A mood update with a ballet twist ;)

I am free, my school has ended, and I should be having a time of my life right? Instead I am finding myself wandering around slightly clueless and equally stressed as before the holidays started. From all the stress and adrenaline in the past 2 months, especially last 2 weeks of school, my everything is still in the work mood. I need to do something, anything. The problem arises when I also want to relax and don’t really feel like working. Not allowing myself to do either properly, work or relax has led me to just existing and feeling bad for ‘procrastinating’.

My second term project has been on my mind since the briefing we had two weeks ago, I want to learn from experience and start proper work from day one. Because I am visiting my home in Slovenia in second half of the holidays, that step ahead in studying and preparation for next year has to be done now, in these two weeks. I've been finding it increasingly hard to concentrate on that and all attempts left me feeling really frustrated with myself.

I am pretty sure that 2 h ago, a mental click has finally happened (I love these, but they are impossible to predict). I've decided to stop worrying for an hour and eat my diner while watching Ballet 422, a documentary about the production of a ballet show, choreographed by an amazingly talented, 25 years at the time, Justin Peck. I was initially interested in watching ballet documentary because of my accidental extended research into a ballet shoe. If you think about it, it is an essential part of a ballerina’s wardrobe, it is a shoe but its construction is not even close to any other dancing shoe or even any shoe in existence.  (* will include a chapter from my written piece on history of footwear below ^^)

Anyway, documentaries like these really bring me motivation and encourage me to work harder. I find this particular one particularly inspiring not because of how it was shot, or because of the theme (which is amazing by the way, watching dancers move… any kind of dance, from ballet to hip-hop is just mesmerising), but because it shows how much work and effort was put into a project. Collaborating, exchanging ideas, cross disciplinary conversations and hard work all combined to create a beautiful finished product.

I know now what my goal is during the holidays; to work as hard as I can on improving myself. Because it is the holidays, I will let my heart choose. I won’t try to force myself to work on the 2^nd term project, instead I will work hard on other things like research the history and modern culture of platform shoes, or visit a bunch of weird museums around London, or taste a bizarre sweet salty milkshake in Shoreditch, or go window-shopping, or just enjoy the amazing city of London.

*The promised short history of a ballet shoe.

    A modern ballet shoe – pointe

Ballet was first founded in the 17^th century on the French court of Louis the XIV. The dance was originally performed in high heeled slippers which were very restrictive in terms of movement, especially jumps.

One cannot be certain about when the heels were removed from ballet dancing shoes, but it is generally believed that the first dancer to ever wear shoes with no heels was a French ballerina from The Paris Opera Ballet, Marie Camargo in the 18^th century. The flat flexible slipper, attached to the leg with ribbons and pleated around the toes for a better fit, much as the modern pointe shoe, spread through the ballet community very quickly as it allowed the dancers much more freedom in their movement.

The second breakthrough in dancing on tip toes was Charles Didelot’s ‘Flying machine’ in the 1795. Dancers would be lifted on wires and allowed to dance on their tip toes before being lifted from the ground completely. The public responded to the change in a very positive way, causing dance directors to include more ‘en pointe’ routines in their choreographies.

As the dance progresses, the desire and need for technical skill increased. The first person to dance through the entire show on her tiptoes in slightly modified satin slippers was Marie Taglioni. Soles were made out of leather with darned toe area and sides to help them keep their shape. As the shoes of this period offered no additional support, the dancers had to rely on their strength to stay upright on their toes.

Another improvement was brought with the addition of the ‘box’, a flat platform at the front of the shoe that provided more stability in comparison to the more sharp pointed shoes of that time.

The birth of the modern ballet shoe however is attributed to the early 20^th century Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. To compensate for her high arched insteps and prevent injuries she reinforced the leather soles and hardened the toe area to create a box.

With a few modifications, the shoe has remained practically the same for the past 200 years.

There are exceptions to that rule, as the innovation is still taking place today, most notably by Nike’s collaboration with Bloch dancewear and Guercy Eugene that resulted in the Nike Arc Angle ballet shoe (picture bellow).

 Culturally and thematically diverse adaptations of the classic ballerina pointe shoe are seen in popular culture as seen in ‘Ballerina Ultima’ shoes by Christian Louboutin, 2007  (picture on the left) and ‘Lady Pointe’ shoes by Notitaka Tatehana, 2012 (picture on the right).

 

Mademoiselle Privé

Today (a couple of weeks ago actually, but I haven't had time to properly rite or post anything, because I was supper busy with school.) I visited the Saatchi Gallery to see the long anticipated exhibition, Mademoiselle Privé. At a masterpiece like this you start to understand how a good curator can change everything about the exhibited object. I got taken into a different world. A world where time ran slower, where night and day were a pleasant omnibus twilight and a world where the 5 senses merged into one to produce an unforgettable experience.

In the first room, we were greeted by coco's first boutique and her hat designs. A soft woman’s voice thinking out loud and curating the journey was filling up the place with laughter and light.

“My hats were designed to be light, not heavied by feathers, birds and fruits..."

Next room was the room of totems, they each signified an area or an item that inspired Chanel in her creations, from lucky numbers to pearls and strangely enough wheat.















The room than continued into his huge labyrinth made out of different fabrics. White sheets were suspended just under the ceiling and were hung down to create a maze of secret spaces, sounds and light installations. The first part of the room was quite pleasant to wander around and get lost in the fabrics, the second part however was an imitation of the first part, the difference being the colour of the sheets - they were black. Getting lost in there would be quite scary.















Exiting the room complex on the bottom floor, we followed the arrows upstairs to a dimly lit exhibition space with black floors walls and ceiling. Down the centre of this longitudinal room (reference to the art history in 2nd year for those who can remember ;D) handmade haute couture dresses were exhibited on see though mannequins, lit with bright white light. The details on these dresses were absolutely stunning. Decorated with feathers, beads and embroidery, they were really captivating.

In the end we managed to get into a pre-booked workshop on Chanel No°5 perfume, because some of the people didn’t show up, how amazing is that. At the workshop we (me and Joey, the friend who was with me) got to explore the fragrances that come together to create the iconic perfume and also got our own bottle of the perfume, which I now use almost every day.

Week 1 - My first last

Today is the last day of the first week of an amazing year I am yet to experience. So far , I cannot describe this with anything less extreme than surreal. I am actually studying shoe design.

My days are so busy they that at the end of the each one everything is a bit of a blur, displaced events, all equally vivid but scattered around my memory, falling into the folder named London, ignoring the carefully selected sections like October the 8th or Thursday. Today's morning was days ago, so were todays classes and evening work shift. All I can do now is breathe and enjoy this moment of satisfaction and freedom – today.

Using my laptop's calendar to reorganise and sort my impressions of this week, I can tell you that Monday was the first of five, the briefing day – the start of it all. We met at JPS (John Princess Street) to hear about the plans for the first term (now – mid-December). In these few months we will be working on two separate projects. First one is called ISHE ([iši] how cute!) which stands for Introduction to Study in Higher Education. This one is to prepare us for bigger and more advanced project in later years. We were asked to choose an object which has a special meaning to us and would want to investigate it further. I chose a decorative tin storage box (http://prntscr.com/8p9kbw). We will have to visually explore this particular item in a min 20pg. portfolio and write a 1250 word essay – I'm really excited about both of these tasks!

Next project is called Product Technologies and it is meant to teach us about the construction of different shoes, techniques used for making them, different materials, use of the specialised machines...everything we need to know about the process of shoe making. The interesting thing about this is that we will get no special books on the topic, instead we will each write our own shoemaking manual, alongside with physical samples, which will act as a reference book for the next 3 years and more and will also be a 100% of the grade for this subject.

Taping the last and making a pattern :)

One of the first tasks we had to do was deconstruct a shoe, we got on our second day (we also got our own lasts and specialised toolkit!!). On Thursday we learned how to prepare our shoe patterns for a court shoe…there was a lecture on shoe illustration.... aaa my head is going to explode. Too much info, error, error. The thing I love about this course so far is that it’s really hands on, practical and real. All the people who teach here have had years of experience in different fields of shoe industry and are really helpful, knowledgeable and accessible. The other thing is, everything we learn, from day one is aimed at the real world. Alongside our course specific knowledge, we learn how to be professional, how to present ourselves, to prepare a portfolio. Examples are taken from real students and real industry projects.

Deconstruction of a Chelsea boot O.o

Coming from an environment where the average is 4 written tests per subject, and you have 13 subjects, and oral questioning and extra marks, this is all very new. But having started on my projects, it is starting to show that this kind of work is even more demanding than studying for a test and takes up for more time. I hope that by working on the project I will actually learn and REMEMBER most of the information I need for later without hours and hours spent revising and all-nighters every other week of November. Cheers.

P.S.: Last = a form around which the shoe is moulded

New wardrobe for £8! - London vintage haul

To start my life in a new place, I needed some new clothes to really transform my wardrobe into a more exciting place (to get rid of that gut-wrenching morning feeling of ihavenothingtowearpleasehelp away for good). I was also decided on not spending much money on my upgrade, for obvious reasons (£££). I have found an event that a friend was going to attend (fb) – a huge vintage sale, everything for £1. Sooo I went.

When I was sure, I was in the right area, all I had to do was inconspicuously follow all the funky/hipster dressed people. They lead me past a huge que of people, witch at first, I thought was a queue for something different, it couldn’t be the vintage sale…could it? It was. The mass of people that continued around the block, was about 100m long and 1 m wide –at 11.40am!! (The sale as supposed to start at 11am, and I was going to be there on time. But then traffic happened). Since I had nothing better to do, and I was meeting up with a friend who was also late, I decide to just fry in the sun with the others, reading my 1pound edition of Macbeth and pray to god all the he good pieces won’t be gone by the time I get there.

I got there... in about an hour and a half I met with my friend and paid entrance fee (£1) for both of us, since he didn’t have any change on him. Inside the mysterious chamber that turned out to be a plain white room there were a few pallets (skids) put in a row creating 3 separate corridors for us to walk, some stands with hangers with sweaters and jackets on the sides and a few metal-net boxes with hats and such. I must say, it was a mess. The vintage was really just a synonym (not really) for second hand and it was not at all easy to find pieces that I liked. However, after good 2 and a half hours of deciding and contemplating, I have decided on 6 pieces that I liked, and my friend picked two. We paid £8 at the counter and happily strolled out with bags of clothes that all together cost £10. (AMAZING!!)

1.First thing that I got was super cute looking burgundy coloured fluffy hat, that would go perfectly with a pink dress that I bought at Bestival for - coincidentally - £1 as well.

2. Second thing was a black and white cotton shirt that was actually found by my friend first, but was too small for him. I have worn it a couple of times now and it is very comfortable, versatile and surprisingly warm. (you probably know I love wearing male shirts tho).

3. Just out of curiosity, I picked out a pair of faux leather pants (Yugioh abridged people will relate with me on an emotional level – yes Twigi). I tried them on and to my absolute surprise, they fit like a glove. They were also high waisted, which was something I have been wanting to get for a long time.

4. Well the blue sequin shirt got chosen merely for the laughs, but I may put it to god use some day. Definitely great party wear.

5. The next thing, which is the cute black sweater with pink stars was picked up right at the end for 2 reasons: 1. It had starts (*) and 2. I actually came to the sale to get more warm stuff for winter (and this was actually the only proper winter thing I got XD).

6. Aaand last but not least –drumroll- my absolute favourite thing in my wardrobe right now…. The amazing Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe skirt. Ta-daaa. So I was just browsing through some boring piles, saw a glimpse of the bright blue and just snatched it before anyone else could get to it. It was meant to be. (I got the bag for free at the UAL freshers’ fair).

So this post sums up all my new clothes bought in England for a total price of £8! (£1 for the dress from Bestival, £1 for the entrance fee to the sale and £6 worth of hidden treasures). So even if the common saying (is it?) goes something along the lines of: “London will take your money…” I think this shows that it will also give you some amazing deals if you take the time to look for them.

My new place

So, I am still alive. Yes. I haven’t really had time to post anything proper, because, I'm not going to lie, my life right now is quite busy. But today, I felt like I needed to take some time off to write an update.

I have successfully moved in to my new residence in North London, I have had my first job and I have officially stated school at University of the Arts London.

So first a bit about where I live. Since my funds are quite low, I decided to hunt for a cheap private accommodation on my own, rather than settle for super expensive living in the student halls (138 per week or more). Having looked through dozens of rooms, I found my absolute favourite one. It is affordable, really bright (2 roof windows), cosy and quite close to my school (when I say quite close, I mean 40min to 1h of commuting every morning). I share the bathroom and a kitchenette with a lovely Chinese student, who has already lived here for a year. The only downside really, to this place is that it doesn’t have a proper hob. ''WHAT!?'' was my first reaction, but after spending some time living here, I think I will find lots of original and healthy ways to prepare food – I have managed to survive so far (I have a microwave, kettle, toaster, egg cooker, vegetable steamer and a rice cooker).

The house in which I’m staying is located in North London in a clean, very green and lively residential area. Shops and high street is a 2 min walk away, tube 15 minutes. (And the gigantic Alexandra palace park just 10 min walk omg). TL;DR, I love this place.

I will write about Bestial (job) and uni some other time, promise^^.

Top 3 things I love about London so far

There have been quite a few changes in my daily routine, food I eat and people I meet. I thought I would sum up some of my favourite things about living here so far :)

1. The people

London is a cultural melting pot. Just sitting on the tube and observinn people is an experience on its own. If you want to step up your game, invite some friends over for a Chinese hotpot and find yourself sitting at the table with an Englishman, a woman from Jamaica, 3 Chinese ladies,2 Sri Lankansand well your Slovene addition to the mix. (Thanks Thushaan for taking the picture ^^)

2. Food

Seedless grapes. I liked grapes before, but something about being able to just bite in it without a surprise of the bitter solid bits in the middle makes it feel completely different. In a split second they become one of your favourite fruits ...just can't get enough of them, NOM.
Thick cream /Doubke cream. I have never seen it in Slovenia. It basically tastes like normal cream, but the consistency is not as watery. It comes close to greek yoghurt maybe. It is perfect for topping deserts, fresh berries or ice cream. --> My new favourite desert is fresh strawberries, topped with a big spoon of thick cream with a crushed meringue on top.

Bigger meringues. Meringues, the sweet light dessert of the gods. I am used to them being small bite-sized puffs of white or pink. Not in England. The smallest I have seen hav a diameter of 7cm!!, In local pastry shops they sell even bigger ones, that look more like loafs of bread then desserts. Well they taste just the same, but in this case, bigger means better :)

3. Amazingly friendly customer service

Whether you are going to a bank, a phone store, clothes shopping or just picking up a coffee, you will almost always be greeted by a friendly employee. They will be informative and helpful while still being able to chat with you, discuss the weather.. XD The person, dealing with the setup of my bank account even offered to charge my phone, because I mentioned the battery was running low from using Citymapper too much. So far I haven't had a bad experience. :D

Daydreaming

What have I been up to lately, well trying to enjoy the English life, drink tea and keep myself from panicking every 2 minutes about finding a job / school / money - at least I  have sorted my room out.

Room - I have found a lovely attic room in northern London, which is going to be my home for the next 9 months. Its bright, cosy and has enough storage space for my shoe collection :D (important things!!). The only thing that will probably be a challenge at first is living without a hob. It will be weird to prepare food with the help of rice-cooker, vegetable steamer, kettle, microwave and a toaster only. Reassuringly, my future room-mate has already adapted to this kitchen last year.

University - Has unofficially already started. As soon as I enrolled online , I already got my first homework, well 3 of them. I can see already that this is going to be completely different education system than what I am used to. Our collage has its own blog, that we are supposed to post on, comment and meet people from other fashion courses. Homework no1: design a shoe inspired by our own national heritage and make a 3d model of it (I will keep you updated when I get around to doing it :D)

Drawing - I have been trying to pick it up again as a habit. started with drawing some details from each room in the house (so far only my room and the laundry room) and joining a fb group for daily speed-paint challenge. So here ae the 2 traditional pieces and a 30 min speedpaint; theme Secret door.