SHOWstudio: In Your Face, Robert Mapplethorpe, Marina Abramovic, Douglas Gordon, Nick Knight, Gareth Pugh, Ruth Hogben, Alexander Fury, Alasdair McLellan, Professor Louise Wilson, David Koma, Hank Willis Thomas and more...

Posted by Fashion



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	Newsletter \| 30 November 2011




COMING UP IN YOUR FACE
The latest exhibition to be staged in the SHOWstudio Shop space, In Your Face is a jolt to the senses, colliding agitprop pieces from the world of fashion, fine art and film. The title reveals a duality, a reference to confrontation and also the immediately and universally legible language of the portrait. The exhibition includes works by artists, fashion designers and filmmakers - including Robert Mapplethorpe, Marina Abramovic, Douglas Gordon, Santiago Sierra, Nick Knight, Stephen Jones, Nasir Mazhar and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel amongst many more - who have engaged with the corporeal and the body as matter and in doing so have created works which resonate in a wider political sphere. The exhibition is also reflected in the online programming of SHOWstudio and the celebration of a major relaunch of the site, with a new visual identity and fresh approach to always-outstanding fashion film and editorial content. Up-front, direct and sometimes brutal, In Your Face explores the contradictions, difficulties and traumatic engagements involved in our relationship to the world. In Your Face opens to the public on Friday 2 December 2011 at SHOWstudio, 1-9 Bruton Place W1 [more]


CURRENT GARETH PUGH FOR M.A.C


A further development from Ruth Hogben and Gareth Pugh's electric collaboration for Spring/Summer 2012, this latest dark and edgy fashion film, showcasing Pugh's first foray into make-up for M.A.C Inspired by the contrast of black and white - or light and darkness - this film takes a fresh approach to the well-established tradition of cosmetic advertisement by showcasing the powder and pigment of the Pugh range in motion. Showcased online at SHOWstudio.com, a selection of signature, specially-fashioned faces for the twenty-first century, crafted with stylist Katie Shillingford and make-up maestro Val Garland, are captured for posterity by Hogben's lens in this unique fashion film. [more]


CURRENT BEHIND THE SEAMS: ORIENT EXCESS


From precious Chinese silks of the Renaissance to the orient excess of Mary Katrantzou's Autumn/Winter 2011 Xing Dynasty-print dresses, Richard Nicoll's post-modern Poiret and Sarah Burton's shattered porcelain bodices at Alexander McQueen, the Far East has held indefinable exotic appeal for fashion designers. Today however, China is more than just a source of inspiration - it has become the latest financial promised land for high fashion. In Orient Excess, the second of our Behind The Seams articles examining the intricate underbelly of the fashion world, SHOWstudio fashion director Alexander Fury looks at the tradition of luxury informing China's reemergence into the terribly capitalist world of high fashion. [more]


CURRENT FASHION MIX


Our Fashion Mix series continues to offer a unique aural reflection of contemporary fashion, giving a selection of fashion figures the opportunity to showcase their greatest hits. This week opened with a quintessentially British playlist of tongue-in-cheek television themes chosen by photographer Alasdair McLellan: this Friday, expect a playlist from the fashion design genius Gareth Pugh while Monday is the turn of set designer and art director Gary Card to chose the tunes. [more]


COMING UP IN FASHION: LOUISE WILSON AND DAVID KOMA LIVE


The upcoming additions to our In Fashion interview series are well-timed to coincide with the latest SHOWstudio Shop exhibition In Your Face. First up, the leader of Central Saint Martin's internationally acclaimed MA fashion course, the woman behind world-renowned names such as Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane and Mary Katrantzou, and one of the most influential women in global fashion today, fashion authority Professor Louise Wilson OBE is interviewed by journalist and author Hywel Davies from 11:00 GMT on Tuesday 6 December 2011. Then, from 13:00 GMT on the same day, Wilson's former student David Koma - up-and-coming London designer of decidedly 'In Your Face' short, snappy and outrageously sexy dresses - is profiled by SHOWstudio fashion director Alecxander Fury after his first on-schedule outing at London Fashion Week In Fashion broadcasts live from 11:00 GMT on Tuesday 6 December 2011


FROM THE SHOP BLACK POWER, 2008


Hank Willis Thomas has gained wide recognition with his highly provocative works of art, which address the commodification of African-American male identity by raising questions about visual culture and the power of logos. Through his powerful, message-driven works, Hank Willis Thomas engages with issues of grief, black-on-black violence in America and the ways in which corporate culture is complicit in the crises of black male identity. The artist's characteristic pointedness and dark humour has propelled him into the art world and established him as one of today's most compelling emerging artists. With this piece, entitled Black Power, Thomas incorporates elements of the black male stereotype in a way that is direct, confrontational, and clearly 'In Your Face.' [more]


FROM THE ARCHIVE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT


Back in July 2005, the fashionable likes of Peter Saville, Julie Verhoeven, Bay Garnett, Judy Blame and Nick Knight created a selection of T-shirt graphics exclusively for SHOWstudio. Political, profane or plain picture-perfect, download and print your own choice to adorn your front or back and wear your fashion affiliations across your chest. The 21 unique graphics are presented alongside an explorative essay by author and journalist Johnny Davis [more]


LATEST ENTRIES BLOG


The British Fashion Awards 2011 - and the winners are... Honouring the greats of Great British fashion We Brits love any excuse for a bit of flag-waving and a rousing chorus of God Save The Queen. Both were firmly - if metaphorically - in place last night at the 2011 British Fashion Awards (metaphorical until the post-show party, that is). Held at the swish and savvy Savoy, the awards honoured the great and greater of Great British fashion. Everyone's a winner, as Hot Chocolate once said, and the strength of British fashion right now means we all benefit from the talent roster of names drawing attention to London. That's the truth. [more]

Model for Gareth Pugh and SHOWstudio! As part of the SHOWstudio Shop exhibition 'In Your Face' (1 Dec 2011 - 5 Feb 2012), Nick Knight's SHOWstudio are looking for a male or female to model a one-off archive showpiece* by designer Gareth Pugh Monday-Friday through the exhibition's 12-week run. [more]

Keehnan Konyha - Versace at Home I: Casa Casuarina "Casa Casuarina was originally built in 1930 by Alden Freeman, an eccentric philanthropist, as an homage to the Alcázar de Colón, a mansion built in 1510 in Santo Domingo that was home to Christopher Columbus's son Diego. (Freeman named the house after the casuarina tree, an Australian breed that was standing on the site when Freeman began building.) Diego had been viceroy of the Indies, and his wife was related to the Spanish monarchs, so the original Alcázar de Colón had Moorish, Spanish, and Byzantine influences. [more]

Nick Knight - Picture for Ryan McGinley I went to the Alison Jacques gallery last night to see the Ryan McGinley show and had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Ryan , this picture is for you. Happy Thanksgiving. Nick [more]



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