Emerging Fervour

Carl Burgess is a filmmaker whose work is full of surrealism and absurdism. His piece for music video for Ratatat’s single “Drugs” caught my attention, and I just had to share with you. Check out part of Carl’s interview with the Creators Project and the video.

Ratatat – Drugs from Blink on Vimeo.

Your latest piece, a frightening yet compelling music video for electronic music duo Ratatat’s single “Drugs” (above), is made using stock footage from Getty Images. It could be seen as a companion piece to Three People Trapped in Infinite Politeness. What is it that appeals to you about stock images being manipulated?

I had the idea to make a video from stock footage long before Evan [bass player and producer] got in touch about making a video for Ratatat. Getty Images is something I’ve worked with in the past, and I knew it had legs to become something more. In a similar way to Pictures From The Daily Mail I’d been scouring Getty for a long time — saving up a library of these clips. I was captivated by how surreal they were, the long stares into the camera, the fake smiles and the bad acting. I’d think “Who the hell buys these clips”? A good example of this is the woman at the end of the Ratatat video who’s stroking the dog, that one is so weird, I’d love to know what purpose they had in mind for that one.

The Thomas Engel Hart line is something for the rebel rockstar at heart. Engel Hart uses a mix of traditional and innovative patternmaking techniques, rock references and a range of fabric and materials. Admittedly, we don’t write a lot about menswear, even though fashion is just as important to you fashionisto’s as it is to us. Shame on us, but we promise to write something for the boys more often.

Back to Engel Hart. Currently, he’s living and working in Paris but he was actually born in Manhattan, where he later went on to the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Take a peek at his latest AW10 collection:

Check out the Thomas Engel Hart website. In the UK, pieces are available at London’s Dover Street Market and also in Japan and the US (details on website).

This weekend was very special to me as not only did I see one of my favourite bands live (Faithless if you’re wondering) at the Zurich Openair but I went to watch it with Sara, who came to visit me in Zurich on this bank holiday weekend (well bank holiday for the UK).

So off we went late afternoon in our brand new wellies (we are still thankful for my friend who recommended them!!) ready to see the bands and spot some people.

The former came true but we seriously struggled on the second one as it become apparent, the Swiss dress for the occasion which seemed to be comfortable and practical. Something that kind of makes sense, however it does make the spotting of people rather difficult and after an hour our camera gave up and so did we.

But not all is lost and we did spot a few which didn’t let the mud get in the way of looking fabulous and we thank you for making our day a bit brighter:

I am completely obsessed with Japanese style. One of my first blogs I think was titled ‘fashionable Japan’, where I went on about the different styles on Japanese streets.

I came across tokyofashion.com through a friend on Facebook and I’m so in love with their daily picture updates, which they post every day through Facebook. Check out 2 of my favourites this week:

You can check out the rest of the photo blog through their page on Facebook or check out their site at tokyofashion.com

There’s a hairdresser on virtually every street corner in Lebanon to cater for the liss, poker-straight hair that most of us are after. No one, and I mean NO ONE leaves their house in Beirut without being fully made up with the hair, the clothes, the nails (God forbid your toe nails are painted a different colour to your finger nails).

I arrived in Beirut at 3am on a Monday morning and by 11am the same day I was whisked away by my sister-in-law to Yehia and Zakaria hair salon to get my hair done. First things first, I need a coffee and a cigarette – that’s not a problem, the smoking ban hasn’t reached us yet.

As I’m getting my hair washed by a 16 year old sweet-talker named Ahmed, I start to blush when he says that he once fell in love with a girl named Sara at school. ONCE? YOU’RE 16!! When was this? Last week? Anyway, I blush a little more when he finishes me off (the hair) and tells me to make sure he washes my hair next time. Oh yes, Sara’s still got it.

Ghassan, my allocated hairdresser starts explaining about the benefits of getting a Brazilian perm – Keratin, blow dried into your hair. Your hair stays glossy and straight for 6 months, even after shampooing and at $300, it aint cheap! I get this done…make me beautiful Ghassan! He does and my hair is amazingly straight and no straighteners in sight. As I’m about to leave, he looks me up and down and tells me that they have a beautician in-house who does eyebrows and nails. Oh okay, not beautiful yet then. I’m taken into the beauty room and greeted by a model-like beautician and as I’m getting plucked, she asks me why I haven’t yet considered Botox and fillers. You need to be thick-skinned here. People are honest and it’s that kind of honesty that would get you punched in the UK – but I prefer it like this. No tip-toeing around the subject….”you’re getting wrinkly and you need to do something about it”. Ok.

I came across KidViskous a few months ago while looking for a present for a friend. Tiffany Lee is the brain behind KidViskous jewellery label. She is right now into her fourth collection, which is just as quirky as collection 1, 2 and 3. The thing I love most is the Lee designs on a whim and doesn’t conform to any trends, making her pieces timeless.

Check out Collection 4

Something else that’s quite interesting about KV is their support of emerging photographers models, which is exactly what we like hearing at Emerging Fervour! Tiffany also works as a freelance fashion writer, blogger and editor – check out her blog.

Her past and present collection pieces are on sale through the KidViskous website www.kidviskous.com

I came across Joe Challita not too long ago and couldn’t help but do a write up on him and his creations. They’re just so beautiful!

A law graduate, Challita’s true passion is fashion and so in 2004 he gave it all up to pursue a career in fashion design. In 2007 he graduated from East Sydney College with a fashion degree and has been based in Beirut ever since (he was raised in Australia).

Through his Lebanese heritage and culture, Challita worked with beautiful fabrics to create his Vintage Nouveau style. And taking a chance to follow his Haute Couture dream, Challita appeared on Mission Fashion – a reality TV show based in Beirut with a mission to select a top model and top fashion designer. One thing led to another, and Challita received an invitation to train at the Elie Saab Fashion House in 2007. Challita has been in Beirut since, pursuing his dreams to dress the women of the world!

Check out these Challita Couture pieces

Nina Stotler founded Von Kottwitz jewellery in 2004. Growing up in Berlin, she was influenced by her surroundings, in particular the Bauhaus movement with its innovative and restrained aesthetic. Jason Dickerson partnered with Von Kottwitz in 2008 as creative director and has put his sleep and modern twist to the brand, taking it from strength to strength.

The Meridien Collection

^ The Capstone $225

^ The Vortex $300

^ The Coil $275

The Factory Collection

The Industry Collection

You can buy on the Von Kottwitz site through Paypal.

As you know there is more to us than the blog and in the background we’re busy making a living from our other passion, which is the digital world.

So we’re proud to announce our first collaboration project has gone live and we’ve launched Bloody Gray PR’s new, content management driven, website. Emerging Fervour moved the un-up-datable site to the open source wordpress platform (our favourite content management system), giving Bloody Gray a system that allows them to update their own media cuttings and clients.

“Emerging Fervour have been an absolute pleasure to work with, efficient, reliable and completely aware of exactly what my company needed to get to the next level.

They went out of their way to assist and have brought Bloody Gray PR massive results. The feedback from clients and industry people has been enormous and I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with them. ”

Becc Gray, Founder, Bloody Gray

Bloody Gray is a boutique PR agency representing designer such as:

• Culietta
• Gabriella Marina Gonzales
• Le Cav Du Bon
• Migh-T by Kumiko Watari