it to your bike! Read more…
Tags: moped, scooter, vespa necklace
Posted by admin on Aug 18, 2011 in
geekery,
style 
Fashion Week A/W 2011 is looming on the horizon, and I’ve just spotted a great way to ease yourself into the coming month of non stop catwalk collections. Illustrator Yiyung Lu had designed ten fashion icons with embedded QR codes, and this is one of the prettiest-and stylish- QR mash ups I’ve seen. For the uninitiated, a QR (stands for Quick Response) code is a small matrix barcode that can be read by any device with a QR reader. Today most mobile phones are equipped with this capability- and it’s very easy to download a free QR reader from the relevant App store. You open the app, hold your phone over the image, and the QR reader reveals what’s encoded within the QR code- which can be anything from playing a video, to redirecting you to a website.
Yiying Lu has drawn ten people that Meets Obsession Magazine deems the most interesting in fashion, and they range from high profile editor Anna Wintour and Chloe Sevigny to the Olsen twins (make of that what you will) and Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel. These QR codes will reveal the biographies of those pictured and images of them, letting you brush up on the current ‘Who’s Who‘ of style. Read more…
Tags: QR Anna Wintour, QR fashion, Yiying lu
Posted by admin on Aug 3, 2011 in
geekery,
style 
Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m fairly obsessed with rings, the more unique the better. I was initially drawn to the Waveform rings because of their distinctive design- I like the combination of the simple band with the laser cut element. When I realized that the laser cut hollow actually reflected a recorded sound wave I was over the moon. This is exactly the kind of jewellery I love, unique, beautiful and a little bit geeky.
Sakura Koshimizu has created a line of pretty pieces called the ‘Waveform Series’. What he does is take beautiful pieces of precious metals and then laser etches out a pre recorded soundwave. The ‘I do’ rings are perfect for a wedding, as he’ll transcribe your loved ones recording exactly. He makes them out of 18k white and yellow gold or silver.
He also has some more ‘fun’ pieces, where he has captured yawns, giggles and sneezes and combined them with precious metal. I think they’re stunning, and such a novel concept. If only he’d do a line of swear words… Read more…
Tags: sakurako shimizu, Waveform ring
