Meeting Grayson Perry and Kansai Yamamoto

THANK YOU,,,

Name dropping is not usually cool, but on a hot summer enchanting evening at the British Museum, stars mingled with the rest of us and made it feel so cool and refreshingly human...
The Manga Fashion show was delightfully amazing bringing together students of the arts from around the world to share with us their 3D amazing visions of what it is to be part of Manga culture opening a fresh perspective on the cultural theme for those less familiar with up and coming youth cultural mediatic developments.

Against this modern futuristic display of phenomenal talent came views which also brought us back to comforting values: Grayson Perry shared his four most cherished rules of success with us:
1- be on time
2- be nice
3- work relentlessly
4- trust your intuition

He said the last one takes years of therapy and that if any of these go missing, success will elude...
Many thanks for reminding us of these essential daily ingredients, and so good to have a chat with you and friends after the show.

I guess one main ingredient present throughout the whole evening was positivity, without which none of this would have ever happen, the power of a positive sharing creative spirit might be so obvious like air and water for artists such as Grayson Perry and Kansai Yamamoto that they never mentioned it directly, yet it was lifting the whole event.

Grayson Perry mentioned the British Museum was an enormous source of cultural exchanges to visit and enjoy on a daily basis and Kansai Yamamoto kindly invited all students and models onto the stage, showing great spirit for cultural exchanges, which to me is the secret positive ingredient for all positive developments, passing on the baton to the younger generation is the best gesture and message to share.

So a big thank you to these very larger than life yet so sharing activists of the creative put to good: Kansai's suit was amazing, portraying a white polar bear trying to climb over an ice patch...
THANK YOU BOTH! and Thank you C. for inviting us... Your creation was out of this world...

Mon Nouveau StudioSuemeSolstice

Pour mon cousin Alain en Francais... voila le nouveau studio SueMe Solstice, des plantes des bamboos comme a Hanoi en Asie mon cousin, la bonne ambiance, le travail ...ca boome, nouveau design Veste polaire funky coupee sur mesure pour JimRod en taille XXL - j'aime ca la coupe, la mise en place --- c est la magie des mains... toi tu connais ca avec ta musique... ici beau soleil chaud a Londres... bizzzz

Dans ce grand Hangar Jools fait la distribution du Buff, un tour de cou coupe vent qui vient d une compagnie pres de Barcelone... on a un peu pousse le piano... et les motos/ velos... pour faire la place a la machine a coudre, qui vient de mon ancien Studio at Tottenham, et placee chez SueMe avant l'Asie...

Le Float (grand chariot comme au carnaval) contre le Brexit est entrepose par ceux qui essaient de dire que c'est une erreur... moi je pense que chaque europeen aurait du voter pour dire si on commencait la division de l'Europe ou pas, et comment faire pour demarrer cette page historique...
Voila ce qu'on peut lire en France dans les gares publiques, bon message a cherir et partager...

Ici Collioure, Architecture Maure a la frontiere entre France et Espagne partagee "paisiblement" par les Catalans... l'histoire a demande des sacrifices, savourons l'entente, la paix et les droits internationaux humains, quelques fois compromis voire eradiques par les systemes postfeodaux regis par les monarchies archaiques qui voudraient s'appeler democracies....

SewingSkills

How to sew  a SueMe Gilet ... takes precision, patience, a good back and a good pair of glasses after so many years of attention to details... be it sketching, pattern cutting, cutting the garment or assembling it...

Umbrella...

So the goal is to help, support, heal. remain one to oneself... and grow calmly...

Since 2008 I have thought it was time to put real actions into motions and shared my skills and visions in a concrete way by sharing design pattern cutting and making with everyone who wished to learn...
Backed by strong beliefs that if we did not try to start saving resources landing in the dumps, such as whole factories or fabric merchants closing down... soon humans living in cities would be left with little choices to find jobs using their hands in a creative way...

So these seeds of goodness  have been shared and are growing... 

Some of the ideas to share with students are centered around making our planet better and our lives happier, globally:

- guidance to produce Ethically in North London Boutique factory

- understand a sustainable clothing company challenges

- imagine a campaign to help change the industry for good...looking at the whole garment life cycle

Here some stories regarding the impact of creativity to heal communities... save wastes, and help the circular economy...

HOW MANY...

Someone asked me twice how many gilets I made... which when you source design pattern cut and make... which include designing and hand cutting and making labels, too, matching the checks from factory offcuts wool, one by one...
sounds like an overwhelming question... which first time around I escaped with a smile, but second time was slightly disturbed...

So from visiting the factory...

to making one's own pressing "ham"

to discussing all elements in details many times with very inspiring and patient Jools 

to reviewing patterns based on real size guies... who depending... can also present shape challenges...

Cutting labels by hand 

and finally punching studs in by hand  

This is how long it takes to make a garment and for those who reduce this whole creative process by counting the time to assemble each piece and count how many garments were made ... 

The Thanet friendly community sharing

A super night at the Thanet... thanks

Kyle was also amazing by choosing a great Youtube channel name for the sewing group meeting once a month, and displaying videos of highlihgts of our class on Wednesday...

  SEWHUB  here we show how to do a "rub-off"  which was officially shown at the School of Fashion Design in Boston, as part of our pattern making classes for the industry...

Rainbow over the Mediterranee

Still grey sky light and dark clouds over mer agitee

Climate Change

So the climate is definitely upside down... the coldest part of France is now in the South... and the flat Mediterranee now looks like an angry Atlantic... and bright sunshine is now replaced by a foggy grey sky...

Denim comes and goes...

How polluting the fashion industry is....
little depressing, yet to find ways to Redress... some make a fair amount of money just sorting and passing to new customers...

Designers however are in the driving seat... to turn things which had reached the end of their lives into new cherished items...

One day walking to Broadwater Farm Creative Studio I set up and run between 2008 and 2017, as part of a circular economy idea of putting together unused resources and teaching the youths struggling at school about the creative process to build their confidence,  I found a piece of denim, a small jacket actually thrown on the side of the road, as we often see clothes which have not made it to the charity shop but no longer have an owner...

So with bits of paragliding wings which had been donated, and had come to an end themselves I started deconstructing and reconstructing...

A contrast is always very helpful to create a stronger message... so I will bring this work in progress in class and discuss its life span with you... as an insight into what it is to run an Individual Project from A to Z...

While helping SueMe to develop an identity as a visible sustainable brand from 2013 onward, my passion to piece together was put to good creative use...

For me to piece textiles together is a healing process where I actually reattach pieces of my life together when they had been broken or I simply just give a new life to a piece of cloth as it is, and use some jewelry or other external elements to create a new whole which is pleasing to the eyes and fun to wear... it is actually quite an empowering process which I love to share, so hope to see you all on the 27th...

One by One- crafted for love, fun and sanity...

Creating, slow sewing, keeping healthy--- both mind and mother nature-- seeing wearers enjoy this well made well fitted cared for one of a kind SueMe piece is a true joy to share...

Since 2013-- Cat cuts makes and tests samples for SueMe to fulfill its mission to reach out and create a greener pasture for future generations, producing quality garments cut by hand made by hand and gradually moved into production if demand requires - thanks to visionary Jools who started SueMe with next to skin heavenly soft and fitted made of wood pulp skinwear to last and make your day easier as well as the planet better...

So today it is WorldGreenCat talking, sharing her passion to design from repurposed sources, cut stitch... the whole lot... design and sewing are not mutually exclusive as many feel or think... just experience the magic of using your hands in a productive way and you will understand...

Embracing the challenge to produce flagship for SueMe to reflect inner core values in a visible elegant and utilitarian way, both for men and women... a tall order with many strings attached, like sharing with a great team at Buff HQs London and more... ongoing support and friendship...

Focuses on the outer garments involves skills developed since 1991 in Boston School of Fashion Design, Newbury street, incorporating couture and tailoring traditions learnt from Italian specialists and French couture houses, slowly crafting unique gilets combining traditional and innovative materials, not online yet as they go as we make and no time to indulge in all the social fun yet...

We are on number 17 men's gilet if anyone wishes to know more... with both son and dad wearing their unique version... Just finished the intergenerational versions... to be shipped to Braintree soon... once buttons are punched in... SueMe in action

Numbered Gilets

For SueMe... slow but sure Fashion for men enjoying bespoke, long lasting quality for prices next to factory and material costs... to help nature in its battle to remain healthy...

@suemevie @wearesueme