Twee Art // The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes

One
 It's been a quite a while since we gave you a tour around Twee Towers, so we thought that it was high time that we shared some more of the art that we have hanging around! We've recently added new prints to our studio by English illustrator, Alan Aldridge.

For those who haven't heard of Aldridge, he was one of the key graphic designers of the mid-century and during the Sixties & Seventies it would have been an extremely difficult mission to escape his kaleidoscopic, vaudervillic (is that a word? if not, it's being coined right now) creations. His CV is simply ridiculous; he was made Art Director of Penguin books, bringing surreal, pyschedelic sensibilities to their Science Fiction titles, he famously won a drawing competition with a slightly manical Savildor Dali whilst waiting an airport, and to top it all off, designed artwork and lyric books for the likes of The Beatles, The Who & The Rolling Stones. Phew.

We first discovered Aldridge's work a few years back upon buying The Beatles' illustrated lyrics book (if you don't own, you must!) and recently, Lauren invested in The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes as a gift for James' Christmas, completely unselfishly we might add.


Two/Three
His style is an illustration of the Sixties, defining the age through an LSD fuelled carnival of surrealism, imagined dystopias and fantastical explosions of colour! Leading visually rather than textually, Aldridge's work tells a multitude of stories. It takes intertextuality to the extreme, toying with perspective and layering reference over reference, to the point where it bends your mind and hurts your eyes. At once, both graphically bold and artfully intricate. Just how we like our art!


 Five/Six
So yeah, it's safe to say that we successfully brightened up & revitalised our studio with a little help from Aldridge's prints, and just in time for Twee Towers' year anniversary!


Seven

Much love,

L&R xx

He Dressed in Black // The Official Launch

At long last, we are pleased to finally reveal our very first collection of bespoke men's accessories! We hope you like...




Green & plum paisley bow trimmed with black velvet.




Green paisley dog ear collar. Silk taffeta lining in mint green. Antique button.




Green & plum paisley dog ear collar. Suede lining in plum. Antique button.




Black velvet dog ear collar trimmed with moss green braid. Green vintage checked cotton lining. Antique button.




Green and black velvet bow neck tie

What do you think? :) - To learn more about the ideas and inspirations behind the collection click here.
We won't be selling these items just yet as the samples are on exclusive loan to The Moons on the Beady Eye tour, eee! They'll soon be available for custom order, if you have any enquiries please contact us via info[at]shedressedinblack.co.uk.
Back to work on the girl's line now...
Much love, L&R xx

He Dressed in Black Launches Tomorrow...

The time is near darlings, after finally completing the last little details this weekend, we are so so close to launching our first collection of men's attire under the name of 'He Dressed in Black'.

We started out with the intention of making a beautiful vintage inspired girls line to fill the gaps in our wardrobes - special pieces that we couldn't find else where. However, it transpired that the menswear industry had needs greater than ours! With the recent influx of sixties styles on the high street for girls at the moment, it is far easier to recreate an authentic vintage look with the aid of add ons and accessories such as collars and bows. We found that opposite sex weren't as well catered for.

We liked the idea of creating an equivalent to the sixties style collars available for girls, allowing boys to add a flamboyant twist to their outfit, harking back to dandyish flair embraced by the mods and the bold expression by the likes of Oscar Wilde. At the same time, we aimed to create a collection centered around distinctly masculine shapes that are both unique and wearable.

Check back tomorrow for the grand reveal!

Much love,

L&R xx

Outfit Post // Studio Style

From inside the creative hub of Twee Towers, burrowed somewhere amid the stacks of fabric & rolls of trim, we thought we'd take a quick break from finishing the final pieces of our first He Dressed in Black collection to share a quick outfit post... Studio Style!

We tend to head into the studio pretty late in the day (typically around 8pm!) so we usually opt for something casual & comfy, wearing mostly jeans, tees, oversized jumpers & hoodies - not so glam but flipping amazing nonetheless!

Lola wears denim look tee: Topshop; Rhi wears floaty chiffon smock: H&M

Rhi's silk & lace t-shirt: H&M

Lola wears denim look tee (as above), jeans & shoes from Topshop, vintage pocket watch worn as necklace

Rhi wears Gok Wan for Specsavers glasses

Rhi wears jeans from Topshop

(Sorry for the bad quality of the photos - such a dark and dingy day and we only had an iphone to hand!)

Rhi wears bird print dress from a Spanish boutique, jeans (as above), mint green cardigan from H&M

Lola wears navy polka dot & lace top from Topshop, camel coloured shorts from New Look & black opaque tights from the small mountain of tights that we keep in our airing cupboard (we must have at least 50 pairs between us!)

Have a lovely weekend darlings!

Much love,

L&R xx

A Day in the Life at Twee Towers

7am - Little M comes bounding into Rhi's room to enthusiastically drag her out of bed, to get downstairs to cartoons and breakfast. He has little patience for the concept of 'waking up' - one must get out of bed NOW. He then toddles off down the hall to wake up Lola... she tries to get up early, but usually there needs to be a 2nd wakeup call at 8am.


7.15-8.30 - Rhi makes breakfast for Little M "Do you want toast?" - "Yeah!" ... "With phili?" - "YEAH!"... She'll stick the kettle on and brew some tea and take it up with a few slices of toast for Lola to entice her out of bed. It usually works. While Lola is beautifying herself and throwing on a dress as she leaves the house, Rhi sorts the lunches out... If its a Tuesday she'll chuck in some treats for Chris too (Tuesday is 'Treat Day' - much like Butterfields Sunday...) - we squeeze in some time to publish our posts for the day around this time too :)


8.40 - Lola makes her way to the office. Then its Rhi and M's turn to get ready. (Unless its a Friday when Rhi starts work at 9am too - MAD RUSH!)



9am-1pm - Rhi & Little M run errands, go out to play, or find some activities to do round Twee Towers (drawing, playing instruments, baking... or Little M's favourite Hobby 'Mess Making'!) before Rhi heads to work for the afternoon and M gets to hang out with his Granny or have lots of fun at nursery (making yet more mess wherever he is!)



9-5 - Lola's Office... A drawer full of lollipops to aid difficult days! Annoyed with having to have so tabs many open at once whilst in the middle of a huge packaging project, she dabbled with having three screens for a bit, realised it was a bit excessive and went back to having two (as much as she enjoyed looking like she was in The Matrix)



Lola's desk decorations! Chris bought her the Mood Board Chart for her birthday last year - a flip chart of around 30 moods it's so much fun, allowing you to let the office know whether you're feeling ghetto fabulous, antisocial or emo. He modified it himself recently to include some more appropriate moods for Lauren such as 'Musical' (for when she indulges in a little lyrical improv) and 'Mmm morning pizza' (she was hungry!) She earned her 'I love Science' badge after exhausting Chris with questions about Space.

Chris & Lola proudly show exactly why they are employed to do Marketing & Graphic Design... bored of the calendar everyone in the office was given, they've taken it upon themselves to jazz theirs up month-by-month adding a little extra something to the landscapes & scenery. This is a selection of Lola's favourite months in which a badger got a Bowie makeover, Will Smith & Stevie Wonder hang out in the Australian outback, Reality TV stars have a Boat race in the rapids and a giant kangaroo takes them both in her pouch... to Coventry. They take commissions if you're interested...

5pm - Rhi usually makes it home first and makes a start on dinner... Our cajun cod with orange & tomato salad is a recurring favourite on the menu! Lola's home not long after to help finish up and get it on the table, where we have a catch up and share all the ideas we've come up with for the blog & collection throughout the day!

6pm - Dinner is cleared up, dishes are washed and the After Dinner Dance Parties begin. Such a good way to shake off a busy day and unwind, and we may have mentioned that its usually quite a good work out if we let Little M lead the moves!

8pm - Little M has kissed us good night and turned in for the evening, usually around 7. We arm ourselves with Lashings of Lavender Tea (because we still can't buy our beloved Rose Tea from the supermarket, hmph.) and head to the studio to get on with our collection, write our blog posts and design any new print ideas or work on customised orders.

11-12pm - We tear ourselves away (some nights anyway) for some much needed rest. We bid each other goodnight and usually snuggle down with a good book (even then we can't resist taking notes for an upcoming 'Literature Love'!) before catching some Zzz's ahead of another busy day...