What Am I Wearing?

Good evening blogdivas!!
So... I have 2 blogs, which seemed like a good idea at the time but as I get busier and have less time to blog it's become quite hard to fit one, let alone two in... so what do I do?! I love both my blogs- one is about DIY, doing things in the garden and house and the other is this, fashion one, so I can't really combine them and I don't want to lose either...
Instead I have decided to make this blog less wordy and more picture-y so starting from now I am going to blog my outfits... what I am wearing! I'm sure some words will sneak in (they always do) but here goes... :)

Photo by Saul

Album Launch show at Scala- 13th June 2012

Gabby is wearing...

Custom made dress by Amelia Mullins

Headpiece (made specially for the show) by Anushka Tay

Hair and makeup by Jennifer Nash

Hope you are all well... dressed! ;)
Xox Gabshow xoX

Her Curious Nature

Here's a little shoot we did on Hampstead Heath when I'd just got back from tour. The beautiful floral headpiece is by Sabrina Said, creator of Her Curious Nature. Hair and make-up by Jennifer Nash, styling by Katie Antoniou and photography by Gemma Hall. The dress is vintage; it used to be my mum's! Shoes by Irregular Choice, tights by Tabio tights.

From Tokyo with love...

Well, I'm now officially on tour-first stop; Japan!But before I start blogging about my travels, I have to fill you in on one of the busiest weeks EVER. Not only were we filming the new music video for much of the week, I had lots of other exciting places to be too- first up on Friday was the launch of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration, showcasing drawings by some of the best new talent, as well as interviews with lots of wonderful ethical designers. I got the chance to meet some of the winners of the competition to design my tour posters, including Artist Andrea who had come all the way from Arizona and gave me the original copy of her design! I also met Zarina Liew who illustrated the Beautiful Soul fashion video which has my song 'We're All In This Together' as the soundtrack. Zarina drew this beautiful picture of Stephen and me- having illustrators sketching the guests was such a brilliant idea. I appear twice in Amelia's gorgeous book, in pictures of my performance at Secret Garden Party last summer- I'm so honoured to be in such a beautiful book- you can buy it here.

Home for a quick change into my Elizabeth Lau dress that I wore tucked into a stripey (ebay) skirt, then it was time to head to Selfridges for the launch of Supermarket Sarah's instore wall. It was great to catch up with Meg from Merrimaking Hoods who supply Gabberdashery and Sarah's wall too, and to finally meet Kat who makes the gorgeous Creme Nouveau range we also stock in Gabberdashery and is on sale in Selfridges through Sarah too.

Saturday was just another day at work for us- performing at The Barbican alongside The Irrepressibles!

I wore another show-stopping newspaper creation by Kumiko Tani, and Jennifer Nash my make-up artist outdid herself with this amazing flower-eye look. All these pictures were taken by our new official photographer, Gemma Hall who's not only super talented but also lovely to work with.She was on set for most of the music video shoot so I hope to share some of the still shots she took with you soon...

On Monday evening I was asked to speak at The Hospital members' club in an event organised by Bright Young Brits. One of the other 'bright young brits' was Judith Clark, a wonderful designer who creates beautiful pieces using traditional materials like tweed and tartan, but with an avant garde twist. I love the mix of vintage Victoriana and bright modern colours.

I'm so honoured to be invite into the BYB collective- they are showcasing young talents from all walks of life and everyone is independent, DIY and entrepreneurial and I was so happy to be one of the first to join the list... I also got a chance to claim the owl logo for music in the colour red (of course)

Please look at their site here: http://www.brightyoungbrits.org/

and nominate, get involved - they are doing a great thing and seriously lovely people!

While I'm away, my partner in crime Katie is going to be doing mini interviews with some of the designers who kindly lent us their spectacular clothes and accessories for the new video- so stay tuned as she'll be posting those here to keep you entertained while I'm away. Beautiful Soul have lent me two of their stunning corsets made from vintage kimonos to wear in Japan; I'm so looking forward to playing here again.

Anyway so I have to get some sleep as my Tokyo trip started with a meeting with Peek-A-Boo salon and a drinks in a tiny (I mean tiny as in room for 20 people!) and apparently it's 1am here although it definitely feels more like 4pm (UK time) so that's confusing!!

I will be sending footage from my flipcam to be made into video blogs by Jonny Levene throughout my travels too so I will post them here!

To start us off here is one from the set of 'Ask You A Question' music video shoot:

And that is all my prettys...
Chow!
Gabbletina
xox

Ahoy me hearties!

This is a bit of a nautical post for two reasons; firstly to thank you all for coming to the secret gig on the wonderful Tamesis Dock boat last week; and secondly because by the time you read this, I'll be an ocean away in the good old USA!

You can see the beautiful set of photos Gemma Hall took of me before the gig here, my dress is from Beyond Retro, make up and hair by Jennifer Nash using Illamasqua products.

Gabberdashery took up the top floor of the boat, whilst we performed down below; I 'm afraid I still have no sea legs but luckily the river was quite calm!

You can read some lovely reviews of the gig by blogger Lira Leirner and on entertainment site Skiddle.

So now I'm in the States, please, please come and see me if you're this side of the pond!The lovely Nonita has blogged about my visit on the Spanish Moss Vintage American blog here.
I've chosen the winners of the poster design competition and left them back in the UK working on some really beautiful designs for the UK tour, can't wait to come back and show you! I'll leave you with some amazing pictures from Shambala by Richard Shakespeare- I'm wearing the dress  Rosa Bloom made for me, and make up and hair is by Jennifer Nash again.We ended the festival season on rather a damp note- in true British style!

Missing you all already,

Gabs 

xxx

Gabberdashery Calling!

Photo by Jo Lowes of me in the Gabberdashery shop @ Standon Calling

wearing an amazing dress by Inbar Spector and 'Gabby' brooch by Love from Hetty and Dave for Gabberdashery! Of course my hair and makeup was beautifully crafted by Jennifer Nash.

.....

What a weekend! Not only was I at Standon Calling as a musician - playing a full band set on their massive main stage on Sunday but also as a fancy dress judge, a model (lots of photoshoots this weekend) AND A SHOPKEEPER! I was lucky enough to have my very own shop in the Dickensian row of street boutiques - so GABBERDASHERY was alive and very very well!!
Katie and I piled a little hire van full to brim and arrived at our shop aghast with excitement - WE HAD OUR OWN FRONT DOOR! We didn't know what to expect - a festival type open shop was what I had in mind but no- it was beautiful, special and very Gabberdashery! We spent hours making it look beautiful - flowers and birds sat upon antique Tiffany lamps and lined the wicker mannequins and lay out all our wonderful stock and rails of my very own 2nd hand clothes for sale! It was rather like my bedroom but with a lot less mess and everything was for sale...

more gabberdashery pics here


We stocked wonderful pieces by Rosa Bloom, Merrimaking Hoods, Love from Hetty and Dave(who made Katie and I our own personalised brooches which you can read about in their blog), Creme Nouveau, Bbel, Hatastic, Her Curious Nature, Alice Gabb (who also shop-sat for us while Gabby was playing-thankyou!) my sister Nicky Young had her brilliant TShirts, the gorgeous smellies of The Green Grocery, infectious art by Tinsel Edwards, Twinkle Troughton, 'Gabby Young customised merchandise' by Vicky Sennett of Hungamunga, as well as cakes from Love Bakery and zines by Ladyfest. And of course a rail of my own clothes - I did a massive clear out just before the festival!


Here's a idea of what we got up to courtesy of WinkBall.Com



And a great video of a stripped down unplugged set we did in the tiny Rough Trade tent filmed by Gareth Bradshaw:



A lovely picture by Holly of our main gig:

This summer is such a success here are some more press links for your perusal -
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-barometer-still-corners-beck-wavves-yuck-lofifnk-gabbyyoung-and-other-animals-darker-my-love-glasser-2044368.html

http://ireadfaux.com/charles-darbyshire/new-blood-gabby-young-other-animals/

http://www.thebeatsurrender.co.uk/weekly/reviews/gabby-young-other-animals-were-all-in-this-together/

http://www.xtaster.co.uk/publiccontent_Article.aspx?id=8996


And I would love your help again - if you have a minute- we have been nominated for the best UK female album of the year and if we win (which would be rather lovely) we are giving the £50 prize money to Cancer Research, as it is very close to my heart.
http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/2010/08/introducing-the-venusno-penis-music-prize/


I will leave you with my favourite picture of the weekend - By Jo Lowes...
Hope everyone is a happy chappy!
Love and Loganberries,
Gabberdashery
xox

ILLAMASQUA - The make-up for my alter ego

One of the perks about my job is I get to wear amazing things by designers and collaborate with incredibly talented people and this includes MAKE-UP. As you are all aware, (because I can't stop going on about her) I am lucky to have my own hair and make-up stylist - Jennifer Nash, and she has become one of the most important parts of our live show - making the band look great and not just great but completely different every gig and ALWAYS unique and eccentric. SHE IS A SAINT TO US...
So when we came across a make-up brand that has the same ethos as ours -to dress the alter ego that comes out of me when I am onstage - the showgirl, the vamp, the starlet, the circus ringleader etc. naturally we were eager to find out more.
This brand is:

http://www.illamasqua.com/

It just so happens that the people that run this brand are equally lovely and have taken me under there beautifully decorated wing and will be supporting myself and Jen to create the looks that we aspire to for the future. We are so excited and in love with there looks it appears to be a match made in heaven.

To start with I have recieved my own kit to use when Jen is not around for me to be creative with and l have just recieved a beautifully packaged box of Illamasqua make-up.

Now I have had a chance to play with it all I can honestly say that it is the best make-up I have ever had - it is a dream to apply and actually doesn't end up under my eyes or faded after a few hours which is what I have been used to for years (and that is from some high end brands not just Tesco's own!!)

Here is a run down of my specially chosen Illamasqua kit...

NB, I would do before and after pictures but I am too embarassed to be seen in my current no sleep or makeup state...

CONCEALER in CC15 - I am definitely human and have regular outbreaks (annoyingly this started after my 18th birthday which upset me as I always thought adults don't get spots!!)

ANYWAY I have found it hard to get a good concealer to cover these naughty bits but this one does the job (HALLELUJAH!!) it's light and masks a whole manner of marks.

POWDER FOUNDATION in PF 120 - I've been lead into using a liquid foundation before and always got it a bit wrong (being taken aside at a party to remove streaks from your neck is not so pretty!!) so I decided to go with powder and I am pleased I did. This really stays and gives me that clear complexion that I aim for.

ILLUMINATOR in POISED (rose pink) - A new thing for me but I tried it out on my cheeks, eyes and lips and really loved the glint it gave them - it has now replaced blusher and will be a great addition to my make-up bag. It does wonders for my cheekbones!

LIQUID EYELINER in SHATTER (black) - I have to admit I went off the pen type eyeliners because of smudging and dripping but was willing to try it again as the pot and brush is just a little bit trickier when you are in a hurry so WELL DONE ILLAMASQUA I finally have one that STAYS and is so easy to draw with- I like to do all sorts of curls and spots with my eyeliner and this one lets me be really creative. 

VOLUME MASCARA in HARNESS (blackest black) - Like most girls I know - mascara is the bain of my make-up life ... I have tried so many and although I like some and have stuck with them for a while I am yet to love one... could this be the love of my life?! I'm sure by now you must all be thinking - she can't love them all THIS MUCH but I'm telling the truth when I say I will NEVER use another Mascara... I have annoyingly short eyelashes and now I feel like Rita Heyworth!!!

LIPSTICK in BOX (red red red) - This was a colour designed by the mindblowing make-up artist Alex Box who happens to be Illamasqua's creative director:

Yup- this is her work.... WOW! The lipstick is wonderfully matt and a great colour so when I feel like vamping it up I know what to reach for!

NAIL VARNISH in Untold (Red Glitter) -Glitter nail varnishes always rely on many layers to look good and I did 3 for the ultimate glamourous diva look! Their varnishes glide on beautifully and the brush is easy to apply with so I will definitely be adding many of these to my collection.

PENCILS - FINE in EERIE (black) and MEDIUM in SPELL (pillar box red) - both of these are great - good colours and show up nicely on my skin. I used the fine pencil for under my eyes and it worked like a fine kohl which I was impressed by and then 'Spell' makes a great lip liner for 'Box' Lipstick- as above- too.

ACCESSORIES - EYELASH CURLER, LIP AND POWDER BRUSHES - My happiness at these products goes right the way through... I especially love the lip brush that gave me perfect precision.

I did an acoustic gig on Friday at Marlborough Jazz Festival and wore some of my Illamasqua kit and after 10mins in the bathroom this is how I looked :

Dress By Lira Leirner ... but more on that later...

Jen will be able to create some amazing looks with these products so keep an eye out for my alter ego!

This is also a perfect time to intro you all to Illamasqua because at the moment they are running a brilliant campaign where you can take in your old makeup and replace it for new with 25% off everything!

It's also an inexpensive way to add some high end products to your collection - there is something for everyone!

Do go and check it out for yourself...

I assure you that I feel passionate about this brand I don't want you to think I have been in any way swayed to write this blog, I just wanted to do my bit to thank them for their generosity and spread the word to you as they are worth it and you are too!!

Till next time,

Gabbamasqua (!)

Xoxxoxoxoxoxox

Art Car Boot Fair, the BAFTAs and more!

Well whether the weather reflects it or not, the summer has well and truly begun for us! We had a fantastic day at the Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair where I was performing, curating a fashion show and running the Gabberdashery car-phew!I got to wear an incredible creation by the super talented Amelia Mullins, who also helped me with the fashion show which featured work by some incredible designers, as well as the awesome King's road fashion boutique Ad Hoc who lent us some great pieces. Rosa Bloom's handmade pieces were also on display, not only in the fashion show in the wrestling wring, but also for sale in our Gabberdashery car, alongside arts and crafts by my sister Nicky, Vicki Sennet of HungaMunga, Merrimaking animal hoods and artists Tinsel Edwards and Twinkle Troughton. Here's a close up of the content of our boot- all these pics were taken by Katie Antoniou, my Gabberdashery partner; you can see more photos and read more about the event on her blog here, and on the CultureLabel blog too.

As usual, Jennifer Nash did my amazing make-up; the art car boot fair being something of a dress rehearsal for the most exciting gig ever; the BAFTAs after party!I'm still speechless about the whole affair; performing in a venue like The Natural History Museum is just a dream come true. You can see me making my entrance, walking down the massive staircase here- I had to be very careful not to trip up!There are a few pics on the official BAFTAs website, and here's a video Johnny Levene made for us. These photos are by Anthony Ellis.



We've also made a start on the festival circuit, playing Sunrise where I wore a great ensemble generously lent to me by Ad Hoc; I just love the feathered headpiece!

Heres a very giggly interview we did literally just after the gig so we are hyper and a little sweaty - so all the boys makeup was dripping off them!!


We also performed at the Wiltshire Jazz festival- heres a pic of the whole band doing 'jazz hands'!

Next up; Glastonbury! We're performing four times over the weekend, so if you've got a ticket, do try and catch one of our shows!
AVALON STAGE -2.20PM is our main show and the only full band one so don't miss it!

I'm just planning what to wear for all 4 days now... hope it doesn't rain!

Muchas love
Gabbalina
xoxoxoxooxoxoxooxox

Gabberdashery!

Hello everyone! Last week I was lucky enough to play an exclusive gig at a really stunning venue; 22 Portsea place. Owned by the lovely Fran, this Georgian building is home to over 3000 works of art, its like living in a museum or art gallery! The gig was in aid of Cancer Research, a cause very close to my heart, so guests were plied with champagne and delicious cupcakes kindly supplied by LoveBakery to encourage everyone to donate generously!My gorgeous dress was lent to me by vintage superstore Beyond Retro, and as usual, my wonderful hair and make-up was done by the incredibly talented Jennifer Nash.

Speaking of make-up, I had a very exciting meeting with British make-up brand Illamasqua earlier this week. They love my look and are going to help Jennifer continue to create it with their wonderful products!I love how theatrical their aesthetic is, and their slogan 'make-up for your alter ego' is so appropriate to musicians and artists who often have a different, more flamboyant persona they adopt on stage.
We took the opportunity to create a Gabberdashery boudoir in the bedroom at Portsea Place, where Rosa Bloom sold some of her beautiful handmade bustles, gloves, feather headpieces, jumpsuits, frilly knickers and much more.

Artists Tinsel Edwards and Twinkle Troughton are also on board as we take the Gabberdashery venture online- Twinkle has created our gorgeous logo, as well as a really stunning new t-shirt design:

Canvases and prints you can see in these pics will all be on sale tomorrow in the Gabberdashery car at the Art Car Boot Fair, as well as merchandise from a number of other amazing craftspeople; HungaMunga, HerCuriousNature headpieces, Merrimaking animal hoods and much, much more. Tinsel Edwards handpainted this amazing vintage jewelery box especially for us- I'm trying really hard not to buy it myself!If you make something in keeping with the Gabberdashery style- be it jewellery, accessories, artwork, or anything creative- then email me info@gabberdashery.com and we'll see if we can stock your work too. We're all in this together!

I'll be curating a fashion show too, wearing a truly stunning creation by Amelia Mullins. I'll also be wearing it to....drumroll.... the BAFTAs afterparty where we'll be performing Sunday night!!!!SCREAM!!!!!!
Really hope to see you all at the Art Car Boot Fair tomorrow- there'll be so much going on, wonderful stuff to buy and see, and I'll be performing a few songs too. Do come and say hello, and wish me luck for tomorrow night!!!
much love,
Gabster