Jimmy Choo Meets Jimmy Choo

WARNING to all dog & handbag lovers, your bank account may take a big dip after reading this. 

With 238,000 Instagram followers, Brazilian artist Rafael Mantesso has certainly captured some attention, or should I say his pooch has. A bull terrier named Jimmy Choo (yes after the famous shoe and accessories designer).

Following a divorce that left him with nothing but blank white walls and the company of his dog Jimmy Choo, Mantesso went about filling the walls with illustrations using Jimmy as his muse for the drawings. He turned his personal misfortune into something comical and fun. Drawings such as Jimmy singing, having a  shower, playing DJ decks, sleeping, playing dress-ups and much more have made it on his walls. 

He photographed them and posted them on Instagram. When they started gaining worldwide attention, Jimmy Choo (the designer) came across the images and couldn't resist collaborating with the artist and dog for his Pre-Fall 2015 collection. 

In a brand statement Ms Choo said "All of a sudden, I had friends from all over the world forwarding me links to Rafael's enchanting work featuring his loveable English bull terrier, Jimmy Choo. I was instantly charmed by the way he animated his captivating dog into his artwork, I had never seen anything like it! His work is so playful, clever and witty, and we struck up an immediate friendship on line. I just knew that I had to incorporate his work into a collection". 

The collection sees Mantesso's designs on bags, purses, clutches and iPhone cases. The theme revolves around a day in the life of a Jimmy the dog, leading an extravagant lifestyle. 

And just for fun, Choo designed a dog collar.....

To celebrate this fun collection, Choo released an animated film created by London based animator Jo Ratcliffe, that tells the story of a day in the life of celebrity pooch Jimmy Choo. Watch this fabulous short video below....

 So cute, So much fun. 

Rafael Mantesso and Jimmy

What a clever, talented man. For the lonely out in the world, this is an inspiration: to know that time on your hands and a sad heart can be a good thing. I wonder if Jimmy the dog knows he is famous and Mantesso's wife is kicking herself :-))

Until next time

Ciao for now

Gessica X

P.S. Just a reminder, to read my articles on fashion styling please follow my blog stylebygessica 

Alexia Sinclair's Seductive Art

"Sinclair’s art is dark and seductive, baroque and symbolic. Her multilayered photographs subtly present contemporary notions of fashion and beauty through innovative digital media, whilst restoring antique notions of classicism, elegance and luxury." From her website

I would also add theatrical, fantastical and imaginative to the description above of award winning artist and photographer Alexia Sinclair's stunning work. I can't remember when I first came across her work, but I do remember thinking wow, as a person also obsessed with the Baroque era. When I heard through a friend of her latest exhibition 'Rococo' on now in Sydney until the 8th March, I was so excited I decided to write this post. Coincidentally, The Australian Financial Review also wrote a piece on her work last weekend. Like they say great minds think alike!
If you read the AFR article, great. If you visit her exhibition, even better. If not browse here and be enchanted by Alexia's work.

The Secret Garden 2015. Part of her latest Exhibition Rococo.

I just love her historical references in all her work. Such as her latest exhibition Rococo, inspired by Louis XV's famous flamboyant mistress Madam de Pompadour, who as an exceptional artist herself decorated her homes and gardens with porcelain flowers. Madam de Pompadour was a fascinating woman with many extraordinary talents which is another reason why I am interested in this particular exhibition. I often refer to her fashion sense when I am making my creations.  

Porcelain Petals 2015 from Rococo Exhibition

The Grove of Venus 2015,from  Rococo Exhibition.

Alexia considers herself a digital artist. Yet I feel she is more than that. A mixed media artist maybe? combining, set design, fashion, photography, history and digital. 

All her photographs are taken in her studio, and each set is designed and created by her. The clothes on the models are even sewn by herself. Then she photographs them. I am guessing there would be little sleep in her life. 

I feel I resonate with her as I know how long creating something you are so passionate about takes. When I am in my studio creating my theatrical mannequins I can get lost for days. (anyway more on my latest ones at a later date!).  

Apart from Rococo series, Alexia has had great success with her other collections which again seem to be influenced by famous historical people, architecture and mainly Europe. Below are some of my favourite pieces of her previous works. 

Marie Antoinette 2005

Elizabeth I, 2007

Pope Alexander VI, 2010

The Cabinets of Curiosity, 2013

See you soon

Gessica X

Just a reminder to view my blog stylebygessica for fashion inspiration.

Middle Eastern Poet & Artist Shurooq Amin

Hello and Happy New Year. Wishing 2015 to be just as you desire.   

After returning from a wonderful holiday break, I feel excited, energised and ready for the year ahead. I am especially looking forward to writing many more posts for my Obsessions blog as well as stylebygessica (which next week will feature summer work wear). 

On that note, I hope you enjoy my first post for 2015.

I came across Kuwaiti born Shurooq Amin's work whilst living in Dubai a few years ago. An artist who is known for her provocative mixed media paintings, Amin's work largely reflects socio-cultural issues in Arab society, as well as the role of women and men therein. Alongside her artistic talent, Amin is a well know poet whose work has been widely published and led her to be the first Kuwaiti to be nominated for the prestigious USA Pushcart prize in 2007.    

Passionate about instigating change in middle eastern society, her pieces: a combination of photography and painting has generated controversy. Amin's exhibition in 2012 It's a Man's World was shut down and closed by police within two hours of opening after being criticised as being pornographic.Yet only twelve months later in 2013 she was awarded the title of artist of the year by the Arab Woman Awards and has since become the first Kuwaiti woman to be auctioned at Christie's. 

I enjoy looking at her colourful and somewhat playful paintings. Aesthetically pleasing yet at the same time, clearly depicting the messages behind them. I admire her courage and look forward to seeing more of her work. I hope you do too. 

It's a Man's World: 2012

My Mistress and Family

He Loves me, He Love me Not

I Like Him, I Like Her

His Dilemma

The Big Bling

'Amin depicts her anonymous, multi-generational figures with whimsy and irony as she reveals the intrinsic contradictions of a conservative society built on hidden lives, collective denial, and widespread corruption. Exploring the cultural chasms of modern-day Arab society as it becomes increasingly escapist and steered by global consumerism and popular culture, Amin’s works frequently return to one of the most universally taboo subjects: the traditional familial structure and the gender roles that maintain it.' Ayyam Gallery.

Popcornographic: 2013

A Man of No Importance

An Arabian Tragedy

Blind New World

Shades of Tattoo

We'll Build This City on Art and Love: 2014. Currently on at the Ayyam Gallery, London

Family Portrait; I'm lonely, I have it All, I'm a Bully, I'm religious

Family Portrait: I'm Lonely, I have it All, I smoke, I'm Gay

Fashionista

We Are the Future

And to finish off this post, here is one of Shurooq's poems. To view and read more of her work, please go to her website here or the Ayyam Gallery

The Other Wife

I wrote to you on frankincense-scented 

paper, green ink frilled, blotted, bruised 

with sequined teardrops, and when my 

gem-rimmed words oozed out, like resin 

from the winged serpent-guarded 

frankincense tree, and solidified onto 

the red-earth paper, buckling into 

schizophrenic calligraphy, morphing 

into crushed-velvet roots, the green of 

that unripe-mango skin I peeled for you 

the night you left me for her, preferred 

her new rose-petal skin to my crinkled 

coriander-sprinkled rind, the green of 

my devoted Friday lunch mint-infused

overcooked okra, the green of this abbaya, 

oudh-soaked just for you, when my words 

oozed out – oh-so-green – onto that 

scorching red-bulbed paper, I thought 

perhaps, for once, for the sake of 

shameless years and endless dark stark 

nights of service, you’d read, listen, soften 

enough to send me all five of my children.

See you soon.

Gessica X