An evening on Kate

It began with the arrival of Jessica; she had come to visit on route from Bristol to Berlin. It was wonderful to have her for the night. We ate supper and headed into town first stop the opening of Kate Spade's pop up store on Henrietta Street. The recently vacated language school in the heart of Covent Garden had been lavishly converted to reflect Kate's tastes and style, a kind of home from home. The concept being all the things Kate loves, decked out with retro styling, four poster bed, vintage furniture and picture booth, this was a quality operation. To drink, champagne, Tom Collins and long island iced teas; to eat mini hamburgers, mini pastrami sandwiches and mini rib type things - no vegetarian, fortunately I’d already eaten. We wandered up the white wooden staircase into the upstairs front, where The Like were performing, an LA all girl outfit with looks totally in keeping with the brand. Post performance they wandered around and chatted, the atmosphere was welcoming, relaxed and friendly. I met up with my friend Kyson who had helped with the project, he was on form. V.V.Brown who seems to be doing well in the US, was up next with a dj set. Each room had a different theme to it, handbags were displayed on a feature wall using vintage hooks, jewellery on the first, although slightly obscured by the crowd watching the band, the back room had a chilled vibe to it with folk perched on the bed. I want to come back and have a good rummage around; there was lots of details to discover.

Jessica and Sarah get acquainted

Kyson very kindly rescued us from the toilet queue and took us up four flights of stairs to the top of the wonderful building.

The Like (my picture didn't turn out very well, need to invest in a new camera - again)

Great flooring

VV Brown looking great with her hair down

Kyson styling it

After saying our goodbyes and picking up two friends we headed to the Kate Moross for Firetrap party on Seven Dials just a short albeit cobbled walk away. In complete contrast the party was akin to walking into a rave with Major Lazers blaring out of the speakers, no canapés on offer and true house party style they had run out of mixers - vodka, rum and tequila were on offer. The goodie bags were randomly packed containing watches, knitted arm cuffs and snoods.


I think I'd began to loose momentum photographically at this point, Ophelia and fellow fur hat appreciator... just before we headed out of the door.

It was almost too much after the civilised offering at Kate Spade, we had a few drinks and decided to join up with friends back East ending our night at the Spurstow Arms, turning left out of London Fields Station I discovered a wonderful bakery with three men working fastidiously, I intend to return and buy bread at some point.


Elliot and Stella, "We'll have none of your fashion bullshit here" it's good to have friends that keep you grounded.

Baking boys, the bread looked good.

Tracking Kelly's Progress

I first interviewed Kelly McCallum way back in 2006 when I was working on my own magazine entitled Dandy, a handbook for the male connoisseur of fashion. She was studying with my then lover Tomasz Donocik a rather talented Viennese jewellery designer at the RCA Royal College of Art. I was excited by her combination of taxidermy and jewellery taking freeze dried animal fetuses and turning them into something rather magical, golden maggots coming out of ears, decorated cockroaches, things i'd never seen combined before. Her final collection stood out in my mind for a long time. I will be transferring excerpts from my magazine 'Dandy' onto my blog (eventually) but until then, you can find my latest interview with her for Dazed and Confused below.

Kelly McCallum is warm and open, decorated with intricate tattoos from her trips to Japan. She has been afforded the luxury of many lives before settling into a career as a jewellery designer, her work reflects the path she has taken. From pre-med student to photographer she has honed her craft; all the elements are visible in the pieces she creates. A battered fox with golden maggots coming out his ears plays on the fascination of life after death; there is a delicate humour that runs through the beauty and simplicity of her designs.

Dazed Digital: How long have you been designing?
Kelly McCallum: I have been making objects pretty much my whole life; I graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2006

DD: Do you have a muse?
Kelly McCallum: Not in the traditional sense of the word.

DD: What inspires you currently?
Kelly McCallum: Battered antiques, the culture of hunting, Victoriana, handlebar moustaches, taxidermy (as always)

You can read the rest of the article here.

Ring carved out of animal bone with a small plant as decoration - a play on life after death.