Twenty8Twelve

Eyes & Mouth

Introducing our amazing artist of the season for AW10:
Rose Wylie. We collaborated with her on a couple of styles which we all love here!

The Wylie tee...

and also Boo...

...coming to a store near you soon!

For more info on this amazing woman and her work go to this link
Link

i <3 this girl....

What Laura did next....

This weekend I went to the Martin Margiela exhibition which was very good !
Worth the trip was in there 2 1/2 hours and all for £6 ! I love the fact
that you couldn't even buy a postcard which fits so nicely with the whole
ethos of the brand !

Also saw 2 many DJS in Hyde park on Saturday at the wireless festival they
truly are the kings of the mash up !!!!!! And my favorite DJS !!!

SPOTIFY

this is the link to the twenty8twelve spotify playlist!
ENJOYYYY>>>.

twenty8twelve JUKEBOX

before/after

THE MAKING OF THE AW10 LOOK BOOK

Nostalgic? me?

this is what is on my wall at the studio today

HAITI - MARCH 2010

I came to Haiti as an ambassador for the International Medical Corps, an organization that I have been working with for over a year. Their teams arrived 22 hours after the devastating earthquake of 12th January and have been a powerful and leading medical presence ever since. I arrived in the Dominican Republic from London on the night of March 18th, and met up with my friends Marge Aguirre from International Medical Corps, and David Serota, a talented filmmaker who has come to document the long-term health care needs that lie ahead for Haiti.

We flew the following morning to Port-au-Prince and were met in the chaos by Andy Gleadle, our operations director, (the kind of 'man mountain' that you hope to be around in disaster zones like this one) and were briefed on the security issues we potentially faced. For starters, the local jail was destroyed in the quake, and as a result, 5,000 prisoners are free and roaming the streets. There were serious security problems in Haiti before the earthquake, but of course everything has now intensified. Three NGO workers were kidnapped last week, so Andy told us what to expect and how we would be protected (a two-car convoy at all times, watchmen by the tents etc). Afterward we drove to the guesthouse to meet the team, drop our bags and then head out to start the day. Our first stop was St Louis, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, to visit Dr. Joseline Marhone. I sat with her in the shade of a tree, her patients surrounding us on beds in tents nearby, and asked her to share her experiences with us. Her house was destroyed in the quake, but thankfully she and her son were in the basement at the time and survived. Her two cousins upstairs were not so fortunate. I found it so difficult to ask the questions that I suspected would be hard for her to answer. Journalism of this sort does not come naturally to me, but she explained that it helped her to talk about it. So she speaks, with a resilience and strength far superior to mine upon hearing her. She was the director of nutrition for the Ministry of Health in Haiti. The nursing school where she taught collapsed, killing every one of her students. She told us that she had found that the best thing for her to deal with her enormous pain was to keep busy and carry on doing what she does so well. To date, in the grounds of the ruined church where she once worshipped, she has treated over 4,000 people. International Medical Corps has provided her with the medical supplies and volunteers that she needs in order to do this. She is so beautiful and open, walking around with a smile that melts, wearing the same long blue cotton skirt that she was wearing on January 12th when the earthquake struck.

My role here as ambassador is simple: we need to raise awareness of the road ahead for Haiti – and raise a significant amount of new funding through appeals to the public. Most people just don’t realize that the problems Haiti faces are really only beginning. This country was in desperate need before the earthquake hit. The problems they are now facing are tenfold. The onset of the rainy season, which is imminent, means that the temporary camps that are housing hundreds of thousands of people will be washed away. Water-borne diseases will be rife, nutritional needs will become even more prevalent and there is inevitably a massive increase in sexual and gender-based violence within the camps. Donors have been incredibly generous, but as always, much, much more is needed. After a fitful night’s sleep in a tent with Marge, (gunshots, roosters, crying babies, the works) we have a cup of coffee and set off at the crack of dawn to visit some of the mobile clinics and projects set up in those early days after the earthquake by the stunningly beautiful and clever Dina Prior, who heads International Medical Corps’ Emergency Response Team. We drove to Petit Goave, three hours outside of Port-au-Prince. The coastal regions are far more difficult to access, and it takes an hour by boat to reach the small beach community of Platon. It looks like heaven to me. The kind of untouched postcard paradise we westerners are constantly searching for. White sand so fine it feels like flour, azure blue sea and old handmade fishing nets thrown haphazardly over the ancient palm trees. We are greeted with smiles and cheers by a beautiful group of men, women and children, so grateful for the work that is being done. However, they are hungry, incredibly poor, and virtually cut off from the essentials they need. Until International Medical Corps arrived here, they had a two-hour journey to make just to receive any medical attention at all. The following day, we went to the General Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince, and spent the morning being shown around by Dr Gabriel Novelo, who is overseeing operations for International Medical Corps, and Megan Coffee, an infectious diseases specialist who is handling the TB ward and patients with everything from HIV to typhoid. They were warm and generous, taking the time to explain to my untrained ears the many facets of their work. I was amazed to see that despite the sheer number of patients – sometimes 800 a day - they are on first-name terms with almost all of them.

Our last stop was at the intensive care unit tent. Everywhere I looked, there were doctors and nurses from around the globe. They all work incredibly long hours, many as volunteers, helping the relief effort out of the goodness of their own hearts. I saw a woman die two meters from where I was standing. A team of doctors then spent ten minutes doing intense revival work, giving her CPR, adrenaline shots to the heart and defibrillation, basically demonstrating the relentless commitment that goes toward saving a life. I stood and watched as her pulse was checked again and again without a murmur, hoping and praying for a miracle. Every ER doctor has experienced this hundreds of times, but I am a woman, in a tent in Haiti, watching something I never thought I would witness. They fought and fought, and miraculously, revived her. I saw a life lost and saved by the medical teams International Medical Corps has working here. I watched this woman fight for her life. I saw her husband crying, not only for himself, but for their two children, and marveled at the simple fact that these volunteer doctors have the ability to bring mothers like her back into the world. Later that day we headed to Petionville, an enormous displacement camp, to visit a new facility we have within the compounds. These people, like most, are living in tents, except that this camp (or rather city) is in a giant basin-like valley. When the rains come, and they already have started, this and its 40,000 inhabitants could be washed away. Logistically moving that many people, with the imminent monsoon and hurricane season lingering like a time bomb, is a terrifying reality that they are all facing. We met up with my friend Sean Penn, who is doing incredible work here through his organization, the Jenkins-Penn Foundation. They are providing medical care and devoting their energies toward the protection of these vulnerable people. We discussed ways of collaborating and were taken on a tour of the camp by Sean and Pastor St. Cyr (who is holding daily services for those living here, a vital task for a devoutly religious population). There is an area where tents balance precariously on the edge of a ditch that drops 10 feet into what is now a dry riverbed. When the rains fell a week ago, that ditch became a raging river and two children very nearly lost their lives. International Medical Corps is bringing in floodlights to try and prevent disasters like these from becoming a reality. The following morning, we headed back to the General Hospital, where I spent a few hours with two fabulous psychiatrists, Dr. Lynne Jones and Dr. Peter Hughes. Obviously there are massive psychological repercussions to a traumatic event like this, and previous mental illnesses have been exacerbated in many cases. They are treating patients in the main hospital suffering from a range of illnesses from psychosis to epilepsy. The care being given here is a vast contrast to what is happening at the old mental hospital we visited later. It is beyond anything I could imagine. This being the poorest country in the western hemisphere, education is not at the standard that we are fortunate to have in the developed world. The treatment here is archaic, the conditions inhumane. The people I saw were obviously seriously unwell. Some were screaming, some blissfully happy, very few are clothed and during my visit, most stood in tiny rooms, naked and covered in excrement. They push their heads through sharp and rusting holes in the iron doors to have a look at us, screaming for help. A mental institution is an intimidating thing to see for someone with no experience in this area like myself, but this made “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest�? look like The Ritz. It was shocking and like everywhere in Haiti, desperately in need of funding. The amazing thing is that this country has a spirit that very quickly gets under your skin. The people are friendly and welcoming, and everywhere I look, I witness examples of human courage beyond imagination. They are sticking together through what has been the most devastating earthquake in a hundred years and it is vital for the various NGO groups to do the same. I suppose what I am attempting to do, despite my tempestuous relationship with the press, is to use whatever means I have to generate some sort of attention for a country I feel utterly passionate about. I am not a writer, but one thing I have always somehow managed to do is garner press attention. I am now hoping to exploit that for a very good cause. Please, if you can, donate now to International Medical Corps - an organization that is doing this incredible work, saving the lives and building a future for these beautiful people. To learn more about them and how you can help with what we are doing in Haiti please visit www.imcworldwide.org.

Sienna's in Haiti

Sienna hs gone to Haiti with the IMC (international Medical Corporation) to see for herself the devastation caused by the earthquake. She says, " Haiti... devastating. imcworlwide.org if you feel generous. Very much needed, believe me."

dig deep friends....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPTAIN ELPHICK!

senior designer EL and her well deserved home made chocolate almond cake.. mmmmmmmm

fraggle collage

allocation problem solving...

and here's one we made earlier!!

its showtime

beavering away at t8tHQ and thought I'd take a moment to give a HUGE shout out to all the amazing folk who have contributed to this collection and made it all possible..
WE LOVE YOU GUYS!
xxx
super photographer and filmaker Angelo Penetta

Crystal and Henry

Fran-tastic burns

Pat McGrath

Sam McKnight and Sien

Captain Elphick

Laura

the girls L-R Corin, Gabriella, Megan and Tuesday

V noodle James

K T green

magnificent Morgan

Sien and wonder boy Hynam

Pao and Derina

Jema

Nish the big boss

Marie

Angus Noah and Carina casting up a storm!

MORE LOVE SOON.....

our Gary with a quick reminder

this is Gard Card. He is a one man wonder making magic happen for our presentation. you should check out his blog.
garycardiology.blogspot.com

R.I.P LEE

Today is a very sad day. Nothing will be the same again and I don't believe the young people studying fashion will be as inspired as we were studying by such an extrordinary man. Alexander McQueen was an exceptional person. His dedication and vision was second to none. I had the priveldge of working with him and he taught me everything I know for which I am truly greatful. The world was a much brighter place with him in it and he will be so missed.
I remember when I was 18 cottoning on to this brilliant person whose work was always in the papers for his avant garde and unique approch. I was transfixed. I begged his office to let me come to the show and finally they relented and I was allowed to watch on the condition that I was an usher. It was spring/summer 2001 and I was mesmerised as Erin o'Connor and Kate Moss cavorted around a padded cell in dresses made from razor clams and giant red feathers.

I didn't look back. I made it my mission to work for him studying my socks off at st.martins until a chance meeting with another student who was doing work placement led to me getting a foot in that infamous door. They were the most inspiring and colourful days of my life. It was damn hard work but nobody complained. We were all so honoured to have the priveledge to be able to experience his work in process. Mcqueen was like a big family and eventually I became his assistant. He was the kindest most loyal person.. a downright bugger sometimes but we all thanked him for his reckless persuit of perfection. Pushing people to the edge to get the most amazing ideas out of them with a never ending detemination to be unique and realise his dreams. And that he did. He always said that the collections came to him in his sleep. He would see the shows clearly in his mind and work backwards to build the collections around his final visions. And for those who had the priviledge of experiencing his shows what an incredible experience they were. Quite literally the stuff dreams are made of... My heart aches for the massive gaping hole he leaves behind. I hope in death you find the peace you searched for in life. we love you Lee.. x

AW10

HERES A PEEK AT OUR AW10 MOODBOARDS.... 3 WEEKS TO GO TILL FASHION WEEK.. ITS ALL SYSTEMS GO HER WITH US DECORATING OUR NEW STUDIO AND FURIOUSLY PLANNING OUR PRESENTATION...
WATCH THIS SPACE!

a funny story about father christmas...

This picture was taken the day after I had my "don't talk to strangers" talk at school. Incidentally I told my mother 'no fat man in a red suit was coming in to my bedroom at night. He could leave the presents on the doorstep..."

Tiger....

this is our gorgeous friend, Tiger Chadwick, sporting our AW10 pre collection...not in stores till may but we thought you might like a little look...

SS10 L O O K B O O K P R E V I E W

Robert Mapplethorpe... you are my hero

todays inspiration...

feeling very dreamy here at twenty8twelve... autumn light making us nostalgic... enjoy these beautiful images. we are.

Happy Birthday Mama!

Sienna's recent trip to the congo for the international medical corps

http://www.takepart.com/videos/8-minutes-in-the-dr-congo/32229

if/when it all gets too much this is where you can find me.....

the outer hebrides....
OMG is this place for real??

inspired? we are.... who is this girl??

the run up to the show....

Whose the fraggle?

stumbled accross this fran-tastic fraggle in 'the room' making it all look bootiful for our show on monday....

keeping it zen with possitive affirmations and oommmmm

SS10 Streaming live from LFW!

We'll be streaming our show live from London Fashion Week thanks to the super technology of LG here on the website on Monday 21st September at 19:45 GMT+1, so set that alarm and b there or b []

Heaven on Earth come Rain or Shine

Today's Inspiration...

Sissy Spacek in Badlands