Mac brings Wonder Woman to Selfridges

It's been a while for Design Girl, I know.  Life has got super busy with 'work, rest and play' (thanks Mars for that everlasting strapline).  As a result, her side-kick blog has somehow been suffering.  Anyhoo, all she needed was a little inspiration, a little sparkle to catch her eye and bring it all flooding back - the need to chat shit about cool stuff, that is.  So, she found it... (and will stop talking in the third person now...)

Friggin Wonderwoman at Selfridges, brought to us by none other than everyone's favourite and by far the coolest make-up brand on the planet, M.A.C.  Seriously, I didn't think the brand could get any cooler.

The range includes make up bags in radiant red and bulletproof blue, utility belt brush sets and an invincible mirror.  Love, love, love the stuff!  Whipping out the mirror to check your vivacious visage is like a NYPD cop pulling out his badge to pull rank.  Noticeable.  If you're part of the in-crowd, you'll be carrying one of these bad boys (or bad girls?), for sure.

Make sure you watch the official M.A.C video - it's hotter than a bunting bull in a pepper patch.  So hot, in fact, that two trees were fighting over a dog.  Hotter than an armadillo's arse in a desert heat wave.  Ok, just stupid hot - I think you get it.  Quote:  "Surrounded by a bevy of transformed Plain Jane's on Paradise Island, Wonder Woman is awed by the magic of M.A.C".  Hilarious. In a dream world we would need truck loads of the stuff to deal with some of the Beverly Maccas out there.  Yikes. Check this out:

                          

Wonderwoman rocks my world.... and as for M.A.C, I salute you.

Check out Selfridges windows and in-store to believe it....

Till we meet again.

POW!

Issey Miyake for Evian

                            

The Miyake Design Studio (Issey Miyake), has teamed up with evian® to design a limited edition "...pure bottle, glowing with both optimism and freshness". The press release continues in this chirpy manner, talking of the "shimmering flower" being an "essential source of life" and "symbol of youth".  Yuk!  This sickly piece of blurb was almost enough to take away from the cutesy and quirky aesthetics that the bottle does in fact offer.  Sometimes it's best to let the visuals do the talking - isn't that the whole point of design?  Anyway, that being said, the bottle itself was enough to make me smile again.  (Don't forget I am born and bred a Londoner - I have to find something to complain about first, before I put a positive spin on things.  If I do.  Naturally.)

Anyway, I'm certainly not a fan of floral (shock horror!) - but with a contemporary twist expressed through a nod towards the Pleats Please range from Miyake, I will most certainly be tracking down one of the two limited edition bottles, for personal keep-sakes.

  

In the end, I am a bit of a sucker for collectable design objects (some may even call me a hoarder) - and whilst this may not be the most mind-blowing collaboration in the world, I am certainly not offended by it (press release aside).  Just remember, whatever you do, don't drink it!  Place the bottle on a safe shelf and dust every so often - give it minimum of 10 years and then put it on 'ebay'.

Available to buy at either one of the Issey Miyake Stores in London (Issey Miyake on Conduit Street or Pleats Please on Brook Street - both W1).  

Japaneazy-Peazy

Gwen Stefani has been a fan of Japanese culture since I can remember.  When she first appeared on stage with her four ‘Harajuku Girl’ dancers in the early noughties, it was like – wow!  These speechless, visual aids (people – I know) acted as a perfect backdrop to her unique and edgy look, which has seen her gain cult status in the style stakes; and rightly so.  Gwyn (because we're on first name terms, of course) has since launched her own fragrance line called ‘Harajuku Lovers’.  Two words.  Roaring.  Success.  To be entirely honest, I have never smelt the fragrance (sue me), however the packaging alone, is a selling point and would fit perfectly with my collection of iconic pieces of popular design culture - (I hoard quirky things that excite me).

                                               

Then there was Kirsten Dunst literally ‘Turning Japanese’ in the music video by Takashi Murakami which was shown at Tate Modern last year during the Pop Life Exhibition (which rocked my world – the best show I’d seen in years).  Dunst’s character was Cosgirl and she sang the most repetitive, cheesy, catchy, upbeat melody you will ever hear; I was singing it like a wind-up puppy for days, much to the annoyance of everyone around me.  Be warned, for the rest of the day you'll be bouncing around like a kid at a christmas party.... after eating too many wham bars (I'm an 80's kid).... and OD'ing on coke (a cola)...

                                

Fast forward the tape and now we have Lady Gaga who has been making waves with her own OTT ‘fashionistic’ ways (OK - I just made up that word, but it fits - fashion and futuristic - get it?!), to the point of her own detriment.  I digress.  The point I am trying to make is that Lady Gaga (aka femme fatale), may have created a love hate divide across our nation, (just like our infatuation with Marmite, I guess).  Her visual narrative, however (which is nothing short of original) - continues to span many weird and wonderful indulgent fantasies; Japanese culture being a more recent inspiration for her. Firstly, the contact lenses she wore in her Bad Romance video, known as Circle lenses, have been huge in Japan for years.  

Teenagers have been wearing these monstrosities, which cover the white area of the eye to make the pupils larger, to try and emulate manga-like faces.  Since the music video release, this trend has moved over here and has caused much controversy as a result.  I won’t bore you with that stuff, because, in my opinion a bit of controversy goes a long way and I am a real advocate for ‘rules are meant to be broken’ and all that. – especially when it comes to style and even more particularly when it comes to youth culture – considering there is not much left to rebel against in today’s society.  Anyway…

What I love then, is that as a result of Lady Gaga showing her love for Japanese culture in this way, the kids on the street over in Tokyo have come back with their very own show of admiration and respect for the artist, by recreating her look à la Harajuku.  One thing's for sure, whether we love her or hate her, people obviously can't get enough!

Gaga then has to have the last word and feed her fans like the 'hungry-for-her-art vultures' that they are and again shower herself with Japanese symbolism.  We all know that the Birkin remains THE cult ‘It’ bag of our generation, with it’s infamous celeb following and uber exclusive waiting list (as in ‘if your name’s not down you’re not coming in!’ - not now, not ever - and certainly not with out a minimum of £3000), so only the loony Lady in question could embellish her own Birkin in this way.  Some would call this sacrilegious.  Personally, I think it's genius and wouldn’t have expected any less. 

So with Gaga having solidified the trend for all things 'Japaneazy', it came as no surprise to find a selection of Hello Kitty dolls in the window of the Dr. Martens store in Covent Garden.  I stopped in my tracks.  Weird?  Obviously not, considering we live in a 'Gaga' world right now.  Who would have thought, the once very much punk brand of the 70’s would go all kitsch like this.  I have to say, I kinda like it!

That leaves me to ask one question - how can we ever be 'Lost in Translation', when we live in such a visually vivacious world?

(That must be the cheesiest line EVER written - but I'm smiling, cos it's true!)

Arigatou gozaimasu.... SAYONARA!

Levi’s® Curve ID - Nice Ass!

“All asses were not created equal” – is the new slogan from Levi’s® – and they’re not talking about ex boyfriends either.  What is being emphasized here is that it’s not the size that matters, but the shape - (I couldn’t have put it better myself. Ahem.)

Following on from the biggest research into global 'fit' in recent times, the new range of Levi’s® Curve ID jeans pays attention to three key female silhouettes – slight curve, a demi curve and a bold curve (the latter representing the infamous JoLo behinds out there).  These three shapes reportedly make up 80% of women's backsides.  Interesting!  What Levi’s® also realised during their mammoth drive for consumer insights, is that most women try on numerous amounts of jeans before they find the one that fits just right - half of us trying on as many as 10 pairs, apparently.  As a result of this key discovery, Levi’s® decided to make life a little simpler for us and take the trend for all things personalised, one step further.  You gotta love 'em!

Remember girls – sexiness and sassiness comes in all shapes and sizes!

Levi’s® Curve ID - In stores NOW!!

Retro Mini Wraps

This may have already launched last year, but if we're going all 1980's retro on the design, I don't see why we can't go one decade earlier to nick a legendary quote from the one and only Veruca Salt...

'I don't care... I want it now!'

M&M's hit the Big Screen

I love love love this Guerilla stunt from M&M!  The brand can certainly do no wrong when it comes to grabbing attention.  From their catchy packaging design (which has made me stop and indulge myself at more Duty Free shops that I care to remember) to their loud advertising campaigns over the years - the cheeky confectionary brand is continuously hitting the nail on the head with the relevant consumer.  If you don't go back out to the refreshments desk, to grab a big bag of [more often than not peanut] M&M's to woof down during the film, I would be very surprised.  I know I would.