Graphic Journey Blog

Dedicated followers of fashion

Drainpipes, flares, double breasted, single breasted, blouson, button down, waisted, polo necked, raglan, mullet, mini, maxi, shoulder pads, see through, high waisted, hipster, low slung, button through, denim, fairisle, corduroy, floral, chino, knitted, kipper, loafers, checked, stripped, kickers, desert boots, baseball.

We like to think that fashion is a way of signaling our individuality but actually we are just joining a tribe to communicate our membership. As you become older you begin to understand that fashion is a recurring theme and all the clothes you threw out 15 years ago are now back in fashion rediscovered by a younger set. The artists Gilbert & George overcame this tricky problem back in the late 60s by establishing a dress code that they have never deviated from...

Above Gilbert & George in the 70s and bottom today

I’ve always had a bit of a love hate thing with fashion and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly everyone falls into line with a new style. And styles come thick and fast these days thanks to the web with its many fashion blogs like The Satorialst…

Above The Sartorialist - from blog to book form

Take for example the current trend of wearing jackets, shirts and jumpers two sizes too small…

I’ve nicknamed it the Norman Wisdom look…

Norman was well ahead of the fashion game back in the 1950s

It got me thinking about all the fashion phases over the past 60 years and I remembered that from around the mid 70s, the D&AD annual used to photograph the juries, often in full length, not just the mug shots they feature these days. So I rummaged through my stack of old annuals and hey presto. Take a look at these fashion statements 30 years on…

Above some of the fashionable D&AD design and advertising fraternity from 1976 to 1979 

Yes it can be deeply embarrassing after the event. But it doesn’t stop us from being seduced the moment a new mode of dress hits the scene.

My own default fashion preference is classic Ivy League, first discovered in the 60s. Then I lapsed into the flowered wasted shirt and crushed velvet, hipster flares era. In the late 70s I reverted back to Ivy again only to veer off  in the 80s to the baggy, structure-less Armani period with those front pleated roomy trousers topped off with a voluminous shirts. All are now languishing in an Oxfam shop somewhere.

This is me judging the 1984 D&AD entries kitted out head to toe in Ivy League...

all courtesy of J.Simons, then in Covent Garden now relocated in Marylebone. And it is this style that I will probably stay with, as I am not wasting any more money on passing fads (famous last words). Or maybe I have just become boring?

One last note on this fashion thing. In 1988 a very young Fernando Gutiérrez was working as my assistant. Even then he was a snappy dresser. On one particular day he had a very forlorn look. “What’s the matter?” I asked. He pointed to the front of his no longer pristine, white Paul Smith shirt. There was a horrid splat of roitering ink, and permanent at that. So it got my mind thinking about how to overcome this little problem. Eureka! I set a competition for some fashion students at St Martins. Having briefed 20 odd enthusiastic students on stories of the many ink splattered shirts, skirts and jackets, I asked them to reinvent the studio smock. Off they went. Elle magazine heard about it and featured the winning creations from the students. This photograph...

taken by Terry O’Neil, appeared Elle's with the following caption…

I had a job lot of the winning jacket design made and virtually everyone at Carroll, Dempsey & Thirkell wore them…

This shot was taken in 1988 at the company’s then home at Brownlow Mews in London’s Bloomsbury. I am 7th from the left  and Fernando Gutiérrez is 2nd from the right all clean and dandy. 

Fernando Gutiérrez modeling an early prototype in 1988

At that time I was working on a project that involved the painter and sculptor, Allen Jones. He was so taken by the jacket that I gave him one. There I was thinking that I really had been responsible for the reworking of the old studio smock now to be use by a bonifidi artist in the privacy of his studio. Not a bit of it. 6 months later I ran into Jones at a Tate function. And what was he wearing? You guessed it.

For any of you interested in the Ivy look visit J. Simons here.

 

 

 

Kenneth Grange: Designing the everyday

This is Kenneth Grange…

He is one of Britain’s leading product designers. Few have touched our daily lives more than Grange. For over 50 years he has tackled everything from the humble shaving razor to the speedy 125 intercity train and the Kenwood Chef to the London black cab and much, much more. This month sees a retrospective exhibition of over 150 of Grange’s creations at the Design Museum in London.

Now 80 he is still as engaged and active in wanting to make things work better and look better. He has the enthusiasm of an 18-year-old, which he transmits to all that come into range. He is a shining example of the designer’s ability to improve things for the benefit of society.

He are some of his most well-known designs that have helped shape British culture…

Intercity 125 front end

The Kenwood Chef food mixer

Wilkinson Sword razor

The TX1 London taxi

B&W's Signature Diamond Speaker

Work shirt for Margaret Howell

Anglepoise Lamp Type 3 

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Kenneth in 2009  at his home in Devon. You can hear about his fascinating design journey here.  

Update:

2016 marks the 40th year in service for Kenneth Grange’s iconic 125 high-speed train and appropriately he gets one named after him. 

 

Thomas Heatherwick/Polymath

This is Thomas Heatherwick with me…

There can be little doubt about the impact that Heatherwick has had on British design. Over the past decade his surprising creations, from a handbag to a bus and bridge to a gazebo, have delighted all with their beauty, wit and diversity. Nothing seems to phase him. The latest in his growing cannon of work is the reincarnation of the Routemaster bus, so loved by Londoners and sent to the scrap heap by one mayor and thankfully revived by another, one Boris Johnson.

 

Above is Heatherwick’s initial sketch for his vision of the new version of London’s most iconic bus. And here he is on the running board of the full-scale prototype…

 

It will be back on the London streets next year. And last year we had the wonderful spectacle of his Shanghai Expo Seed Cathedral, which attracted 8 million people...

And the smaller scale East Beach Café at Littlehampton, West Sussex, gently weatherting - creating an intentional patina that Heatherwick wants to achieve...

But there is another, rather more humble annual project, that Heatherwick turns his attention each year. The Heatherwick Christmas cards. With them he has challenged the notion of what a mailable letter is and importantly Royal Mail’s ability to delivery it. They are a surprising delight for all who receives them. Take a look at a few…

Wooden trellis folding Christmas tree

Christmas stamps imbedded in a clear, ice like, resin block

Laser cut faceted snowflake

Lifting stamp block. 

Christmas label and chain-link.

Organic radiating star

And this delightful advent calendar designed in collaboration with Sara Fanelli. Each mini envelope contains a fold out word ...

to eventually spell out this festive greeting.

Back in 2004 I recorded and interview with Thomas at his home in North London where, along with his wife, he was in anticipation of their first joint creation, twins.

If you’d like to hear him recalling his early career and his views on design then just click here.

 

 

Cy Twomby 1928 – 2011

The great American painter whose scratches, scrapes and marks have a beautiful power is no more. But his work will stay and will continue to move us forever.

 

 

In your face graphics

I've always had a weakness for direct typography...

There is a very good site with more goodies like this here maned by Chicago based graphic designer Shawn Hazen.