The Horror, The Horror

Although it's Valentine's Day, I've spent most of this watching some pretty disturbing Butoh dance videos on YouTube after stumbling across Frauke on Fashion Installation.

Originating in post-war Japan, Butoh dance performances involve "playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion, with or without an audience." (wikipedia) 

Kazuo Ohno

Sankai Juku. These guys are my favourite and by the looks of things, the most well known contemporary group. Check out more of their work on You Tube. Most of the embedding options were disabled.


Traditional Butoh from one of the Masters


More contemporary versions. "LuLu" is NSFW.

Floristry Taster - Week 3

leather fern // gypsophila // eryngium // iris // rose // statice

First attempt at creating a presentation bouquet. Can you spot the mistake? The top rose stem is making the cardinal mistake of crossing the other stems. 

Second attempt and problem sorted.

Attempting to master the all important 'spiral'

Voila! The finished product. I was quite pleased with what I produced this week. I managed to achieve my final look at only the second attempt. Like last week, this made me feel quite smug. Not only have I learned a new skill, but I've also learned that I have a really nasty competitive streak and will plough over anyone in an attempt to be 'teacher's pet'. This is not a good thing. But I couldn't help but beam with delight when the teacher came round and said, "Perfect. Yellow and purple is one of my favourite colour combinations." My heart skipped a beat and I did a wee dance inside. 

I got a call yesterday to say that next week's class has been postponed due to staff CPD at the college. What a shit excuse! It's Valentine's and I bet the staff just want the night off. So my hand-tied will have to wait. I plan to practice for a fortnight and have it mastered before I even get there. (See! How horrible is that?!!)

Guns N Roses

Axl Rose turned 50 yesterday. Happy Birthday my fellow ginger ninja! Here he is posing in October 1985.

Doing his thang in a pair of leather chaps at Radio City in Anaheim, California, October, 1985 (Pic:Getty)

Onstage with Slash at Rock In Rio II on January 15, 1991

As I remember him, at the MTV Awards picking up best video for November Rain. And let's just leave it there. No one needs to see pictures of Axl AFTER 1992.

Instead, I'll leave you with some beautiful roses that arrived a work for me today. A total surprise from my sneeky but wonderful husband. Altogether now, "Awwwwww...."

Piercing Beauty

I'd never do it - because I'm a big fearty - but these Givenchy Couture shots really make me wish I had my septum pierced like Angelica or Aoife.

Before The Rain

ASOS turban // vintage Jaeger jacket // orange pussy bow blouse (£8 in the New Look sale) // H&M faux fur scarf // Topshop trousers // TK Maxx boots

Nipped into Shawlands on Saturday afternoon for a spot of lunch with Mr G and then a London Fog at Beanscene with Miss Lou. Left the house and it was cloudy but dry. Then the man upstairs must've left the bath tap running. It poured and poured and poured. The rest of the world gets snow. Glasgow gets pissing rain. And I choose to wear a tweed jacket with velvet cuffs n collar. Not a happy bunny. Hope you all had a good weekend x

Floristry Taster - Week 2

This week I made my very first buttonhole/corsage. I'm jolly pleased with it, even though I had to make do with a bunch of flowers from the Co-op. The florist I've been using didn't really have anything suitable in stock when I popped in at the last minute (2 hours before my class - eek!)

It was far more technical than last week's effort, which really appealed to my technical side. I like to have a bit of structure and some rules to follow/break.

My apparatus: leaves, florist tape, wire and ribbon.

Wiring my rose leaves (not the best choice as they are too soft, but for practicing they did the job)

Wiring the ferny stuff - not even sure what it's called *slaps wrist*

Taping the wires - probably the most tricky part

Wiring and taping the flowers (and my crap bow which I chose not to include in the final display. Not keen on them in general. Think they are a bit tacky.)

The final result from behind.

And from the front. 

IMG Model Show Package

I stumbled over IMG's Model Show Package for Fall/Winter 2012 on LilyLoveLock's blog earlier today and couldn't help but 'steal' a few pictures. I'm not really a fan of any particular model, but I graduated in Art History so these collages really appeal to me. To see the full package visit the Fashionising site.