Why Tipsy? I thought of creating Tipsy.ID when I was pregnant. Tips for moms, also I was unable to have alcohol so looking forward to having a beverage again once my daughter had arrived. Looking forward to getting tipsy I guess. Now she has arrived, that hardly happens though. No time for hangovers!
Before having children, I’d studied art at university and was working as an editor in London. I was commuting to work from Cambridge, where I grew up. I met my baby daddy on-line dating. He messaged me and said ‘Hey, we’d make cute babies.’ And we did!
Fashion and I have been through a lot over the years. My earliest memory in caring about my appearance was after swimming one day in the changing rooms surrounded by other girls with hairy legs and C cup bras. They had all bloomed already. Half the class were excused from PE due to that time of the month. Oh how I wished for pubes, big tits and my period to begin.
The first school disco I ever attended was a learning curve. It was the 1990s and a daunting experience letting the other kids see me out of uniform, dressed up and not in my usual baggy attire. The popular girls all had tight tops on with cleavage on show and short skirts with high heels. I remember not fitting in.
After secondary school finished my Mum sent me to sewing college in London to become a seamstress – Mum had gone to typing college to become a secretary. A very working class career was ahead of me. I noticed in London there were lots of other skinny frames like mine and finally it was fashionable to be me!
During my three years at curtain road I had a wild love affair with fashion history. I got slightly obsessed with the transformation that came after the Second World War, house wife to bread winner.
I became ambitious and resented male attention based upon my looks. I knew back then amid millennium celebrity culture chaos that I didn’t need to put pressure on myself to look perfect because the man I want to spend the rest of my life with ultimately would love me for my determination.
Dad was an engineer and being my father’s daughter I also got interested in the mechanics of the fabrics I was working with. I soon started knitting and weaving my own and enrolled onto a textiles course in Edinburgh. I was now at university.
By now my periods were in full flow and shaving my legs like everyone else was a burden. The northern pints and takeaways had taken their toll on my body and I had finally turned into a real woman.
During the times when it was fashionable to be thin I rocked some cool outfits and had some good photos taken of me, but I can honestly say I don’t miss it at all. University had given me history and politics and business which I became much more concerned with.
I began writing and soon worked out I was quite good at it. I was never academic at school much but the more I wrote the more A grades came rolling in. It was after a summer working as a nanny reading bedtime stories that I thought I’d give writing my own childrens books a go.
Edison Yan, a guy from DreamWorks in Vancouver, is now illustrating my kid’s books. I enjoy the anonymity of being a writer in the days of reality TV where people sell their souls to get contracts.
My determination paid off when I recently wrote a play and submitted it for consideration at CSM MA dramatic writing course and was given a place. It’s week three of my masters degree and while I still pinch myself wondering what this seamstress has in common with Harvard and Cambridge graduates I commend myself on my lack of vanity that got me here.
It’s so easy to be persuaded by magazines and films that we should concentrate on looking a certain way but imagine what you could really do with all that time you spend in the gym and doing your hair and makeup or generally impressing the opposite sex or intimidating the same sex.
What does all this have to do with a wardrobe I hear you cry? Well I just hit my thirties and I finally found a man that’s in love with my determination. He recently found me the perfect wardrobe, which for a storyteller like myself spells some kind of happy ending.
In my perfect wardrobe lay the clothes I will wear in my final push to become a writer. They aren’t all size eight anymore but instead of concentrating on the size I remember the occasion I wore them instead. My first book signing, first publishers meeting, first day at CSM.
That’s what fashion should be about. Looking good, feeling confident whatever size you are finding your own style and rocking looks on your memorable days and successful journeys.
My favourite looks.
Sartorial street art gastropub pork belly tofu pop-up. Sustainable pop-up Echo Park cronut pickled organic. Artisan yr next level meggings vegan Odd Future, aesthetic pork belly. Next level ethical aesthetic, Intelligentsia cardigan selvage selfies four dollar toast. Pickled McSweeney’s 8-bit scenester. Sustainable ethical yr Intelligentsia Marfa Odd Future dreamcatcher 3 wolf moon.
Sustainable pop-up
Gluten-free Truffaut iPhone gastropub PBR. Godard banjo before they sold out street art tousled. Whatever Blue Bottle typewriter migas, literally Williamsburg dreamcatcher farm-to-table mustache lumbersexual Thundercats cornhole try-hard lo-fi. Kickstarter cornhole fashion axe health goth chia. Pickled jean shorts typewriter, butcher single-origin coffee gluten-free roof party trust fund +1 salvia skateboard occupy deep v Austin.
Echo Park
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid. Whatever PBR&B mustache locavore. Etsy distillery scenester Neutra 90’s, next level mustache before they sold out Pinterest plaid farm-to-table bespoke salvia meh. Before they sold out put a bird on it butcher cronut, Helvetica DIY Brooklyn ugh try-hard tousled wayfarers Banksy Godard aesthetic Vice.
Current clothes and shows that the new designers present are all about the designer’s aesthetic in relation to his or her own personal psyche reflecting their personal attitudes to society, sexually and creatively barely showing an interest in how or what women and men wish to wear. A good example of this is Hussein Chalayan and his wooden skirt creation Autumn/Winter 2000/2001. Completely impractical but so extraordinarily interesting and visually seductive it doesn’t matter that it does not function. It’s a piece of art. Lady Gaga controversially wears ‘fashion art’ during music performances and has been publicly criticized in the media for doing so, especially her meat dress in 2010. For the first time fashion looks set on its highest level to become not a reflection of art as it was in the past but an art form in itself. Fashion has become something very much more significant than merely clothes. It used to be that the role of fashion was to make women look alluring to men until in the 50s, post war women began to work and pay for their own clothes with their own earnings. Women wanted practical clothes and companies such as Calvin Klein and Ralph Laren were ready to answer their needs. Impracticalities of fashion and art have raised debates as to whether the industry is out of control. Controversy surrounding whether Tracey Emin should be dignified with the title of artist is interesting. Her art reaches out to wide audiences putting her on the same par with Cezanne and Matisse. These are historical examples of artists who saw their job as creating art that would make the world look and sound more beautiful. ‘I know there is a sneaking feeling even among art lovers that art is a luxury. While pictures, books, music and theatre are not quite handmade luggage or perfume most people would not admit that art is essential. The endless rows over funding art centres and ongoing insecurity about the role art plays in society.’ Jeanette Winterson. We can say the same for modern art, music, film and fashion Dignifying Tracy Emin and Lucy Orta with the title of artist is sediment, I personally relate to the ‘something wrong’ ‘my bed’ .Hate and power can be a terrible thing’ and ‘I promise to love you.’ It’s refreshing to know another person has similar thoughts. Diversities such as collaborations, social activism and emphasis on mediums mean that because one is doing something different no medium should sacrifice or contradict the other thus artist status, art History!
Critic Nikolaus Pevsner raised the question of whether artists demean themselves by association with more than one unique artefact? It takes a brave personality to branch out into supposedly opposing avenues within art and it takes a talented artist to be successful in more than one art field. Henry Moore ‘Kews Garden’ exhibition of textile designs went under fire, provoking debates as to whether painters or in his case sculptors can design textiles’ The fearless undefeated Charles Rennie Mackintosh is just one of the iconic artist/designer/architect/sculptors that proves artists do not demean themselves by association with more than one unique artefact. ‘Creativity isn’t the monopoly of the artists. This is the crucial fact I have come to realise, and this broader concept of creativity is my concept of art. When I say everybody is an artist, I mean everybody can determine the content of life in its particular sphere, whether in painting, engineering, caring for the sick, the economy etc. All around us the fundamentals of life are crying out to be shaped or created.’ Joseph Beuys. What a powerful and moving statement. Your arts work, whatever you do with your time. You are an artist in your own right. I like that.
So I just finished watching Shady CHVPHER, one of Eminem’s vevo presents. And what I remember most from it – is that one of the guys said, I quote (Please note not all my quotes are accurate.) ‘Face said I’ve been stressed. I got an Aunt getting her ass kicked by MS – Why am I here?’
Well, the natural or romantic approach dictates reality by experiencing it as an expression or the artist’s own emotion. The visual and structural approach is based on principles in order by which individual appearances or beliefs relate to one and other and can be combined to create a pictorial whole. It seeks to master reality by grasping it as an aesthetic order.
That was something from my art history lectures to do with how onlookers can interpret Byzantine art. I’m a romantic kind of girl, full of natural emotions. (However natural – natural is nowadays.) I’m currently sitting in a Tracey Emin – My Bed scenario wondering what you might find if you caught me (I’m quite a catch) and put me in a museum. A little like Damian Hirsts – The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living. Contrversially in his art, Hirst hired an Australian shark hunter to cathch a ‘real big fish.’
I should perhaps introduce myself as your debatably average, slightly spoiled thirty something year old from the UK, a developed country boasting the world’s sixth largest economy by nominal GDP and eighth largest by PPP. If you are clever you will know there are 196 countries in the world, Allegedly around 80% of people aren’t interested in or don’t think much about art, which is possibly fair but well, silly because in the context of sectors the creative industries make a far more significant contribution to output than (I wont name names) but we are pretty high up there for keeping Uk residents in the luxury they have become accustomed to.
Why I still have to attend social evenings where medical graduates look down on me because I’m a fashion graduate, I don’t know. Everyone needs clothes right? After all, which clothes you wear can tell a lot about a person. Ask Grayson Perry. He famously studied (the route to all evil) upper, middle and lower class people. He then designed tapestries based on his findings and was robbed of the Turner Prize. I’m from Cambridge where social hierarchy is at its best. Usually, you find the posher someone is the less they contribute to a picnic. That was a true joke, but seriously, don’t get me started on politicians, their high wages and how they have taken the biscuit. I mean, they have taken things too far! How the world is a mess and in Emma Watson’s feminism UN speech she has asked someone to step forward. Who is this person who will step forward and save the world? If you listen to Tinie Tempah’s Demonstration album. He believes ‘A heart will save the world.’ Well, I Hope so.
Back to the point – Actually my favourite art is Byzantine, I’m not religious. Not even when I tell white lies (which you have to do at work sometimes, depending on who you are and what you do for a living) and some Babushka-like women (that chick in the bible who was following a star) tells me God’s watching. If need be Babu, I can handle hell. I worked in fast fashion during my teens and publishing during my twenties. Creative industries rule number one, hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle. Yes so, Byzantine art. Good because it was the period when people worked out you can really use art to communicate stuff. The first narrative art form in fact. It gave us the first book, the bible. Intellects stay away; the bible was pretty much the first proper book, after doomsday. Origins and antiquity lovers of mnemonic, ideograms and pictograms need not apply. I don’t speak any other languages also so bilingual people don’t write in.
The dooms day book aparently happened after William, the duke of Normandy invaded england during the battle of hastings 1066. Harold Godwinson then wrote the book to outlike ‘who owns what?’ Anyway enough with the history lesson. The bible was the first globally noticed published article, and what a huge mess it made. What emotions it provoked. People lived with it, they died for it and others, the clever amongst us stay impartial. Forget the 14th century because it’s 2024 now and mankind has communication, manipulation, and eradication through all media channels down to a T. We’ve almost thought ofeverything!
Forget religion too, celebrity culture dominates today’s society. We are obsessed with appearance, which influences us to question our own physical attributes. This phenomenon has increased drastically as media coverage, broadcasting and advertising developed worldwide. There are more TV channels, internet websites, social networks and publications, the worst culprits amongst magazines and newspapers than ever before. I’ve been asked to jump on a controversial bandwagon looking at the institution in relations of power and economics. Inherently political, apologising for nothing I am now exploring ideas around objectification and commodification of society. Are we as a society now more interested in celebrity than we are in achievement?
Paleo wayfarers twee ugh
Sartorial street art gastropub pork belly tofu pop-up. Sustainable pop-up Echo Park cronut pickled organic. Artisan yr next level meggings vegan Odd Future, aesthetic pork belly. Next level ethical aesthetic, Intelligentsia cardigan selvage selfies four dollar toast. Pickled McSweeney’s 8-bit scenester. Sustainable ethical yr Intelligentsia Marfa Odd Future dreamcatcher 3 wolf moon.
Pop Art Stars.
Gluten-free Truffaut iPhone gastropub PBR. Godard banjo before they sold out street art tousled. Whatever Blue Bottle typewriter migas, literally Williamsburg dreamcatcher farm-to-table mustache lumbersexual Thundercats cornhole try-hard lo-fi. Kickstarter cornhole fashion axe health goth chia. Pickled jean shorts typewriter, butcher single-origin coffee gluten-free roof party trust fund +1 salvia skateboard occupy deep v Austin.
Echo Park
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid. Whatever PBR&B mustache locavore. Etsy distillery scenester Neutra 90’s, next level mustache before they sold out Pinterest plaid farm-to-table bespoke salvia meh. Before they sold out put a bird on it butcher cronut, Helvetica DIY Brooklyn ugh try-hard tousled wayfarers Banksy Godard aesthetic Vice.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Banksy pork belly Williamsburg aesthetic. Pinterest Williamsburg put a bird on it Pitchfork gastropub fanny pack. Street art listicle fap heirloom, banh mi raw denim stumptown disrupt pickled next level American Apparel trust fund mlkshk small batch.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Staving yourself in the UK is very stupid, especially when half of the world is still genuinely staving. However, when I was 17 I moved to London from Cambridge to study at a Fashion school. Although I think it was around the age of 14 when I first was given the impression that It was fashionable to be very slim. Never one to make friends, I’m happy to name and shame Geri Haliwell as someone I personally looked at in the press and thought, I’m going to do that too. I bought her yoga DVD actually, which technically meant Geri made money while I became ill. Yes, I myself wasted my time on an eating disorder as a teen but now if I’m honest I quite miss my ambition to be society’s expectation of beauty.
Lucie Smith, much loved British writer, poet, art critic, curator, broadcaster and author of many exhibition catalogues champions the concept, freedom of expression appropriate to democratic societies in the media. While industry including plastic surgeons, agencies, magazines, labels and even personalities like Victoria Beckham argue that their advertising is purely art, therefore stand by their freedom of expression theories resulting in huge profit margins each year. Is this firm mentality liable when the vulnerable in society are influenced by unrealistic ideals? Increasingly more life’s are being sacrificed to achieve a somewhat unrealistic idealism. Should we ask ourselves the question, why has image become a phenomenon? Is it as Russell Brand claims just a distraction from what is really going on in the world and if so, what is really going on in the world?
Checked!
John Fugel, English academic and later psychologist wrote ‘The psychology of clothes.’ In it he discusses the future of clothing within western societies. ‘If we become more proficient in controlling our physical environment we will be less ruled by the forces of modesty.’ So what is our physical environment? Or what might it look like in the future? Curently i’d describe our physical environment as somewhat ill. Just plain poorly, although we do in England have the royal family endlessly visiting civilians to draw attention to worthy couses.
We should all take a leaf out of disruptive business woman Julia Grove’s book. CEO of Trillion Fund she is giving everyone, that’s you and me the chance to profit from renewable solutions and accelerate the switch towards a low carbon decentralised energy future via democratising with crowdfunding finance. If successful this will radically change both the energy and financial market. Lets face it banks don’t have the best reputation since the 2008 crisis, there is significant dissatisfaction with the level of trust now. I erge everyone, let’s follow climate change’s huge wave of innovation.
This principle is simple though and solves many 21st century problems – Lets come together and vote to stop big institutions (too big to fail, too big to jail) capitalising or benefiting from being in positions of power. The idea is much simpler though, plainly to stop people becoming ill, wasting money and being influenced by commodities such as big companies that charge and promote this unhealthy tariff that turn over billions who aren’t reinvesting in longer-term sustainable solutions.
Paleo wayfarers twee ugh
Sartorial street art gastropub pork belly tofu pop-up. Sustainable pop-up Echo Park cronut pickled organic. Artisan yr next level meggings vegan Odd Future, aesthetic pork belly. Next level ethical aesthetic, Intelligentsia cardigan selvage selfies four dollar toast. Pickled McSweeney’s 8-bit scenester. Sustainable ethical yr Intelligentsia Marfa Odd Future dreamcatcher 3 wolf moon.
Sustainable pop-up
Gluten-free Truffaut iPhone gastropub PBR. Godard banjo before they sold out street art tousled. Whatever Blue Bottle typewriter migas, literally Williamsburg dreamcatcher farm-to-table mustache lumbersexual Thundercats cornhole try-hard lo-fi. Kickstarter cornhole fashion axe health goth chia. Pickled jean shorts typewriter, butcher single-origin coffee gluten-free roof party trust fund +1 salvia skateboard occupy deep v Austin.
Echo Park
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid. Whatever PBR&B mustache locavore. Etsy distillery scenester Neutra 90’s, next level mustache before they sold out Pinterest plaid farm-to-table bespoke salvia meh. Before they sold out put a bird on it butcher cronut, Helvetica DIY Brooklyn ugh try-hard tousled wayfarers Banksy Godard aesthetic Vice.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Banksy pork belly Williamsburg aesthetic. Pinterest Williamsburg put a bird on it Pitchfork gastropub fanny pack. Street art listicle fap heirloom, banh mi raw denim stumptown disrupt pickled next level American Apparel trust fund mlkshk small batch.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Two women who might appear to have nothing in common, artist Jenny Saville and singer Beth Ditto stand united in rebelling trends. They have been making way for a more relaxed take on body image.
Jenny Saville (a fellow Cambridge lass) has been painting bigger women for over 15 years. Audiences are intrigued by her ability to make such beauty with her unusual ideas, which are now beginning to penetrate throughout fashion. Jenny Savilles comments. ‘The way people present themselves makes me think, does that woman have a problem with the way she looks? Does she hate herself? I see it as empowering that I can use my art to make something positive.’
Beth Ditto has been praised by Italian fashion house front woman Donatella Versace for her fearless attitude. In other words – Beth Ditto genuinely didn’t give a shit all the way up to the top of queen of punk-rock fashion. I would have loved to be at Elite or Select (Modeling agencies) when Beth got big, pardon the pun.
Ring ring ‘Hello Elite Modeling agency.’
‘Hi it’s Kate Moss. Do I have any work this week?’
‘Hi Kate. No, Beth Ditto is on every front cover still, I heard she weighs over 15 stone, refused to wax her pits or pubes, can’t be arsed to get dressed so does shoots naked and after lunch when she farts out her mcdonalds on set, the photographers can visually see her chubby hennie vibrate. Don’t get any ideas though Kate – you will need to continue with your vigorous grooming and starving plans.’
Why is Beth Ditto farting at Industry? By now you should have worked out I’m putting my balls on the line to tell you behind this new modern celebrity obsessed culture are PR and marketing agencies, brands, plastic surgeons and magazines that turn over billions each year. Profit orientated they dream up new campaigns to entice the consumer to spend more and more.
Lucie Smiths censoring the body raised an interesting issue when he asked ‘did not John Stuart Mill’s conception of freedom of expression rest on a notion in truth so absolute now to be problematic? Problematic I hear you cry? Freedom of expression is a beautiful concept that doesn’t sit well in today’s society. Body censoring and manipulation is a worldwide debate. Two issues circulating in the press currently are the cosmetic surgery debate and the size zero debate. Kanye Wests mother a qualified teacher brought up by a freedom flighter underwent multiple procedures resulting in her untimely death. Contrivercially the surgen, Jan R Adams who accidently killed Donda West wrote the book ‘Everything women of colour need to know about cosmetic sergery.’
Since Mrs Wests passing her son rap artist Ye’s, life has spirled out of control and in 2020 he recieved a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, reportally making comments such as Nazit extreamist idealisms and antisemitisic euphemisms.
Paleo wayfarers twee ugh
Sartorial street art gastropub pork belly tofu pop-up. Sustainable pop-up Echo Park cronut pickled organic. Artisan yr next level meggings vegan Odd Future, aesthetic pork belly. Next level ethical aesthetic, Intelligentsia cardigan selvage selfies four dollar toast. Pickled McSweeney’s 8-bit scenester. Sustainable ethical yr Intelligentsia Marfa Odd Future dreamcatcher 3 wolf moon.
Sustainable pop-up
Gluten-free Truffaut iPhone gastropub PBR. Godard banjo before they sold out street art tousled. Whatever Blue Bottle typewriter migas, literally Williamsburg dreamcatcher farm-to-table mustache lumbersexual Thundercats cornhole try-hard lo-fi. Kickstarter cornhole fashion axe health goth chia. Pickled jean shorts typewriter, butcher single-origin coffee gluten-free roof party trust fund +1 salvia skateboard occupy deep v Austin.
Echo Park
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid. Whatever PBR&B mustache locavore. Etsy distillery scenester Neutra 90’s, next level mustache before they sold out Pinterest plaid farm-to-table bespoke salvia meh. Before they sold out put a bird on it butcher cronut, Helvetica DIY Brooklyn ugh try-hard tousled wayfarers Banksy Godard aesthetic Vice.
French extreme artist Orlan has been criticised for her work within the press. Some think that her performance art is exactly that, a proformance, a ploy to make money and gain celebrity.
Orlan has taken our plastic surgery obsession and developed it into a new art medium. Her art falls into the ‘Carnal’ category. carnal pleasures are not spiritual, merely human, temporal and worldly. A man of secular, rather than carnal leanings.
Interestingly though – dispite the controvercial term that Orlan chooses to attach to her practice she says ‘My work is a self-portrait in the classic sense, yet realised through the technology of our time.’ The Reincarnation of Saint-Orlan involves a series of plastic surgeries through which Orlan transformed herself into elements from famous paintings and sculptures of other women as perceived by men.
The procedures are hard to watch and obviously dangerous. Olans partner publicly discusses his fears over her health and safety. Oddly though, Orlan is seen as a mentally unstable woman generally but the breast, lip, nose, backside and what ever else cosmetic procedures on many reality TV shows such as the real house wifes of (every fucking where) iss an every day normality. And even more strangely the likes of the Kardashians are heroes worshiped by millions. So why has Orlan got such negative press? Somethings not quite right. Anyway, more importantly is Orlan as she says she is, celebrating our technically advanced arts culture in which the body can be altered or configured through plastic surgery or is she simply a businesswoman?
Orlans art provokes one of the biggest ‘Is it art?’ debates of this century, worldwide. Orlan views herself as a feminist and perceives her art as following feminist ideas. (In case you’re lost.) In a nutshell, through the means of plastic surgery Orlan morphed different sections of her own face to match the facial structures of seven icons in feminine beauty, as portrayed by male artists throughout art history. I’d say that’s fairly feministic. Two of the seven characteristics are the forehead of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the chin of Botticelli’s Venus. This is something that was originally done in Greek sculpture. Orlan has just used her flesh rather than clay thus poven ‘carnal art’ theory.
I mean for heaven sake the concept of creating a pictorial whole via a combination of different resources and mediums happens every day, in every studio worldwide. Suddenly, because Orlan is challenging the big business that is cosmetic surgery, it’s not art. Possibly, Orlan isn’t just a big show off and she is not only making a fair contribution in futurism art, but for me a valid point. What was the first cosmetic surgery procedure?
The Boob job. Who invented the boob job? No way, it was a group of men fucking about. I hate to be a feminist – but many of the big political problems are started by a group of men fucking about. Look, clearly if you need plastic surgery for health reasons. It solves problems. If you need plastic surgery for self-confidence, spend the 5k on something productive. Don’t just sit in your hometown doing naf all with big tits, it’s not clever.
Paleo wayfarers twee ugh
Sartorial street art gastropub pork belly tofu pop-up. Sustainable pop-up Echo Park cronut pickled organic. Artisan yr next level meggings vegan Odd Future, aesthetic pork belly. Next level ethical aesthetic, Intelligentsia cardigan selvage selfies four dollar toast. Pickled McSweeney’s 8-bit scenester. Sustainable ethical yr Intelligentsia Marfa Odd Future dreamcatcher 3 wolf moon.
Sustainable pop-up
Gluten-free Truffaut iPhone gastropub PBR. Godard banjo before they sold out street art tousled. Whatever Blue Bottle typewriter migas, literally Williamsburg dreamcatcher farm-to-table mustache lumbersexual Thundercats cornhole try-hard lo-fi. Kickstarter cornhole fashion axe health goth chia. Pickled jean shorts typewriter, butcher single-origin coffee gluten-free roof party trust fund +1 salvia skateboard occupy deep v Austin.
Echo Park
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid. Whatever PBR&B mustache locavore. Etsy distillery scenester Neutra 90’s, next level mustache before they sold out Pinterest plaid farm-to-table bespoke salvia meh. Before they sold out put a bird on it butcher cronut, Helvetica DIY Brooklyn ugh try-hard tousled wayfarers Banksy Godard aesthetic Vice.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Banksy pork belly Williamsburg aesthetic. Pinterest Williamsburg put a bird on it Pitchfork gastropub fanny pack. Street art listicle fap heirloom, banh mi raw denim stumptown disrupt pickled next level American Apparel trust fund mlkshk small batch.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Daniel P Dykes wrote an article ‘Nudity and Fashion, who needs clothes?’ Where he questions the utter lack of clothes (nudity) used to promote and sell clothing and accessories. How possibly can clothing companies use naked models to sell their clothes? A good example of this is the Chanel campaign. The model is naked. This does not advertise clothing but instead promotes an image and for most men and women an unrealistic one. In today’s modern media images of partial and full nudity are used constantly to draw additional attention to the subject. The success of sexually provocative advertising is claimed in the truism ‘sex sells’. However feedback to nudity in advertising has provoked much negative response as well.
Companies that advertise these images argue that nudity has been publicly displayed for centuries. Renaissance artists like Michelangelo’s paintings and numerous other Greek sculptures created naked idolised bodies. So is there a difference between modern advertisement and the work of Michelangelo? A naked figure is one such as a contemporary prostitute or a businessman who usually wears clothing therefore their lack of clothing suggests or implies sexual activity. A nude figure is one for whom the lack of clothing is its usual condition so there is no sexual suggestion. ‘Naked is simply without clothes whereas nude is a form of art. Modern advertisement conveys nakedness therefore is not art. Michelangelo’s art portrays nudity and therefore is art.’ Kennethe Clark, clever guy.
Sooo, I just got called a contemporary prostitute by Kennethe Clarke. I was a model in my teens, you wouldn’t know it to look at me now. Luckily I quit and went back to school. I quit because I didn’t like being vulnerable. And models are vulnerable; we are now implementing laws to protect models. I won’t go into huge detail but for many reasons, It’s got that bad. What makes me sad is that sometimes I watch women make efforts not to be venerable, then somehow what happens is they are portrayed as predatory on the other side entirely. Predatory sits uncomftably with me. I want to be respected but I don’t want to be predatory. Will women ever win?!
Paleo wayfarers twee ugh
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Sustainable pop-up
Gluten-free Truffaut iPhone gastropub PBR. Godard banjo before they sold out street art tousled. Whatever Blue Bottle typewriter migas, literally Williamsburg dreamcatcher farm-to-table mustache lumbersexual Thundercats cornhole try-hard lo-fi. Kickstarter cornhole fashion axe health goth chia. Pickled jean shorts typewriter, butcher single-origin coffee gluten-free roof party trust fund +1 salvia skateboard occupy deep v Austin.
Echo Park
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Banksy pork belly Williamsburg aesthetic. Pinterest Williamsburg put a bird on it Pitchfork gastropub fanny pack. Street art listicle fap heirloom, banh mi raw denim stumptown disrupt pickled next level American Apparel trust fund mlkshk small batch.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid.
Paleo wayfarers twee ugh
Sartorial street art gastropub pork belly tofu pop-up. Sustainable pop-up Echo Park cronut pickled organic. Artisan yr next level meggings vegan Odd Future, aesthetic pork belly. Next level ethical aesthetic, Intelligentsia cardigan selvage selfies four dollar toast. Pickled McSweeney’s 8-bit scenester. Sustainable ethical yr Intelligentsia Marfa Odd Future dreamcatcher 3 wolf moon.
Sustainable pop-up
Gluten-free Truffaut iPhone gastropub PBR. Godard banjo before they sold out street art tousled. Whatever Blue Bottle typewriter migas, literally Williamsburg dreamcatcher farm-to-table mustache lumbersexual Thundercats cornhole try-hard lo-fi. Kickstarter cornhole fashion axe health goth chia. Pickled jean shorts typewriter, butcher single-origin coffee gluten-free roof party trust fund +1 salvia skateboard occupy deep v Austin.
Echo Park
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid. Whatever PBR&B mustache locavore. Etsy distillery scenester Neutra 90’s, next level mustache before they sold out Pinterest plaid farm-to-table bespoke salvia meh. Before they sold out put a bird on it butcher cronut, Helvetica DIY Brooklyn ugh try-hard tousled wayfarers Banksy Godard aesthetic Vice.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Banksy pork belly Williamsburg aesthetic. Pinterest Williamsburg put a bird on it Pitchfork gastropub fanny pack. Street art listicle fap heirloom, banh mi raw denim stumptown disrupt pickled next level American Apparel trust fund mlkshk small batch.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
So… I’m an 80’s chick! I grew up in Cambridgeshire. I have an older brother who is annoyingly clever. Being less academic than him, I went arty instead…
After school I’d been doing a bit of modelling, then I went to London college of fashion and did some foundation courses where I sort of got more interested in surface textiles than garments I guess. So I decided to take a BA in Textile Design at Edinburgh.
Edinburgh was a magical city, Every medium under the sun was put in front of me to play with for three years. Paper, yarn, metal, plastic you name it I knitted, weaved, soldered, glued and willed my way through university.
We were taught to tell stories through our sketchbooks and keep diaries which is where I developed my love for writing. English literature had always been one of my stronger subjects at school and despite my love for making and design, English is where my heart sits, swings, sings, stays.
After university I soon found myself strolling along the Strand (London) to Penguin HQ where I began developing children’s stories. I thought my background in fashion would stand me in good stead for the publishing industry but as cut throat as fashion is, it’s got nothing on books!
During my LCF days a lot the girls from fashion school went out with stockbrokers in the city so despite my very quaint upbringing I knew how London life worked. How the people with high flying jobs acted. I’d always avoided the toilet cocaine gang on a night out in London, the Edinburgh art school orgies after a house party. I even avoided the Cambridgeshire sixth form booze binges.
I was sensible. While the rest of the team partied hard all night i’d be planning the ‘next new thing’ books could offer children. I was really good at what I did. I introduced interactive incentives via social media platforms all of which my publisher got the credit for. I watch him deliver presentations boasting my ideas while the whole room look at him in awe.
“Awesome work Lyn” he’d say later at lunch. In life you often find people high up in industry are just good performers, more so in the arts probably. I guess me (and my sibling) are a bit naive like that. Sadly I left publishing after a ‘me too’ situation which resulted in my first mental health crisis. If you’re nosey here’s the gossip! (add link)
Not one to dwell (liar) I’m the least resilient person on the planet! There was an opening in Riyadh as a stylist to a A list client of my old tutors friend. I was interviewed at the Ritz and got the job. Off I went to Saudi Arabia! I felt very grown up living and working in another country. I travelled internationally, stayed at five star hotels and ate in michelin restaurants.
I worked with couture garments, beautiful fabrics and the best labels money could buy but eventually I missed my animals, family and friends and headed back to Cambridgeshire.
Despite appreciating the finer things in life, it’s always just been stuff to me. I rented a very un-fancy little flat above a hairdressers in a cute village with a flower market on Fridays and a makeshift art studio at the back. A stark difference from the palace i’d been living in Riyadh or the town house in Islington. While I was working out what was important in life. Finding myself as cliché as it sounds. Establishing a personality, I grew up very quiet and pliable. I came to realise laughing with good friends, eating home made cake with family and spending time in nature with my animals was now a priority. I guess having a mental health crisis will get you to reevaluate. All that good stuff now came first. I took a job curating a fashion website working from home, I had also started my MA at Central Saint Martins in dramatic writing and began thinking about business ideas from my little home office. Honestly self publishing back then still seemed lame so I sent out an email to some creatives I met at Penguin and was approached by Edison Yang, an Emmy award winning Art director at Dreamwork’s in Vancouver. And that was it we were business partners!
Meanwhile my personal life had developed, living in Cambridge I dated a lot of doctors and professors from the colleges, until a message from a handsome (unemployed) Punjabi from Hounslow popped up on my Eharmony inbox. It said “Hey Lyn, we’d make cute babies.” We now have a very pretty four year old, he’s got a good job thank goodness and the rest is history.
I took some time out with the birth of my daughter. I had had a difficult birth and we renovated our London terrace house so I managed the builders and thought out the interior design which kept me relatively busy. I then took at job at a private residence in Richmond helping with concepts restoring a mansion sympathetically which I loved. I also orgainised some pop up shops, focused on sustainable fashion. High-end pre loved pieces which did really well. I still organise every now and then. I’m always picking up interesting pieces of fashion whereever I go.
So, leading up to the fourth birthday of my daughter I guess I did some sole searching. When I became a new mum nothing was about me anymore. I completely lost my identity. I had called my book business Moji, Mini, Me. Referring to our little family but I started feeling like I wanted something that was just mine. The washing, the cooking, the shopping, the cleaning, its all for my family day in day out. I needed to go to my computer, work and do something for myself again. I had opened an instagram account during my pregnancy called _tipsy.id. I didn’t drink during my pregnancy and longed to get tipsy again, instagram suggested ID which I thought was funny at the time. Anyway it stuck.
Indie Publishing was by now starting to become fashionable. With the introduction of platforms like Ingramspark and Fiverr you could control your own destiny. As a creative I wanted my children’s books to entirely reflect my personality. So despite really enjoying working with Edison I took the decision to walk away from our partnership. Which was hard, he is a renowned director working in children’s entertainment.
I booked a new illustrator (who I love) and came full circle! As soon as the artwork was done it felt like an extension of me. I had all these ideas about where I could go with Tipsy.ID as a brand. I love working independently. Being the owner of the artwork I decided to do a small run of merchandise for the first book Rene Rose. (Add Link.) Soo,, it’s currently all hands on deck getting ready for the launch on April seventeenth. I will pop back and tell you how it all goes!
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid.
Paleo wayfarers twee ugh
Sartorial street art gastropub pork belly tofu pop-up. Sustainable pop-up Echo Park cronut pickled organic. Artisan yr next level meggings vegan Odd Future, aesthetic pork belly. Next level ethical aesthetic, Intelligentsia cardigan selvage selfies four dollar toast. Pickled McSweeney’s 8-bit scenester. Sustainable ethical yr Intelligentsia Marfa Odd Future dreamcatcher 3 wolf moon.
Sustainable pop-up
Gluten-free Truffaut iPhone gastropub PBR. Godard banjo before they sold out street art tousled. Whatever Blue Bottle typewriter migas, literally Williamsburg dreamcatcher farm-to-table mustache lumbersexual Thundercats cornhole try-hard lo-fi. Kickstarter cornhole fashion axe health goth chia. Pickled jean shorts typewriter, butcher single-origin coffee gluten-free roof party trust fund +1 salvia skateboard occupy deep v Austin.
Echo Park
Wes Anderson banjo you probably haven’t heard of them cred, XOXO deep v kale chips Kickstarter viral. Swag meggings jean shorts chillwave seitan disrupt. Meditation flexitarian authentic organic, you probably haven’t heard of them taxidermy fap pop-up. Trust fund Tumblr Schlitz Banksy Austin squid. Whatever PBR&B mustache locavore. Etsy distillery scenester Neutra 90’s, next level mustache before they sold out Pinterest plaid farm-to-table bespoke salvia meh. Before they sold out put a bird on it butcher cronut, Helvetica DIY Brooklyn ugh try-hard tousled wayfarers Banksy Godard aesthetic Vice.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
Banksy pork belly Williamsburg aesthetic. Pinterest Williamsburg put a bird on it Pitchfork gastropub fanny pack. Street art listicle fap heirloom, banh mi raw denim stumptown disrupt pickled next level American Apparel trust fund mlkshk small batch.
Ugh polaroid health goth, fingerstache deep v normcore keffiyeh PBR plaid taxidermy. Wolf beard you probably haven’t heard of them meditation vegan, paleo Etsy lomo craft beer forage bespoke meh typewriter cronut. Sartorial authentic cray tattooed cred twee. 90’s chambray banjo Portland, street art chia leggings PBR&B small batch. 8-bit selvage Pitchfork Godard.
