Moschino OFF-KEY exhibition

Celebrating the kooky world of Moschino, Julianna Sseruwagi-Nisbett has curated an exhibition of street photography, paying tribute to Franco Moschino. 40 of London’s hippest kids feature. I went along to the launch in Charing Cross and popped along to the after party (in Bungalow 8) too.

For more information visit www.arts-gallery.co.uk

Rankin: Portraits

Went to see the new Rankin exhibition last Saturday, ‘Portraits.’ It’s on at the Annroy Gallery until July 18^th and features photos from his new book by the same name. The exhibition was small but perfectly formed (ah that old chestnut!) with only about 10 portraits as far as I could see. I didn’t realize that the new Kelis ‘Fleshtone’ album cover was shot by Rankin too. A selection of Rankin’s previous publications were also on display at the back of the room by a seated area which meant you could sit and browse through them after looking at the lovely glossy photos. I particularly loved the Alex Box book – definitely going to research this amazing make-up artist more.

My favourite photo was the one pictured above of Selma Blair. Wonder what he told her to make her cry?!

To get to the Annroy Gallery, go to Kentish Town tube, turn left and walk down past Tescos, Sainsburys etc. then go right and then right again. Walk under the bridge and its right there. Look at Rankin’s website for further info: www.rankin.co.uk

London Fashion Week: the Exhibition

The London Fashion Week exhibition was held at the slightly more compact setting of 180 the Strand. A modern, gleaming shell of modernity, it was the perfect backdrop to show the gorgeous wares of both new and established designers. Here's what was, in my opinion, the best of the best:

Plastic shoes decorated in Swarovski crystals by designer J Maskrey

Vivienne Westwoods modelled with a lurex socks: surprisingly, a good look

Bracelets by Orit (http://www.oritlondon.com/)

A fantastic dress with repeated zip inserts by Sofia Alexander

Detail of rainbow zips

A lovely peach dress by Sia (this photo does not do the colour justice unfortunately) http://www.siadimitriadi.com/

Another lovely vintage-inspired dress by Sia

The innovative Oxfam DIY stand

www.oxfam.org.uk/fashion

The dummy featured a necklace made of fragmented Oyster cards!

A beautiful equine statue at the entrance to the display halls

jCauty&SON ‘Splatter’ Exhibition

Tom and Jerry with overkill: jCauty&SON ‘the plausible impossibility of death in the mind of cartoon characters’

Ever wondered what might happen if Quentin Tarantino hijacked the offices of Warner Bros? I hadn't but jCauty&SON seemed to have given it some thought- they have even dedicated an exhibition to their sick imaginings.

jCauty&SON consists of James Cauty UK and his son Harry (who is 15). Passing the gallery window (containing a sculpture of Daffy Duck being shot in the head from behind) I looked in-everything appeared to be above board: people were drinking beer from bottles, there even seemed to be a little gift shop (bonus!) it was all standard private view behaviour. Framed prints featured Jerry being whacked with a hammer (post-mortem) and Sylvester finally getting hold of Tweety Bird-and completely ripping him apart. Already I was feeling slightly perturbed. I went downstairs where there was a far much more raucous scene.

The basement had been made to look like it had been ransacked with ‘controversial’ debris simply everywhere. By ‘controversial’ I mean pretty obvious stuff like empty dildo packaging and various other bits and bobs. To be honest, the blatant nature of the pieces made it impossible to be shocked in the end-I think this was the point. We are so used to seeing images of violence now that it is difficult to get a rise out of anyone-even if they try really hard. This kind Jake and Dinos Chapman-like style wasn’t executed quite as eloquently. I saw a little boy who couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7 in that basement-he was watching a slow motion cartoon version of the sculpture in the window. God only knows what he will find shocking when he grows up: after watching Tom and Jerry with overkill surely things can only go downhill.

The exhibition is on until November 8th. www.jCautyandSON.com www.theaquariumonline.co.uk