The caterpillar and the butterfly are but one.

A few snaps of work in progress...

Beauty in Despair.

"I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free." - Charles Dickens

(My own illustration of my cocoon dress, a cheeky preview from my final degree work and my own photo of the caged butterflies from the Butterfly Farm in Stratford Upon Avon.)

*And thanks to Dave Jobbins, who accompanied me in photographing and pretended to enjoy it.

Puurrrrrrrrrr-fect!

Going wild over these bad boys. Two of the best dressed feline's I have ever laid my eyes upon, and damnnnn I bet those print appreciating fella's out there wana get their paws on these pussy cats.

Both images curtsey of Topshop Tumblr. You may now all raise your hands and sing Hallelujah for Leop Love (and my friend Katy Rose Wells who spotted these hotties for us to perv over).

Chloe.

Cool, understated and blissfully simple.

Chloe Designs and Illustrations.

Just a little taster of one of my third year competition works.

It's a Doll's Life!

Yes we all know it's a dog's life really. A typical day for my dog consist of bangers and mash, and various medication smothered in pate, sleep, a short walk with fussing and treats from every person passed, before sleep, another serving of bangers and mash, soaked in gravy this time (not doggy style, Bisto, yannooo the good stuff) and then back to the sofa for more sleep. She may be an old girl, and an absolute beauty even if I do say so myself, but seriously? Living the life! Not sure whether living is quite what these 'Human Barbie Dolls' are doing mind...

The Barbie 'Epidemic', a new, deadly serious craze where girls are emulating Barbie. Barbie Culture, is a whole other world where Barbie isn't just the doll whose hair you combed as a kid, fake married to Ken, or if like me, found great satisfaction in pulling their heads off. Oh no, Barbie is a way of life for some people. Believe it or not, it is the less extreme fans that spend their entire lives and fortune around auctions and meetings, trading and indulging in everything Barbie. The hardcore lovers, leaders of the phenomenon if you wish, are Barbie's real life parallels in popular culture.

At first glance, it was human Barbie Doll Valeria Lukyanova's online persona that caused a stir and allegations that it was merely, although undeniably clever, photoshopping that was creating her surreal features. However, now famous not only for her face, but her tiny 18 inch waist too, her extreme doll-like appearance, apparently the result of extensive plastic surgery and trickery in make-up has caused uproar with psychologists. In an interview in Grazia she claimed that she never sought to be Barbie and struggled to explain her motivation for pursuing the unhealthy obsession but that "the world is cruel and it's easier to live in a fairy tale". Her looks and reasoning relate to both reality and fantasy simultaneously, and this hyperreality is adding to the blurred boundaries in today's society. 

It would be too easy to say this extreme behaviour is the result of society's obsession with looks, because let's face it, those people just shove on an extra layer, or two of foundation and strip off another layer, again or two, of clothing. The theory that women are struggling to cope with reality is a much more likely explanation. Barbie with her perfectly symmetrical face, slender and ridiculously out of proportion figure, sparkling skin and static smile, and the women emulating this, couldn't paint a more faint picture. In trying to recreate a real, living, walking, talking Barbie, they couldn't look more fake. However, they are living their lives through this commitment to the fake, causing fear that people won't be able to tell the difference on what's real anymore.

Are they the fake real or the real fake? It seems Barbie is as much a threat as a promise. Ultimately Barbie eludes us, society is escaping reality through recreating a fake real. This is an extreme case but if you ask me, the vacant plastic stare of Barbie is a very human, very real metaphor for the empty void in today's culture, which is being ignored by living in a fantasy world.

I'm a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie world. Life in plastic, it's fantastic...

p.s. There is a human 'Ken Doll' too, who looks just as hilarious as his plastic idol, so it's not just us women who've got our ideas all out of whack and maybe a tad crazy.