Diary of Miss X: 2011 Photo Roundup Part 1
By Destroyx | January 12, 2012
Wow… so I had a pretty crazy year to say the least but it was the most fun and best year of my life for sure! Just looking through the thousands of photos I took and having a chance to reflect on what amazing experiences I’ve been privileged enough to have and the wonderful people I’ve been able to meet, has been very humbling for me. I just wanted to share a couple of my favorite photos and memories from 2011 year with you. (Second part coming tomorrow!)
JANUARY: KICKING IT IN LONDON
On the set with the crew for the Toxic Girl video in London by the amazing Tamas.
A fry up cake me and Rich made for our flatmate Baron (it’s his favourite food) & Getting my ‘Red Riding Hood’ Tattoo by Baron at A True Love Tattoo.
FEBRUARY & MARCH: ON TOUR WITH LORDS OF ACID
On the road with Lords of Acid through the USA. Crazy crazy fun tour.
APRIL: NYC RECORDING WITH ANGELSPIT
In April I flew back home to London for a couple of days after the Lords of Acid tour, then promptly flew back to NYC to record for ‘Hello my name is’. I had my last EVER drink at the Mars bar before it closed =( Then I think I went to LA to shoot for a super secret project…
Val and I kicking chilling out before a show in Richmond.
One of the highlights of the year was playing Irving Plaza in NYC with Combichrist. Yup… that was a bit of a dear diary moment.
MAY: BERLIN ADVENTURES
After that grueling stretch of work in the USA I met up with my boy in Berlin for adventures in my favourite city!
JUNE: LONDON… WORKING… WORKING… WORKING…
I learnt how to ride a bike in Hyde Park! Also caught a secret Gallows show in East London.
I worked super hard on my fashion line Crime & Punishment, screen printing, assembling, designing… handling every aspect of the business.
JULY: LONDON WORKING & PARTYING IN EQUAL MEASURES
I did a LOT of design work in July, released an A is for Arsenic collection, designed a whiskey label for the Crobar London & started working with Illamasqua on some products.
AUGUST: ANGELSPIT EUROPEAN TOUR
For my 26th birthday my boy took me on a secret adventure to Brighton. One of the BEST days of my life. I can’t wait to go back.
Survived riots in England and went on tour with Angelspit in Europe which was a total blast. Spent lots of time getting well acquainted with liquor with my BFF in exotic locales.
I hope you enjoyed some of my silly adventures… Part two coming tomorrow…
Topics: Amelia Arsenic, Angelspit, Diary of Miss X | 6 Comments »
Diary of Miss X: All The Rage Tour & Bizarre Ball
By Destroyx | December 15, 2011
It’s Jay von Monroe & me dressed as Jay on Halloween in Milwaukee.
Hello my lovelies!
It’s been far too long since I updated my diary. I’ve been around the world and back a couple of times, played lots of rock and roll shows with Angelspit on the All the Rage tour with Blood on the Dancefloor and New Years Day, met tonnes of fans, made lots of friends and just had a non stop insane adventure across the USA.
I literally took thousands of photos over the last couple of months which I plan to blog about properly but I thought I’d put some of my favourites up until I have a free moment to write a detailed tour diary. I hope you enjoy!
We played to a lot of enthusiastic Blood on the Dancefloor fans every evening.
For about 2 months Val donned fake blood and crazy makeup for this Halloween tour. Sometimes we dressed up as the Justice League to fight crime.
Lime green + Yellow + Red = Weird x-mas elf show makeup.
With Nick Nasty from BOTDF. He’s a total sweetheart… and super tall too!
One of the perks of the tour was being able to watch BOTDF every night from stage.
Look at Curtis’ AMAZING moustache! He was the tour bus driver for BOTDF
Nick & Jay having a blast on stage.
With Nikki Misery from New Years Day one of the NICEST non-miserable people on the planet.
Photo of me, Nick Nasty, Matty, Danny, Anthony, the Liar and Nikki Misery at our last show. Boo hoo. We were sad because we didn’t want the tour to end.
My life in London has been a complete contrast to my tour life as I’ve been working on A is for Arsenic non stop and been chained to my desk 20 hours a day. However I’m so excited that Taxidermia is finally out and I can start working on my next range.
One of the fun things I managed to get out of the house for was to go to the Bizarre Winter X-mas ball with my friends. We all dressed up in latex outfits and had a spectacularly fun time!
With the gorgeous Abby, Florence and Nina Kate.
Isn’t Kate’s outfit AMAZING! (She made it herself!) She is the Satanic pope!
I also met Masumi Max… eee… amaze!!
Thanks for reading my sweet hearts and I can’t wait to share the rest of the photos with you! I hope to be posting more regularly now that I have a high speed internet connection (woo!). Also…. please follow me on instagram and tumblr for more ’round the clock glimpses into my world.
Topics: Amelia Arsenic, Angelspit, Diary of Miss X, Travel | 5 Comments »
Taxidermia A is for Arsenic Lookbook
By Destroyx | December 15, 2011
It’s been a long time coming but I’m so thrilled to finally be able release my latest collection for A is for Arsenic London entitled Taxidermia- a modern re-imagining of Victorian mourning jewellery and apparel.
I hope you enjoy the imagery behind the collection and the stunning lookbook photographs taken by the prodigious Melissa Jenkins. I feel so lucky to be able to collaborate with such a fine team of creatives in London and luckily I know that this is just the beginning!… I feel like I’m just getting started!
ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Taxidermia: a graphic world of dark Victoriana, memento mori and macabre taxidermy. Featuring vicious yet elegant designs with a nod to the past, Taxidermia is a thoroughly contemporary art jewellery and apparel collection created and constructed in London.
Using glossy black and clear perspex, crystals and black heavy metal chain, the bold jewellery is dually dramatic and delicate with a hint of dark romanticism. With swarming flies a visual motif of the collection, the monochromatic graphic prints are a beautifully grotesque statement, bound to satisfy your morbid curiosity.
Each Taxidermia jewellery piece is fabricated by hand in London and limited to an edition of 40 with particular attention being placed on quality presentation and packaging.
The collection is available for a limited time from aisforarsenic.com
For press enquiries and interview requests contact: press@aisforarsenic.com
For sales enquires please contact: amelia@aisforarsenic.com
TAXIDERMIA LOOKBOOK CREDITS
All jewellery and apparel by A is for Arsenic London
Photography: Melissa Jenkins
Models: Sohui & Nina Kate
Hair: Ceri Cushen
Makeup: Kirka Verinen
Art Direction & Styling: Amelia Arsenic
Special thanks to all of my creative team who brought my crazy vision to life. Heart you all and can’t wait to work with you all again!
THE LOOKBOOK
Topics: A is for Arsenic, Amelia Arsenic, Jewelry, London | 7 Comments »
Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless AW Launch
By Destroyx | September 4, 2011
Last Thursday was a super exciting day for me as I was invited to attend the launch of Illamasqua’s AW range dramatically entitled Theatre of the Nameless. This was a special event for me because I was actually involved in developing a product for this range. It was a dream collaboration for me and I am thrilled with the product I developed - a pair of bespoke Weimar false eyelashes.
I’ll be blogging a few times this week about my collaboration with Illamasqua about how the Weimar eyelashes were developed as well as a couple of product reviews of some of the gorgeous colors featured in the Theatre of the Nameless range.
Here’s a quick snap of my look for the event launch.
Still getting used to the green hair! Not sure yet if the green + red combo is too X-mas pixie? But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
A photo of the glamorous model wearing the ‘Weimar’ lashes with the bruised yet warm colour palette of the range. She’s also rocking the Kontrol lipstick.
The model is wearing the auburn blended version of the lash and I am wearing the all black sample version (not available).
A blurry close up photo of my nails. I’m wearing the new ‘kink’ colour. Also I’m drinking a fantastic rot/schwarze/gelb coloured ‘Weimar’ inspired cocktail from LVPO where the event was held.
These are the burnt auburn coloured eyelashes I developed. The lighting doesn’t show how many types of blended hair colours we used to create the final lash but I’ll post detail photos tomorrow!
Look mum! I designed those!
James from Stylenoir magazine hung out with me and looked fabulous.
So much fun to play with all of the new products that night.
Me and David Horne, the amazing brain behind product development at Illamasqua. He is a true artist! He’s even wearing Beguile on his blazer. His speech about the development of the range was very inspiring and I feel very lucky to be able to work with him.
Celebratory drinks at Garlic and Shots after the launch.
I feel so excited to finally be able to write about my first collaboration with Illamasqua and I’m literally beaming as I write this! We are already working on wonderful new products for future ranges and I can not be more thrilled about my involvement with this fantastic brand.
Stay tuned this week for more Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless related posts (and also the launch of the next A if for Arsenic jewellery range entitled ‘Taxidermia’.
Topics: A is for Arsenic, Amelia Arsenic, Beauty, Illamasqua, London, Makeup | 13 Comments »
Style Division: Brutal Glamour
By Destroyx | August 23, 2011
A little while back (actually some time last year!) I had the pleasure of having a creative play party with some of my favourite New Yorkers to shoot some promo photographs for my upcoming jewellery line. Steve Prue is such an enthusiastic photographer to shoot with and so much fun to be around, that even though the weather was sweltering the time went so quickly (and we managed to get some kick arse shots!)
The lovely Kristin Jackson was the hair stylist for the shoot. She is one of the most stylish people I know and has some of the coolest tattoos around (an entire Barbie sleeve!) and also happens to be a ridiculously talented hair designer. If you are in the USA you should try and catch her on the current hit show Hair Battle Spectacular on Oxygen.
For the shoot I was loaned an absolutely AMAZING corset by the inimitable designer Veritee Hill. If you’re on the lookout for a beautifully crafted custom corset she has some of the nicest and most creative offerings out there. Lastly I was loaned some super comfortable and well made latex opera gloves by Lady Lucie to complete the look.
All jewellery featured in this shoot was designed by myself and is a part of one of my upcoming A is for Arsenic ranges that will be available in the near future in a range of custom colours and studs.
Photography by Steve Prue www.teamrockstarimages.com
Hair by Kristin Jackson www.kristinjacksonhair.com
Spiky Corset by Veritee Hill www.veriteehill.com
MUA & Styling by Amelia Arsenic (me!) www.destroyx.com
Makeup provided by Miss X Aesthetic Labs (www.miss-x.net) and Sugarpill (www.sugarpill.net)
Latex gloves by Lady Lucie www.ladylucie.com
All jewellery by A is for Arsenic London www.aisforarsenic.com
Topics: A is for Arsenic, Amelia Arsenic, Jewelry, New York, Photoshoots, Style, Style Division | 9 Comments »
Design Autopsy: Amore de Mori Visual Identity
By Destroyx | August 22, 2011
Recently I had the pleasure of designing the visual identity and portfolio website for UK based taxidermy artist Bonnie Wood. I’ve been a great admirer of Bonnie’s accessories for the past couple of years so I was delighted when she asked me to design her blog and articulate her visual identity. We happen to both share a love of momento mori and vanitas imagery so I knew that I would be the right designer for her brand.
The final design outcome for the blog layout.
Inspirational Mood Board images
So that I could better understand Bonnie’s vision for her brand, I asked her to send me inspirational mood board images. From this I could see what kind of aesthetic and conceptual direction she wanted for her brand. While we were developing the brief, I knew that the outcome would be quite unique as Bonnie wanted to combine quite a few disparate visual concepts such as bright joyful colours, imagery of death and the natural world and religious iconography. The challenge would be to unify the opposing elements of the dark imagery (such as animal skulls and decaying wallpaper) with the bright images of the natural world (such as flowers and mushrooms).
Inspirational mood board images from Bonnie’s favourite artists.
Bonnie’s taxidermy art & accessories
Obviously too it was important to visually reference Bonnie’s actual artworks and creations, so I drew much inspiration from her galleries of previous work. In particular I loved how she juxtaposes typically beautiful materials like flowers and ribbons with macabre elements such as road kill, animal skulls and insects.
A few images of Bonnie’s past work featured in fashion photoshoots.
Reference images generated for the illustrations
I then did some of my own visual research and image generation inspired by the mood boards. I had to collect quite a lot of reference and source material before I could create the illustrations as I knew I wanted to create a hyperreal collage style inspired in part by Pierre et Gilles (a shared favourite artist of both Bonnie & myself).
Victorian engravings, distressed wallpaper I photographed, religious iconography and skulls from the Bone Church in Kutná Hora, Prague.
Landing page illustration
For the landing page Bonnie wanted me to use her ‘Mater Dolorosa’ self portrait as a basis for the illustration. I enshrined the portrait with natural and macabre imagery, creating iconography unique to Bonnie’s artistic practice. Overall, Bonnie wanted to have a contemporary feel to her site (not a nostalgic one), so I opted to use a clean sans serif font for the logotype to tie the graphic style to the present.
Final Blog & Portfolio Outcome
The hyperreal vanitas style was continued through the blog header illustration and throughout the site graphics as I again collaged opposing visual elements to reflect Bonnie’s unique aesthetic.
I am very thrilled with the outcome of the project as I felt I had to really push myself creatively to fulfill the needs of my client. Thanks so much to Bonnie for the opportunity to collaborate and share this project with you all. Please check out Bonnie’s site to read about what amazing projects she’s currently working on and to find out more about her art.
Topics: Design, Design Autopsy, Designers | 8 Comments »
Angelspit EU Tour Diary 2011: NL - HU - UK Demolition!
By Destroyx | August 20, 2011
Greetings from Europe! I’ve just come home from the last Angelspit tour which was full of adventures, sleepless nights and great shows! I thought I’d share a selection of some of the tour photographs I came home with. Enjoy!
Flyer image of the tour featuring our lovely new members.
July 30th - Utrecht, The Netherlands at Summer Darkness
Luggage, leberwurst (nom nom…), miffy and the perfect hotel meal (bread, brie, mini salad, wine & vodka).
Crazy packed show at Summer Darkness. Love playing this festival!
Our cheerful backstage area.
Valerie and I had to show this guy how to make jaeger bombs. Weird!
Val and I at the VNV concert. Representing.
Picturesque Holland and shoe shopping at Heathrow.
A typical breakfast of croquettes in the Netherlands. Tasty stuff!
I love icecream! (*squeal*) and a picture of me with the lomo ‘diana’ camera I borrowed off my boy.
Bikes everywhere! I LOVE this red vintage one and hope to find one that looks similar for when I buy my first bike.
I love the retro looking design of the food automats in the Netherlands.
August 2nd - Budapest, Hungary at Dürer Kert
The architecture in sunny Budapest is so beautiful.
I was so sad to find the ‘ice cream banned’ sign in the ladies restroom at the venue. WHY GOD WHY!
The atmospheric corridors in the backstage area of the venue. So cool!
Zoog, Matty and I before the show.
Amazing crowd in Budapest. People came from Croatia and Vienna to see us. <3 you all!
There was a shark in the backstage toilet. Weird!
Our sunny and pretty hostel which featured a wading pool.
Day off in London
Mandatory band vodka shots at the Vodka Revolution Bar in London. I got one that tasted like copper (?)
We then ate at the most amazing Garlic & Shots (a garlic and vampire themed restaurant). Highly recommended!
August 5th - UK: Sheffield, Corporation
I always love playing this venue in Sheffield. Even if they can’t spell our name.
Presenting ANGLESPIT!
YAY! It was my birthday that day!
Amazing hot and sweaty crowd in Sheffield.
Messy backstage area.
August 6th - UK: London, Electrowerkz
Steak and Ale pie. Nom nom.
Matty warming up backstage.
Lovely London support band!
INSANE crowd in London. You guys never disappoint!
Stay tuned for the second installment of my diary featuring our shows up north, in Scotland and Ireland.
Topics: Amelia Arsenic, Angelspit, Diary of Miss X | 13 Comments »
« Previous Entries