February 2018 - London

February was London Fashion Week month – which I love, because it is a very exciting event for a creative person. I have a couple of goals surrounding it: showing up (mainly in the streets, as it seems to be the rawest place for creativity), meeting like-minded people (to befriend, collaborate with or do any kind of artistic project together) and absorbing the energy and creativity of it all. The event is the perfect occasion for all that because I am definitely not the only one to go for these reasons. Also, I have been working on my representation as a male/designer/artist for a couple of years now and this is the perfect opportunity to challenge my creativity and come up with new ideas/outfits and plenty of experimentation.

 

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This February 2018, I was able to go every day but one, which meant I "had" to come up with four different looks. There were two new blazers I had never worn or customised before: one blue and one hot pink. So I thought I could play with colour and gender (blue boy/pink girl) and build my looks around them. When I think about it, I usually build my looks around my blazers. I found the silhouette I think suits me best in 2015 and I am mainly sticking to it, but trying to evolve and experiment with other shapes a bit more. I had another blazer in baby pink that I started customising and wore at the "Wearing Wellbeing" conference. So I thought: "OK I have two pink looks, now I need two blue looks!" So I chose to build a look around the beautiful blue/purple kimono Carmen Bury gifted me through Sue Kreitzman in January for the second blue look.

 

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London Fashion Week – day 2 – Saturday 17th of February

For my first day, I wore the hot pink blazer bare, although I replaced the basic front button with an amazing French car boot sale find: an old metallic button covered in rhinestones. And I replaced the wrists' buttons with rhinestones form an old metallic belt I had. I have to explain: as I believe in "more is more", I usually leave a new blazer as it is when I wear it for the first time(s). Then the least I can do to take it up a notch for a second outing is change all the buttons, then I start embellishing one lapel for a third outing, then the second lapel for a fourth, then one shoulder, then two, the back, and so on. It is called "adornism", which is a movement that a lot of my artist friends follow, like Sue Kreitzman and Anne-Sophie Cochevelou. "More is more and less is a bore." I accessorised it with my Tudors neckpiece I made in early 2017 – with a ruffled necklace base, Christmas decorations of Henry VIII and his six wives and garlands from the Old Spitalfields Thursday flea market. I wore white jeans and silver shoes. And I finished the look with a bamboo bag I got from the flea market and added big hot pink flowers on it. I also "curated" my hair, which is something I started doing in September 2017, as I am letting it grow. The idea is to gel it and pull it all up in a ponytail or bun and then pin whatever I fancy in it, usually artificial flowers, garlands and pieces of jewellery.

          
          
Pictures by Becky Dix, Sharon Zachs, Fernando Matoso, Ivan Ptitsyn and Alan Watson

 

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London Fashion Week – day 3 – Sunday 18th of February

For my second day, I wore my blue blazer – bare as well, but I replaced the front button and accessorised the front with plenty of brooches somehow related to my origins (meaning: French from France) as well as the country/city that welcomed me (meaning: the UK/London). Frog meets Union Jacks, butterfly, egg, cicada, teapot and crown, roses and hearts, guards and double-decker bus and shades of blue, white, red. It was a lot of fun curating the brooches then placing them at the right spot. I wore a red beret, a red tartan bow tie, white jeans, tan shoes and a tartan handbag.

          

With Kala Kala and Dorothy Payne

          
           Pictures by Francisca Larawan, Mike Marchant and Leo Joshua               With Kala Kala, Minori and Sade       

 

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London Fashion Week – day 4 – Monday 19th of February

For my third day, I wore the baby pink blazer (with hand stitched hot pink flowers, pearls, butterflies and broken brooch), gold bow tie with necklace, hot pink beret with hand stitched white flowers and pearls, light blue jeans with hand stitched white flowers and pearls on the bottom half, pink socks and gold heels. I finished the look with a silver and gold bag in the shape of a radio.

          
Pictures by Monika Schaible and Mazin Al-Awira

 

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London Fashion Week – day 5 – Tuesday 20th of February

Finally for my fourth day, I wore my gorgeous Carmen Bury kimono with purple bow tie and hand stitched charms, black shirt and black jeans, blue socks and black heels. I completed the look with a crazy headpiece made by a photographer friend: Matt Parker. And a blue box bag that I decorated with a glittery butterfly for the occasion.

          
          
Pictures by Neil Pho, Alvaro Garcia Vizcaino, Clara Euler and Daniel Damilola Nejo

 

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The day following Fashion Week’s last day was a very special day. Old Spitalfields Market was launching a new recurring trading event: the "Silk Series", curated by Meihui. The principle is from Monday to Wednesday every week, artists and local makers occupy one section of the market and sell their art and creations. For the occasion, we made it a "Sue Kreitzman Day", as Sue is like a Godmother to the market, as well as a big supporter and an inspiration to many. She brought a part of her flat: sculptures, mannequins, clothes and jewellery, and even furniture, so that she could have tea and a chat with people. Sue gave a talk, we had a loose "Unfashion Show" and of course I organised a Colour Walk! From that event, I decided I should support Meihui and the "Silk Series" and commit to organise the Old Spitalfieds Monthly Colour Walk one Wednesday a month instead of Thursday (as of 2017, supporting the Thursday Flea Market).

          
Sue Kreitzman, Meihui, Sue Harding and Victoria by Richard Kaby


          
Pictures of myself in the crowd and Sue on stage by Cathy Teesdale for Humans of London
Right picture with Momtaz by Leah Lefevre. Momtaz wrote a heartfelt article on her blog after meeting us at the Colour Walk


Group picture of Anne-Sophie and her models with some of the Colour Walkers by Richard Kaby

 

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The next day in the evening, I had the pleasure of being one of the guests at the Petrie Museum of Archaeology. How surprising, isn't it? For their LGBTQ+ History Month event "Objects of Desire", John J. Johnson – the Museum's Egyptologist – invited me as well as Douglas McNaughton, Anne Langford and David Bullen to join him and talk about an object from the Museum's collection we each selected and that would be in relation to our work. I chose a tiny stone frog figurine, for obvious reasons! La France... hihi! It was a new challenge for me and I loved it! After my first full English talk in November 2017 for the "Wearing Wellbeing" conference, it was a new full English public speaking experience. It felt definitely easier as I found it was a natural conversation with John who was naturally leading and knew his subject absolutely. The three other contributors were fascinating and Sue came to support. She was one of the 2017's contributors and she’s also the one who introduced me to the Museum and to John. We had several great visits in 2017 and this evening was another memorable evening.

          
Douglas, John, Anne and David

I love this picture of Sue and I leaving taken by John, it's very cinematic...

 

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To be continued...