Think Big

She's got that BIG hair...

After Hannah's brilliant review of HAIR the Musical, and having received my reviewer's copy of Chris-Tia Donaldson's Thank God I'm Natural ahead of its UK release (which I may or may not review eventually because, you know, I'm a little bit lazy oh and yeah I have exams I'm not really keen on failing lol), I've tripped into a kind of obsession with big, wild beautiful hair. Fuck relaxers.
I know all the non-black people will be like, "Uh, relaxer what...?" and I will probably explain that when (if) I put up the book review but right now I'm going to do something that I don't usually do (except for with Camera Chic, which you should click on now!! if you haven't seen it already) and just picture spam you guys here. Because words can't (completely) convey my love of the big, big hair...

(love Jeremy Scott!!)

 (Judith Hill, amazing singer for Michael Jackson)

 (Zezi Ifore)

(Juno Temple)

(EN VOGUE!! Remember this girl band from the 90s?)

 (Bilen).

(I love what she's wearing)

(Kate Somers + Lily Cole)

(Hollie Edwin)

(Darcy's Botanicals girl)

(VJ)

(just cos he's hot)

(just cos Miss Hollis is awesome, even if her hair is not so big here)

Digby & Iona

When I first heard the name, Digby & Iona, I thought it sounded like the title of a gaelic legend of star-crossed lovers. I wondered if their names were carried on the wind from the lips of people who used to whisper of their tragic story...but that’s really not the case. The names actually come from seaside towns that a man named Aaron Ruff once visited. All the same, Ruff’s jewellery collections will inspire you to imagine wildly and delve deep into histories you never knew.


I’d been praying that someone will buy some of his stunning jewellery pieces as a gift, but halfway through my plans of how to coerce someone into doing so, I realised that actually I didn’t quite want that because when I look at his pieces (which I do all too often) I feel they’re the kind of thing that would just... appear. Not in a puff of smoke, as if by magic. But just be sitting in a little unassuming box on your doorstep. A little miracle just waiting to happen. And you’d pick it up, and look around, confused. So you’d open it, curious but not really expecting anything. And there it would be inside. A whole other world. And that would like magic.

To my mind, Ruff’s pieces are tokens from epic tales that are rich with secrets. They’re the missing pieces that, hundreds of years ago, somebody was searching high and low for and today, just by chance, you found it at your feet. Or they could be treasures that someone lost a long time ago or that they left in a pebble pond on a cold, isolated shore, in the hopes that one day you would discover it.

It seems that Aaron Ruff is not simply a jeweller. He is a story teller, spinning worlds into the pieces he crafts.

And the best part about the jewellery is that it feels so alive...

Lomography x Urban Outfitters

Remember how much I love cameras? (In particular, lomography cameras for the beautiful snaps they tend to take.) Well, then you'll know why I really love Urban Outfitters' new competition, in which you design the below fisheye camera, get it sold in their stores and win £500 to spend on their stuff.

Arty people, Get On This.

A Picture Says A Thousand Words - Writing Competition

Tokyo/Glow HD from Nathan Johnston on Vimeo.

Tokyo/Glow is a series of photographs that have been put together to make a short stopmotion film with a sweet storyline. All pictures can are part of a bigger story. Which leads me on to:

A Picture Says A Thousand Words - a new regular writing competition. You are invited to write pieces of up to 1000 words (which can be anything from haikus and flash fiction to narrative poems and scripts) inspired by a set of photographs.

For this first round we are using the photos of Laura Bassi. Laura takes fantastic photos and she also blogs for A Tribe Called Next.

HOW TO ENTER:
1. Follow! Either here, or on twitter.
2. Look at the photos below
3. Write something, anything inspired by any of the photos. You can enter up to three different pieces and each piece has an upper limit of 1000 words.
4. Email your work to zita.thisiswherewebelong@gmail.com as well as your name and contact number. Put "Writing Competition" in the subject line. Do this by midnight (GMT) on 1st June 2010.
5. Now sit back and wait until the end of June to find out if you've won.

PRIZES:
1st prize is the first choice of 4 items from the following list.
2nd prize is the second choice of the 3 items from those remaining on the following list.
3rd prize is the third choice of the 2 items from those remaining on the following list.
Whatever is left will be distributed randomly between Commended entrants.
ALL WINNERS AND COMMENDED ENTRANTS WILL BE FEATURED ON HERE (and then later in the printed zine).

Prize List-

• £15 iTunes voucher
• A signed season DVD of E4's Misfits
• Camera
• Audrey Hepburn poster
• Marilyn Monroe poster
• The Charm Necklace (a necklace in aid of Cancer Research UK with charms designed by Christian Louboutin, Kate Moss, Scarlett Johansson, Catherine Tate, Grayson Perry and Stephen Webster)
• The Fire We Harbour - a collection of poetry by the Foyle Young Poets of The Year.
• The Informers by Brett Easton Ellis
• Just In Case by Meg Rosoff
• Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link
• Love You Madly by Alex George
• The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding
• Star-Crossed: A Romeo & Juliet Story by Rachael Wing
• We Are The New Romantics by Niven Govinden
• Cinammon Girl: This Way To Paradise by Cathy Hopkins
• Sunita's Secret by Narinder Dhami
• Mates, Dates Guide To Life by Cathy Hopkins
• BIG HAIR. A history by James Innes-Smith

PICTURES:
(Click on them to see them larger and more clearly)

If you'd like your photographs to be used in the next competition email zita.thisiswherewebelong@gmail.com with "Photographer" in the subject line.

Any questions about this competition can also be emailed or left in the comments.

THE SECRET SAMPLE SALE

Evidently, I love free shit. Or at least that which has been greatly discounted. So I get  pretty excited by stuff like this, which my sister emailed me about:

Register at http://www.secretsamplesale.co.uk/, to get up to 90% discount on:

MAX MARA - VIVIENNE WESTWOOD - MONCLER - BELSTAFF - BURBERRY - CAVALLI - DKNY - MOSCHINO - D&G - COMING SOON BY YOHJI YAMAMOTO - YUCHI - YASUE CARTER - CHLOÉ - ARMANI JEANS - GUIDE LONDON - GRAB - REPLAY - BOLONGARO TREVOR AMBIGUOUS COMMUNE - GENTLE FAWN - UNKNOWN - GREEN APPLE TREE - GUCCI MUTINY - GLOW - CHAN CHAN GONSALVES AND HALL - ORION - EUCALYPTUS - UACT 030470 ATW STELLA - HUNTERS AND GATHERERS - SWAGGA AND SOUL - YAMAMA - TOFU JULY TWENTY NICOLA DEMAIN - PETER WERTH - BONSUI - TWINS DIVERSES - MIMOSA. And many more...


In addition to the Secret Sample Sale, the London Accessory Sale will be taking place at the same time and location so you can also expect discounts on:

A selection of designer bags, shoes and jewellery for men and women from the likes of Aquascutum, Balenciaga, Black & Brown, Blank, Belstaff, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Coccinelle, Carniani, Chloé, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Ebisu, Fendi, Francesco Biasia, Giuseppe Zanotti, Gucci, Grab, July Twenty, Jimmy Choo, Lama Peach, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Moda Italia London, Relax Garden, Patrick Cox, Prada, Sergio Rossi, Tokun Win, Tods, Vivienne Westwood & YSL. Plus many more boutique designers and brands.



Details:

Thursday 8th - Sunday 11th April

Thursday-12noon - 9pm (members)
Friday- 12 - 8pm (public)
Sat- 12 - 7pm (public)
Sun-12 - 6pm (public)

T2, The Old Truman Brewery,
85 Brick Lane, London,
E1 6QL

Admission is £1.
 
To get a members pass click here, or here.

This Is Where We Belong x Laura Bassi

EXCITING NEWS: Next week will be the launch of the dopest new writing competition ever. I'll try not give too much away now except to say that photographer, A Tribe Called Next member and all round cool kid Laura Bassi is involved photo-wise, and if you've seen her snaps then you'll know this comp. is definitely something to be excited about.

Stay tuned for more details, prizes, rules etc....

Rodarte x JOYCE (+ Maggie Cheung)

Collaborations are awesome. This is just a fact.
Particularly so is the collaboration between Rodarte, Maggie Cheung (actress) and JOYCE (a boutique based in Hong Kong), which has resulted in a short film- beautifully short by Wing Shya and accompanied by a compellingly haunting melody courtesy of  Peter Kam. Most importantly however, is the fact that, for every view the short film gets on YouTube, JOYCE donate HK$1 to UNICEF.
So watch it now! Enjoy the designs in this spellbinding piece while feeling good about yourself for helping those less fortunate...

Zarif

This is Zarif.

She has toured with Alesha Dixon and Beyoncé, as well as having performed with John Legend and the Nextmen. Sometime within the next few weeks I will be interviewing her and putting a video of it up on youtube! So, I won't say much about her right now except that: as well as producing her own funky music (www.myspace.com/zarifmusic) she does beautiful covers and makes funny comics...