Thursday 30 September 2010

I have an exhibition to plan.

(new update- Check out the facebook event page.)

In it's second year, the Liverpool Design festival is now only 7 weeks away. The event will run from the 18th-27th November and will showcase designers from the Northwest and the UK. The designers come from every industry from fashion to furniture.

Thanks to my work being featured in the advertising, brochures and banners last year, the organisers have asked me if I want to put on an exhibition of my work that has been directly with designers.

I, with out a doubt, said yes.

However at the time this was written, we have only just confirmed a photographic printer and sponsor. www.iconprintgroup.com. With only 40 hours to go to make the print deadline for the festival brochures, we still haven't confirmed a location. My chances hang on a thread. However if you are reading this then all is now going to plan. We have a venue, I've made the print deadline, sent off my image and copy and I AM actually having an exhibition. *and breath.

The Photography exhibition will be titled..

Matt Ford a Retrospective - Fashion outside the capital.

"For five years Matt has photographed Liverpool's most noted fashion designers and their collections. He has created fashion imagery that's been published locally and nationally. This curious insight into the world of fashion outside of a capital city shows how a small industry can still make a big impact.

This hands on exhibition also includes collection pieces."








The exhibition will show highlight of my work for the past 5 years. It will also show new work and i'm in talks with the all the designers to show their products for the duration. (although this may not be all of them)

I am looking for new designers to collaborate with for the new images so if you are or know of any please please get in touch asap.

Matt. X

P.s. Hopefully see you there.

(The exhibition will be held at a brand new space. 57 Jordan street. Right next to the CUC on Jamaica street)

Check out the design festival for more info.

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Last minute London shoot.

Now don't get me wrong I love working in Liverpool. Even if I've been working fifteen hour days the past two weeks. However the opportunity to go on location to London next week is far too good too miss. This only fell on my lap this evening, so work will have to be moved around last min. The impossible will have to be made possible.

Right so I've got the moaning bit out the way, now I'll tell you about the good bit. Firstly I will be working with stylist Danielle Timperly again. The last shoot we worked on together produced these (yes I am blowing my own trumpet) amazing images below.





































And secondly, this time we get to play with actual designer and possibly couture clothes rather than these delightfully mass produced high street items.

Danielle has also come up with the dream mood board that includes images from one of England greatest fashion photographers; Tim Walker. One of the shots is from, in my eyes, the best Vogue shoot of the past decade. The 2005 Lilly Cole spread shot in India. Any Vogue fan should recall.


















































The only other information I know is that the two images above are possible locations and that we will be using one of the models from Manchester model agency, Boss.

The use of the shoot is still not clear but with all of the above I think it's going to be a good one. I'll post it as soon as it's cleared.

Matt x










Thursday 23 September 2010

Chelcee Grimes. Liverpool's next big pop export.

Photos Matt Ford, Makeup Hannah Ellen, All clothes supplied by Resurrection Bold Street Liverpool. Location Heebi Jeebies.




"Chelcee Grimes?" I hear you say..

..Chelcee grimes is a Liverpool born and bred singer/song writer. She has just turned 18 and is in preparation for bursting onto the national music scene.





She has been gruelling away for some time now working with some of the hottest producers around. They includes Rob Fusari the guy behind Gaga's Paparazzi. I've even heard a few a cappella previews of her songs at the shoot and can't wait to hear the finished thing.

When asked about her inspiration Chelcee replied,
"It's always come from a lot of places but right now it's about my ambition to make it and be somebody. My first album and single are about being young and wanting to do something but not being pressured to fit in."

Though she's spent the best part of this year doing a promo tour outside Liverpool she did the rounds at last years Juice FM style awards. With an amazing solo performance she bagged the Juice FM search for a star award.





















Visit Chelcee at Chelceegrimesupcomingtalent

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Short, back and prize.










Im back working with Hooka on another black and white photo shoot. The first (above) was for their slick new website. This time around they're aiming to win first prize with the American Crew 'face off' competition and be named the best men's stylists in the uk.







Dion (above), owner of Hooka Hairdressers, says he's aiming for first prize so he or one of the salons stylist can go to America for the exclusive shoot with David Raccuglia.

Hooka's winning streak for competitions has got them awards like, Head and Shoulders 'Nations favourite hairdresser' and being finalists in the coveted British Hairdressing business Awards to name but a few.

Here's my favourites of the 10 head shot entries into the competition.





























Hooka celebrated four years as Liverpool's edgiest salon brands this year. You can find them at 92/98 Wood Street (right by The FACT cinema). To book an appointment call 0151 708 0302.

Www.hooka-uk.com


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Iconic frames designer Oliver Goldsmith showcases in Liverpool.

The new range is available at Blankstone opticians, Liverpool city centre.
www.blankstoneopticians.co.uk





Photos above Matt Ford.






After launching his amazing new range of sunglasses in Paris recently, Oliver Goldsmith treats guests at Sakura restaurant to an exclusive showcase.

Oliver's designs have been worn by everyone from John Lennon to Michael Caine and now even lady Gaga.

Read Joel Jelen's interview to find out more about the iconic frames designer...

Oliver Goldsmith reads like a book of firsts...

He was the first to see glasses as a fashion accessory, the first to create ‘sunspecs’, the first to make ‘winter sunglasses’, one of the first to work alongside fashion houses to create one-off pieces for the catwalk, the first to appear in Vogue and the first to be endorsed by celebrities and royals.

But the modest Goldsmith said: “I just create what i like men and women in particular, to wear and feel comfortable wearing all day and I always have done.”

He admits that some of his designs in the sixties were considered outlandish back then but the virtuous circle that is fashion has seen their return without any fuss other than the demand created by their re-appearance.

Goldsmith feels his mission in life is to make women look beautiful…”younger and more glamorous in this age of rapidly changing fashion.

“Women may not be able to change their specs as often as their clothes, so a compromise takes place on the face.

“A good design can be worn for several years and then kept safely in a drawer, until that person is ready to bring them out again.

Goldsmith says this can be seen on e-bay with the number of ‘previously loved’ Oliver Goldsmith specs and sunglasses changing hands daily.

The brand is a family business, founded in 1926 by Goldsmith’s grandfather, Philip Oliver Goldsmith, a salesman for a small optical firm in London.

“My grandfather Phillip died at a young age but had an already left a legacy, producing every frame genuinely handmade in London ’s Poland Street.

“ My father continued this practice and he put me through a very hard training course at 18 for five years before he would allow me to design spectacles and sunglasses.

“I learned all about the production of frames and how the ‘engine room’ worked, directly from him.

“During that training period, I earned the respect of the staff that boded well for the future. They knew that I had done the hard work, before being allowed to put pencil to paper.”

Goldsmith says that when it was his turn to look to the future, he made a decision not to expect any of his children to follow him into optics.

“They did what they wanted, rather than what I expected. So now i have a professional portrait photographer, a film producer and a financial wizard.”

That said, his daughter does not want the optical business to fade away and wants to keep the ‘tradition’ alive, working more closely with him to achieve this aim.

“Her maiden name is A. Olivia Goldsmith and who knows, one of my grandchildren may even become the fifth generation”, says Goldsmith.

Maintaining the same smile and breath almost, Goldsmith jokes that he’ll be “watching with bated breath from heaven!”

He is also delighted that his niece has used his designs to start her new business and is “keep the flame alight”, as he sees it, for the sunglasses side of the company.

Goldsmith has kept and will keep for the future, an original sample of each design that has ever been produced.

“There will be history for my future families to delve into, either in my personal storage, or at the V&A where they safely house a collection of our three generations of designs in their archives.”

Goldsmith speaks proudly of his father Charles Goldsmith, who entered the business in 1936.

“After the second world war, my father set about creating fashionable glasses, especially when worn as sunglasses, which did not exist as we now know them.

“They were merely a pair of specs with tinted lenses and he was already breaking traditions within the industry back then.
He started designing both sunglasses and optical frames and managed to get magazines, such as Vogue, to publish photos of his creations on the models of the era.

“He sold the sunglasses to Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Fortnum and Mason, to name a few. This was the route that gave him success in the 1950s.”

The brand Oliver Goldsmith became synonymous with eyewear. It was also the name that people read in magazines and in newspapers and met with disapproval from opticians who frowned a service provider trying to steer people away from their traditional approach.

“It was a radical route to market back then but in many ways, my father has been the catalyst for the way the optical world has gone about marketing their business ever since.”

Goldsmith’s father and his legacy left him with one ambition…to see his own name in print as a great eyewear designer.

“To have any chance of achieving this, quality, elegance and comfort have had to remain the trademark words by which I’ve adhere to in making eyewear. The standards were started by my grandfather and are still valid today.”

It’s a decision that has seen Oliver Goldsmith the brand become the eyewear of choice for royals such as
Princess Grace of Monaco, Princess Margaret, Lord Snowdon and Lady Diana along with celebrity icons including John Lennon, Audrey Hepburn, Peter Sellers and Michael Caine.

Goldsmith’s father sought publicity by writing to Princess Grace of Monaco asking if he could make her a ‘wardrobe of glasses’, enabling her to change them with different outfits or occasions.

“She liked this original idea and so he sent a few designs and colours for her to select from. This was followed up with a visit, by my parents, to the palace in Monaco for an audience with Princess Grace. I still have a letter my mother wrote after the visit.

“When Princess Grace came to London, my father would always go and see her. Then came Princess Margaret. I don’t remember how she became a customer, but I do know that once she was on board, she would not wear anything other than Goldsmith frames. It was kind of spooky though, as she only liked one of my designs and if it broke, we had to repair the frame or supply an identical model!”

Lady Diana was a real coup.

“When it was announced that Diana would go to Australia to see her mother to discuss marrying Prince Charles, my father realised that this would be excellent publicity for us, if she was photographed wearing our eyewear.

He sent her a few pairs to wear in Australia, but with the postal delays, they did not arrive in time. But the good news was that Diana wrote a personal thank-you letter to my father, for the sunglasses that she received and promised to wear them in London to protect her eyes from the press photographers and their flash bulbs.

There was not a day that passed that Diana was not in the press and in most cases wearing her Oliver
Goldsmiths.

Asked if people purchase glasses to look smarter, just for appearance, to create a particular illusion or character, Goldsmith says, “for a lot of people, it ’s great to wear specs as you can hide behind them.”

“In the past, people would light a cigarette to give them confidence to walk into a room of strangers.

“Today, it’s the specs that give you that air of confidence.
People purchase glasses, as they need the corrective vision. Some will wear outrageous glasses in ultra bold colours and others in conservative shades. You can be noticed or not as you desire.

“For example, Woody Allen has always worn the same shape so for him to change would probably change his character as well, so better to stick with what works. Allen said himself, “people say I look intelligent but i just have this look.”

Oliver Goldsmith frames are available from September, exclusively in Liverpool at Blankstone Opticians, 2a, Derby Square. Tel. 0151 236 5392 www.blankstoneopticians.co.uk




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Thursday 2 September 2010

Chibuku reopening party. Featuring Dave Doom- AKA Dave the Rave!




Chibuku Shake Shake, is quite frankly the best night in town. So I'll be first on the guest list for their reopening party in 16 days. That's if notorious Dave the Rave, Chibuku's new flyer star, doesn't beat me to it. 
If you haven't already; join their facebook page for loads of free ticket giveaways and all of this years forthcoming line-ups. 


Matt. x
P.s. more of my Dave the Rave pics coming on this seasons flyers and Chibuku website