Life is a Puzzle

Life is a puzzle indeed. When I first started up this blog, I was planning to attend fashion shows and boutique openings, interview fashion mavens and especially designers, and do something for Taiwanese design.

But as you've noticed, instead I've been stuck in a creative hole, reporting now and then on minor fashion events and new stores.

The main reason is my overwhelming range of interests. Fashion has never been my number one, even though it has come close at times.

Apart from style and design, I'm also interested in travel, movies, writing screenplays and thrillers, international politics, reading, surfing the Internet, cars, taking courses in subjects ranging from software to food and arts. You name it and there's a high probability that at least, I might want to read up on the subject.

My priorities right now have shifted from blogging and looking out for fashion away to writing about totally unrelated subjects. My latest project - which is likely to take up all my time in November - is taking part in NaNoWriMo. That odd name stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's no longer national though, and it attracts thousands of writers and wannabes worldwide who want to write 50,000 words within one month.

Some people are just satisfied with picking quantity over quality - but I'm not. I want to write a real story, not a lot of rubbish just to show off the NaNoWriMo logo on my site if and when I reach 50,000 words. There is no quality control in that competition, and no real prizes, so for many people it will just be a complete waste of time. Since I have no time to waste, I will write a story - and edit it afterward in the hope of finding a publisher for it.

November will also see me take a class in Illustrator software - I told you I'm interested in almost anything - and of course attend the lecture by Takashi Murakami I mentioned in my post about his book. See you in November!

The Coming of Murakami

Louis Vuitton bags with the logo in garish colors on a white or black background? Or with drawings of cherries superimposed? Of course, you remember them, and they were the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
The Chinese translation of his book about the business of art and creativity has now hit the book stores, and by spending the 300 New Taiwan dollars for it at Eslite I also received a free ticket for a lecture by the man himself, at the Taipei Arena on November 30.
The book - "Yishu Chuangyelun" in Mandarin - has a couple of pictures of his works of art inspired by the Japanese manga culture. Murakami is unashamedly in favor of commercialism and of making money with art. An opinion controversial with artists, if not so much in the fashion world.
Over the coming month I'll read his book to prepare for his lecture, which I hope will not be a dry repeat of his main ideas. As far as I'm aware, no English translation is in the works yet.

Dolce e Gabbana 101

Italian glamour boys Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have reworked their presence inside the world's until-now tallest building, and the result is holding its official opening today (second picture).
Just like the brand name, I can use two words for the new store as well: black and white. The shop on the third floor feels narrower than its predecessor because of all the black building blocks used in its design. But then the clothes and accessories on show are also dominated by the same colors. Black glamour suits with thin ties for the gents, black dresses for the ladies.
Is that a Miss Pocket in the window? The Taipei 101 sales booklet promises the designer duo's glitzy Miss Pocket bag will be on sale. Recommended price: between 100,000 and 150,000 New Taiwan dollars.

While you're at Taipei 101, you should also bother to go one floor higher to look up a British design exhibition (first picture). Admittedly, it's not really all that much about clothes, but it has a lot worthwhile on offer. From architecture by Zaha Hadad, to a Honda bike, to the image campaign for the Gorillaz, the game Grand Theft Auto, the clever logo designs for Channel 4 TV, and the clothes of Top Shop, it's all there.

Make Your Own T-shirt

There's so much choice out there, but sometimes it's still not enough. You have a certain design, a new logo, a funky image or text in your head but you also want to get it out and see it on a piece of clothing.
Thanks to the democratization of design caused by the Internet, you can now create your own designs online, then print them and transfer them to bags, T-shirts, stickers and so on.
You know the transfer method with an iron and special paper, and the screen printing method. Both are quite common, with the latter resulting in better quality. You don't want the image to fade after washing the item a couple of times.
I recently tried a wilder and much more uncertain way - folks, do not try this at home. I just used acrylic paint - easily available at art supply stores, which in Taipei you find on Hoping East Road Section 1 around National Taiwan Normal University - on a bland white polo shirt I bought for 299 New Taiwan dollars at the sales at Net.
Two problems here: first, I'm not a good painter, as you will be able to see once I get my camera back from my wife, and second, I would not put this thing into the washing machine. Now that the Double Ten logo is old hat, I'll remove it with water and replace it with something I hope less political and more fashionable. And I'll improve my artistic skills along the way.
And now for something completely different: Dolce & Gabbana are reopening their boutique at Taipei 101 tomorrow. More about that later.