More Fireworks!

C.T. Brock, Britain’s, oldest fireworks company was founded 1698. They were the sole pyrotechnists to the Crystal Palace and were known their free displays, or “Brock’s Benefits” starting in 1826.

The company changed hands a number of times toward the end of the last century and even landed under Chinese ownership. Brocks Fireworks Limited is now once again in the UK and aims " To produce high quality Pyrotechnics back in the United Kingdom and to protect the history of the British Firework Industry "

These gouache paintings by Phil George are from a group of 34, found in “C.T. Brock & Co.'s Crystal Palace Fireworks.” The book is at Brown University’s John Hay Library, in the Paul R. Dupee Collection on Fireworks.

The Photo-Fixated Fashion of Mary Katrantzou

Spring 2014

While digitally photo-printed fabric is fairly standard by now, London-based designer, Mary Katrantzou really does take it up a notch. In fact, because she designs not just the textiles, but the clothing they are made into, she’s been managing to make it new, season after season since Fall 2009.
Katrantzou finds inspiration in everything from men’s brogues to interior design photography. I'm thinking that the aesthetic might simply be called “Photoshop,” where there are no limits to possibilities of image manipulation. Details like the decorative scrollwork on banknotes or the perforations on a wingtip shoe are enlarged to colossal proportions, and the "scale tool" pours her models into gigantic perfume bottles. Nothing, be it a formal garden, a No. 2 pencil, or a skyscraper is safe from being sliced, chopped, duplicated, mirrored, and illogically reconfigured. Then, on top of the dazzling (and sometimes dizzying) print effects, the fabric is engineered into garments, with architectural precision."It's hellishly difficult to put a placement print on a bias-cut dress," said the designer when she started working with softer silhouettes.

You can see all of her collections at Style.com, where these photos are from. It seems that each season's review expresses some version of wonder as to how Katrantzou has succeeded, yet again, in causing jaws to drop.

Spring 2014

Fall 2009

Fall 2013

Fall 2012

Spring 2013

Spring 2011