Mary Katrantzou X Topshop SS12

My obsession with prints as well as eclectic magazine collages has been confronted with the imaginative collaboration between Mary Katrantzou and British fashion label Topshop in a marriage that can only be described as mind-numbingly colorful. In the past few weeks or so I had been looking to vintage pieces from the 1960s to feed my passion for prints as well as unusual clothing designs but it seems a more modern solution has come forth. The frenzied floral background for the photo shoot of the collection only heightens the floral passion as well as kooky patterns and there's just so much going on with each piece it's a bit hard to take in all at once. Thankfully Topshop landed in Melbourne last December so I can inspect the pieces for this exciting collection in their full glory.

It's hard to pick a favourite piece among all the designs, and I also wonder whether the patterns vary from individual sewn pieces, but I quite like the relaxed and slouchy top shown at the bottom. That's a bit more my style with a relaxed fit and I have been meaning to add a little more blue to my wardrobe.

If you want to wear something a little more casual but still floral and romantic there's comfortable shirt and also a matching leggings combination available but I think I would rather save my money for something more fancy. The mad floral print is something I admire for its unique quality but my day to day wear usually includes toned down outfits of white blouses and black jeans and maybe a cute pair of brogues. It will be interesting to see the rest of the pieces in the flesh when I take my first trip to the physical Topshop store when the Mary Katrantzou X Topshop SS12 collection becomes available.

 

Bodycon dresses aren't something that usually draw my eye, but the oriental ocean motif down the middle panel of the dress is something that has me completely captivated. There's so much blue and intricate design and wonderful crashing waves- the news of this collection was released on the 10th of February and you can receive email notification when it finally gets released. There's modern sophistication about this dress and I'm sure it would be a big hit when worn to a fashion event- for a more personal touch some thick geeky glasses could be used to add some quirk and style to such an eclectic piece.

Liesl Pfeffer's Button Badges

Fancy an affordable work of art on a small wearable scale? Why not snap up one of Leisel Pfeffer's badges?! Created from her original collages, these little button badges look great on their own or in a group. Be the curator and collate your own set!- Edition X.

This brand and these badges came to my attention by accidentally stumbling on a website selling jewellery that is more like art for another brand! I'm pretty glad I did, because I'm a fan of this type of design melting together the best of spacey prints as well as jagged linesall combining together to represent the bigger picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liesel Pfeffer has her own webiste and is an artist by trade, I'm really impressed with her website and that she admits (it hasn't always been trendy) to claim to be a 'toy photographer' using cheap plastic body cameras with a plastic lens and 120 format film to deliever incredible dreamy photographs. If a digital camera is a representation of real life and the photographs it captures are of the real and everyday, then plastic cameras and toy cameras are able to become the impressionist camera and created the memory of an event or the impression. It's like trying to write a jorunal entry a week after an event has occured- everything's a little bit different and tweaked and you focus on different aspects unevenly.

 

This is an extract from her website:

"My name is Liesl Pfeffer and I'm a photo-media artist from Melbourne, Australia. I make collages from toy camera photos, vintage fabric and drawings. I also shoot street photography with Polaroid, Holga and Canon Demi cameras.
I have exhibited in solo and curated shows in Australia since 2005. Online I've been featured on Art Milk, Design for Mankind, Modish, Papernstitch, Poppytalk, The Design Files and the Etsy home page treasury. Links to articles are on my PRESS page.
EXHIBITIONS
I currently have new work HEARTS AND ARROWS on exhibition at KINGS ARI in Melbourne until 19 November 2011. For more details have a look at the KINGS website."

Her atwork is captured onto these larbe button badges for you to wear, maybe even promote her? Heck, I might even do it. Anyone who is a toy photographer and is living the dream is someone who I admire. I loved drawing as a child but never honed any skills and culmintaed it into something useful. Also I had crappy art teachers in high school who were away constantly. I admire people who aren't pretentios drop-outs and who actually have unique pieces they want to bring to the world. Art is just so unstable though as a job and I learned to become afraid of it.

Her badges have a natural element about them, she creates mountains, hot air balloons and miniature lakes surrounded by cliffs all in the chopped and cute tradition of new age art. She melts and mixes the colours really well together. I don't know what it is that I like about this type of jagged collage art but there's something well balanced about Liesel Pfeffer's work. She uses photographs she takes herself of the sky and clouds, sunsets, light-leak soaked pictures of pavement and asphalt, as well as landscape photograph. Judging by the better quality of these pieces from her website, she must use her plastic photograph and incorporates them into her artwork! I've never seen toy cameras used in such a way and I'm really jealouse of her ingeniuty and bright ideas. With more pioneers of toy photography using it as part of their artwork, I'd love to see light-leak and dreamy photographs reach higher acclaim. One can only hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn your shirts into the canvas for Liesel Pfeffer's wonderful work and head on over to Edition X or her website to suss out her imaginative and adorable badges!

Available here at Edition X Jewels.