Isn't this just what the British Economy needs!?

This week, it has been announced that from October 4th 2008 a 50kg SOLID GOLD STATUE OF KATE MOSS
is to be unveiled and showcased as part of the British Museum's 'Statuephilia' exhibition... (more info. here)
Now, I'm sorry... Kate's a pretty girl and all that, but how much did this damn thing cost!? And why the heck do we need it!?

This is the year of THE CREDIT CRUNCH, the BOTTOM HAS FALLEN OUT OF THE PROPERTY MARKET, and many UK BANK'S have been in CRISIS! Aside from all that, we have an aging population with a DEBT CULTURE, this years many, many graduates have no pensions to look forward to and can see no real way of paying for any of live's big expenses...

Don't you think that this vast amount of public money could have been better spent in the current economic state!?

Looking for Love Notes...

Hey guys... sorry I've been quite for so long... busy busy bee that I am...

So what I'm working on at the moment (and what I'd really like your help with) is a new online/print project, a follow on from the success of 'I lick my cheese - and other notes from the forefront of flat-sharing' ('I needed that ham. Really needed it.' - 'I pay the rent. What do you do?' - 'I hate you more than life itself.') Oonagh O'Hagan is currently developing her second book, featuring love notes... be part of it! Submit your evil, awful and lovely love notes for her new book... photos texts and emails accepted too!(blank out names if you must) and watch your declaration of love go global!


Images/notes can be submitted at http://flatmatesanonymous.com/, emailed to thelandlord@flatmatesanonymous.com or sent to:

NOTES
Po Box 59277
London
NW3 9JD

Please include a stamped address envelope if you want the note sent back.

Any notes you submit, we have the right to use... however identities and handwriting can be changed.

Remember to add any background info, set the images in context... let us know the full story!

This is the kind of thing we're looking for... how great are these!?

Childhood crushes... (there's an answer box and everything!)


Ghetto Love...


If you'd like to know a little more about Oonagh, check out her little promo vid here!

Dictation Manipulation is spreading...

So here's where you all are...

... isn't it exciting!

What is that vile smell?

Whatever your thoughts on her might be... the shinier, newer, prettier, less drunk and less chavy Lily Allen made an interesting fashion observation recently.

 

Discussed on her latest show 'Lily Allen and Friends' she speaks about her recent experiences at London Fashion Week:

Sitting front row (as you do when your a superstar like Miss Allen) Lily noticed a pungent smell as the show began, remarking to her friend/stylist, 'What is that vile smell?' only to evoke the beautiful response:

 'That is the putrid smell of vomit emanating from the models' breath.'

Isn't fashion glamourous!? 

(Now I'm quite glad I don't sit front row... and no wonder they always hand out perfume!)

Oh look and Irelands got in on the action too!

Cheers lads!

[Don't forget to get in contact with DictationManipulation and let us know a little bit about you - dictationmanipulation@gmail.com]

Lets have a little chin wag...

Running up to the completion of Dictation Manipulation's first quarter, I thought it would be rather nice for us all to find out where we're all from... Oooooh and look at this clever little map I found! Yes that's us - all over five countries in two continents: USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Romania. Isn't it thrilling!


During this time we've been looking a selection of different takes and opinions on the fashion industry, little idiosyncrasies within it and the wheels and cogs keeping the whole machine running... We've been interviewing Ella and Kate, collaborating with FUTV (A lot more to come!) and attempting to spark many a debate with the odd controversial quote!

What I'd like find out, if you would kind enough to oblige (Thank-you, Please) is a little bit about all of you!

Please drop me a line at dictationmanipulation@gmail.com, giving me a little bit of news about you: First Name, Where you are from, profession, age and interests...

Fat versus thin...

'Being Size Zero is as unhealthy as being size twenty.'

Aren't you proud?

'We are a generation of over indulgence.
Everything in excess - We have no limits!'

No way out?!

'With so much fashion product coming as us from everywhere,
you would have to go a long way to completely remove yourself from
it's sphere of influence.'

- Jane Andas

Size Zero - thoughts?

'We (the fashion industry) are not solely responsible for Size Zero,
but we do have a definite influence.'

- and this is an influence that we must take responsibility for!

So why do we all keep doing it?

Iconic 80's New York Fashion Reporter, Bill Cunningham is credited to have said:

'Creativity is the highway to Bankruptcy.'

Well we all know he wasn't wrong... what with fabrics, printing costs, hiring or purchasing equipment and paying people to give you hand it can end up a very costly experience. So what I pose to you is - Why do we all keep going? What is it that drives our hands into our own pockets, putting ourselves into more and more debt? And for what?

Join the protest!

Starts tonight, 9pm on MTV One - Join the protest!

What an industry!

'Even if I did look at magazines, I never realised what a machine existed behind the industry until I was working in it.'

- Panos Yiapanis: Stylist

A late one...

Ok, so a late entry I know, but just to draw your attention to an intriguing show on Channel 5 tonight: The Kate Moss Years... (Love her or hate her!)


Thats all.

Reaching for the stars...

In the words of the talented Miss Katie Melua:

'We were always reaching for the stars,
And they can still be ours...'

- Go on people, push yourselves! Do the things you've always wanted to!

A good kick!

So yesterday we looked at the fashion industry from the outside, however I do feel that often we need a good kick on the inside.

What makes the fashion industry do interesting is the level of commitment within it. A feeling of passion and a real need within its most dedicated members, to work until perfection is reached - no matter how long it takes!


However, there is an extremely broad range within this intriguing industry. And sadly a lot to who are just here for the ride - It's not all about air kisses and calling people dahling, you know! Don't worry though, reassurance is here... no matter how much press and attention these air kissers get, we can rest safe in the knowledge that they don't have a clue what they are doing, and this time next year they will be dead in the scene because people will have seen right through them and all their chat.

These are the ones that drop out, not able to cope with all the knock-back and the lack of ass-kissing. They simply can't understand why they only got two spreads of editorial for a shoot that they spent two weeks (ahem) preparing for!

But for the rest of us, keep going. We are the ones that are excited about the possibilities of a shoot (or whatever aspect of the industry you work at) before it's even happened, pouring over one image until it's close to perfection, until we have got the best we possibly can - even if that means staying up for days on end. It's cool to rip your hair out with frustration because you don't know how to make 'this shoot' work and it's all right to feel a little smug because your shoot turned out great.

The fashion industry is not for the weak hearted - no matter how much it might look like it from the outside!

Tell it how it is, and don't be shy with your ideas!

Fashion from the inside...

Why is it that when you mention to anybody outside of the fashion world that you, in fact, do work inside the industries' constraints, you get that... 'Oh.' and then an almost disappointed look from anyone mildy academic (in their own minds)?

This is an issue I felt needed addressing after having to explain myself at many a party of so called 'intellects' and am sick of defending our highly competitive, demanding field of work. I believe the below quote satisfies any queries:

'Whatever it takes. If it takes me 30 hours of studying a week,
that's what it takes, and if it takes me 40,
I'm going to have to find time to do it.'

Dictation Manipulation spends the day on set with FUTV!

So I spent all day yesterday, sitting eagerly on side-lines (and probably sticking my little nose in where it wasn't really required! Tee hee!) of the FUTV pilot shoot. [What do you think of their new logo by the way?] Where those clever things had arranged an in depth, poignant discussion on Size Zero.


This debate was directed by FUTV's extremely engaging presenters Beki and Ore (Profiles coming!) and was attended by Lynn Crilly of National Charity B-eat, James, Fashion Designer at CSM and Eleny Renton model booker at Quintessentially Models... who from each of their individual industry stances - attempted to explore this highly controversial subject - and rather professionally done I might add! But don't worry guys, you won't have to wait until the release date on SUB.TV, because those lovely people at FUTV have agreed to showcase snippets from the show, exclusively, right here on Dictation Manipulation!

Aren't we lucky!

[ps. If you liked this image - and I certainly did! Check out Tony's Flickr Profile.]

Britney hits back at the media...

Britney SpearsPiece Of Me

'Don’t matter if I step on the scene,
Or shrink away to the Philippines,
They still gone put pictures of my derrière in the magazine...'

Fair do's I say!

Catwalk to highstreet -The modern day 'trickle down' theory!

Hipster versus The Muffin Top

No, I'm not talking about this...

I'm talking about this:

'I don't like hipster trousers, I don't think they suit me,

but thats all you can get these days, so that's what I have to wear!'

And the result?


Something that has come to be know as the muffin top. Why is it that we girls just can't see this when we look in the mirror, we see size ten on the label and smile - even though we know we're really closer to a twelve, and the irony is, we'd actually look better in a larger size that fits us better. Buying a smaller size doesn't actually change your figure's dimensions!

Just to provoke...

To see some more of these fun little comics, check out http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/

UNIQLO goes all Pantone on us...

Ever bought a pair of red gloves to match your new red scarf and then wondered when you got them together why they seemed to clash? They are both red right?

Fortunately, Pantone Inc. has been around to help avoid colour confusion for more than 40 years. A well-guarded secret (until now! Ha ha ha!) among Graphic designers, Pantone is te international authority on every shade under the sun. Whether a designer needs a cherry red, a raspberry red, or even a it's-so-cold-my-nose-is-red red, all he has to do is choose the perfect match from Pantone's selection of thousands of colours, and he'll be guaranteed that the colour he wants it the colour he'll get.

And it is exactly this kind of colour perfection that UNIQLO has tapped into with it's latest range of sweaters.

We're all so easily swayed!

We are the angry mob,

We read the papers everyday,

We like who we like,

We hate who we hate...

... and we're all so easily swayed!

Isn't it intriguing how we all think we're so individual and yet we have a great ability to judge everyone around us on everyone else's standards - what we've been told is 'cool' or whatever.

Angry Mob Lyrics

[Lyrics taken from the Kaiser Chiefs song, entitled 'The Angry Mob' - available on iTunes.]

Does anyone hate fashion?

'Fashion is a despot (dictator, tyrant) whom the wise ridicule and obey' wrote Ambrose Bierce in 1911 in his Devil's Dictionary. Ridicule and obey? Obviously he was on to something. Shoes that hurt too much, trousers that pinch, blouses that scratch, dresses that demand we alter our bodies for their sake, and let's not even get into hair and make-up trends. Fashion can be painful, uncomfortable, way too time-consuming, and of course super expensive. It's appealing today and appalling two seasons later. Anyone who has ever had a passion for fashion knows that it can be dangerous, and , even worse, addictive, because of its promise that if we look chic we will fell great - and who can beat that?'

... and to read the rest of this article, please go out and buy the latest copy (That's issue 7!) of Let Them Eat Cake Magazine - Go and read all about them! There story is a great one, and I believe they are to be saluted!

Dictation Manipulation chats to Ella and Kate (Full Audio Clip)

Ok so I reckon you've all waited long enough for the full audio clip... however, please be aware that this is an 18 minute debate and you may need to set aside some time so as to get it's full benefit!

It is for this reason that I have been posting up some shortened version, a few seconds of insight to spark your own debate... I hope some of this will get you riled! Please also feel free to let me know what else you'd like to hear about...

Busy little worker ants...

Ok, so I'm not sure if your all aware of this, but there has been quite a bit of commenting activity going on and I'd like to draw your attention to it! We've been particularly busy on the Is fashion evil? post which seems to have got a few of you going.

Now the reason that I've set aside today's post for this is not because I'm lazy, don't have anything else to say, or aren't feeling particularly inventive because I haven't had a cup of tea yet, but because I do not wish this site to become another form of dictation, that my opinion overshadow everyone else... We are on an equal platform here and I only wish to insight debate.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, here's what I've got for today (yet another quote from the wonderful Fight Club - valid none the less)

'I see the strongest and smartest men who have ever lived, and these men are pumping gas and waiting tables... 

Remember this... 

These people you are trying to step on, we're everyone you depend on. We're the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner. We make your bed and guard you whilst you're asleep. We drive ambulances. We direct your call. We are cooks and taxi drivers and we know everything about you. We process your insurance claims and credit card charges. We control every part of your life.

We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we'll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won't.

And we're just learning this fact... So don't fuck with us.' 

So is this something that can be applied to the fashion industry, and if so how far do we agree with it?

Beauty regime...

' Beauty never comes easy, but it usually looks that way. '

[An old M.A.C. product I know, but you have to admit, it illustrates the point!]

Trends come and go...

'Of course I see trends... they come and go. Quality and meaning are the things that stick around so, in the end, trends don't really interest me.'

- Max Wigram, Gallerist, Clever Man.

[Max Wigram was brought to my attention via an extremely nice newspapery type thing that UNIQLO have produced recently, rather pleased with it actually.]

Nasty designers!?

Fashion: Everyone just thinks it's a joke!

Chuck's ponderings on life...

Without just one nest

A bird can call the world home

Life is your career

 - Fight Club : Chuck Palahnuik - 

The world of commercialisation, in which we live...

'Something which was a bomb, a big bomb, had blasted my clever Njurunda coffee tables in the shape of a lime green yin and an orange yang that fit together to make a circle. Well they were splinters, now. 

My Haparanda sofa group with the orange slip covers, design by Erika Pekkari, it was trash, now.

And I wasn't the only slave to my nesting instinct. The people I know who used to sit in the bathroom with pornography, now they sit in the bathroom with their IKEA furniture catalogue.

We all have the same Johanneshov armchair in the Strinne green stripe pattern. Mine fell fifteen stories, burning into a fountain.

We all have the same Rislampa/Har paper lamps made from wire and environmentally friendly unbleached paper. Mine are confetti.

All that sitting in the bathroom.

The Alle cutlery service. Stainless steel. Dishwasher safe.

The Vild hall clock made of galvanized steel, oh, I had to have that.

The Klipsk shelving unit, oh, yeah.

Hemlig hat boxes, yeah.

The street outside my high-rise was sparkling and scattered with all this.

The Mommala quilt-cover set. Design by Thomas Harila and available in the following:
Orchid.
Fuschia.
Cobalt.
Ebony.
Jet.
Eggshell or heather.

It took my whole life to buy this stuff.

The easy-care textured lacquer of my Kalix occasional tables.

My Steg nesting tables.

You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple of years your satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handed. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug.

Then your trapped in your lovely nest, and the things that you used to own, now they own you.'

- Fight Club : Chuck Palahnuik -

Is fashion evil?

People trade in on image...

Ladies in waiting...

I'd just like to direct your attention (a few seconds of your busy lives...) to the clever musings of Jessica Brinton of the Sunday Times Style Magazine. She's kindly shared her thoughts and insight into a current generation skirting the 20-year-old milestone, these are the 'girls' that will grow in a new, more sophisticated, extremely savvy version of the Future Lab's H.E.I.D.I.

These are the generation (or a section of a generation) that live by the concept that 'you have a brain and a body, and, in this world, it is acceptable to use both; but the way you choose to use them, and in what proportion, will determine where you end up.'

They are a force to be reckoned with and I say... Go ahead girls! I'm with you!

Kate Leadbetter...

Now lets be honest, Kate is a God of Knowledge and I love just spending time with her - I feel like I'm learning things by just breathing the same air... but here are the facts!

She is a twenty-year-old, third year English Literature student at Manchester University and is applying for a Masters in Film - 'Which is ultimately where I would like to end up.'

So then I asked her all about herself and here's what she had to say ... who better to describe her but her right? (The literary genius that she is!)

'I go to the cinema about 3 times a week and watch way more films than that on top. I am very much a film nerd and what I don't know about cinema would struggle to fill a matchbox! - Geeky and sad, but true! (Not at all geeky and sad Kate! I love to see someone with such drive and passion for what they want to do, and such an interest in broader culture...)

I read a lot and listen to a lot of jazz and Patti Smith is my hero! (She listens to Jazz - How cool is that!)

I'm chair of a film society in Manchester, as well, which is the biggest student film group in the country, which makes me even more of a nerd!' (Again, Nerd? I know this girl is smart and all but can't she see that it's darn impressive to be running a film society at just little old twenty?)

Any final thoughts Kate? Here's your platform...
...'There is not much I wouldn't do for a bowl of Chili and glass of Lambrini!

(Oh well, at least she knows how to relax - that's how I lured her into talking me for so long! Note to all: If you ever want a students opinion... just offer them free food! - That's all it will take!)

Thanks Kate! - Clever thing.

You want to know about Ella Alexander eh?

So, you’ve already had a sneak-peak into the mind of this one, but let me introduced her properly, because she’s damn sure worth it!

Ella Alexander is one of those people, that you just wish there were more of in the world… This 20 year old LCF, Fashion Journalism student is living in South London and has already built up a contacts book to rival the best of us (ahem, Christopher Kane, The Observer, Glamour, Relative PR, Nylon to name but a few…) with experience in PR, show production, retail, editorial, management, feature writing and styling, she’s also got a broad range of skills and an extremely in-depth knowledge of the industry. She has to be one of the hardest working, most caring and involved people I know.

But enough about her accomplishments, we want to know more about her… being a clever little, cultural thing, Ella keeps up with all the right things; fashion, news, current affairs, cinema, theatre, art, film, music, gigs, eating out, bars, socialising… and loves music from The Fratellis, The Clash, The Cure (and all those other ‘The’ bands…) oh and you can never go wrong with a bit of James Brown or Ella Fitzgerald apparently.

Ella describes her style as forties and fifties, but a whole lot lazier…. with a Parisian twist.

Due to graduate shortly she hopes to get into supplement writing, and remarks that she would sell her own mother to write for the Guardian!

Dictation Manipulation teams up with Fashion University TV.

I recently learnt about a new and exciting initative from a group of clever Londoners...

Their vision? - Fashion University TV (It's so new that they are still popping the bubble wrap!)


FUTV, a fast paced, highly current, visual and provocative fashion themed television programme to be shot across London and broadcast nationwide via SUB.TV. The show will feature Industry interviews, street intercept Vox Pops (that I'll be hosting!) and high profile studio debates such as The size zero debate and Is fur fair?, reaching a potential audience of 1.8 Million viewers each year - that's pretty darn impressive figures if you ask me!

So, look forward to the odd excerpt of their innovative work, and make sure you keep an eye out, come April, when they are set to broadcast across all student union bars in the nation...

... but for now, if you'd like to contribute to, or be part of FUTV then please contact James on fashionunitv@hotmail.com.

Until then, 'F U!'

Dictation Manipulation earwigs on... Ella & Kate

So whats it all about...

So, researching into the evolution of fashion from inspiration to sales got me a little bit down... and I thought you all should know about it. This is a project based on wit, intelligence and humour for the educated consumer.



After spending some time researching current trends in the hope of inspiration towards trends for 08/09, it struck me how repulsive the entire trends system is… the industry gets to dictate to the entire world what they will wear at any given time. Sickening!



And this is not just with regard to those of us who attempt to follow and keep up with the ever changing ‘fast-fashions’ but everyone who steps onto their local high street.



‘I don’t really like hipster trousers, I don’t think they suit me… but that’s all you can get these days, so that’s what I have to wear.’
– Overheard at a party.

What is even more disgusting about this dictation, I feel, is that it comes from such a small amount of people, and us, the masses, just eat up every morsel of information that they give us…



… because we’re all so insecure, requiring constant reassurance and feel that that’s exactly what that ‘IT’ bag, or new pair of ‘on trend’ shoes are going to do for us. Buying that dress that is featured in this month’s Vogue is going to make us better people, more professional, help us get that guy, get us a pay rise… somehow transform us!? – there are so many more important things in life that we don’t put half as much emphasis on!

Consumers are becoming more intelligent, a lot more savy, and we know when we are being tricked by brands. I think we are going to start seeing through trends, designers and the fashion industry in general – A trend of Anti-Fashion! People will begin to buy into quality and boycott the seasonal trends…


‘If everybody looked the same… We’d get tired of looking at each other…’
[Groove Armada]



So who else agrees with me? Well, SilverScreenPipeDreams certainly does:

‘I recognise that the way we look is important to how people perceive us, but I don’t want to be beholden to a code that dictates what I can and can not wear.’

‘Women are so often told what we can and can’t wear in this world, and we soak it up, we’re so certain that we must be doing something wrong, our hair out of style, the wrong dress, why else wouldn’t we have the life we are shown in the advertisements? We let these depictions of life define our roles for us, telling us we should be sexy and also virginal, and smart and also a great mother and stylish and put together, but also free to be ourselves that it’s no wonder some people drop out of the race altogether, or some like Britney Spears, go insane.’



Vivienne Westwood looks into the future and here’s what’s in her minds eye:

‘If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season… I’ll tell you what I’d like them to buy – nothing. I’d like people to stop buying and buying and buying.’

‘With so much fast fashion available to us, we are not giving ourselves the opportunity to develop good taste.’