Thursday 8 December 2011

CANDY - Playmates - with Mariano Vivanco, Luke Day, Alex Box and Me!







Okay, so.... Candy is finally out! Well its been out for several weeks but I've been so bad with my blog recently I keep neglecting to update you all. anyway, here it finally is. This was a particularly fun job for me as I got to play 'creative director' for the first time. I've been a fan of Candy since it came out a couple of years ago so I was hugely honoured when Luis Venegas asked me to be involved.

The Playmate bunny girls and the Playboy brand is such an icon but we'd never seen anyone subvert or challenged it before so it seemed like the perfect subject to play with for a Transgender Magazine. I really wanted to have fun with the ideals of the brands identity with this project and play with crass gender clichés, pairing cigars and boxing gloves with high heels and corsets, inventing characters that were both alpha male and extremely feminine, Playmate and Hugh Hefner.

CANDY - Playmates - with Mariano Vivanco, Luke Day, Alex Box and Me!





Candy- Playmates - with Mariano Vivanco, Luke Day and me.





Thursday 17 November 2011

My Coat Design for Wooyoungmi






Here are some pictures of the coat I designed for Wooyoungmi in conjunction with charity 'Art Against Knives', the jacket was exibited at Selfridges and then auctioned off on Twitter, all the proceeds went to Art Against Knives. The second photo is of me and my 4 eyed brothers who also designed jackets for the project, they include Jewellery designer Jordan Askill, Editor of Dazed Digital David Hellqvist, Blogger Steve Salter and Mr Porter menswear buyer Reece Crisp, Photos by Rokas Darulis.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Toys for Nicola Formichetti's Pop Up Shop.






Nicola Formichetti opened a store in Manhatten last months and asked me to make some creepy toys for it. These were what I submitted. Before my babies sailed off to the states I got my good friend and long time collaborator William Selden to do this little still life project with me.

Toys for Nicola Formichetti's Pop Up Shop.






Nicola Formichetti opened a store in Manhatten last months and asked me to make some creepy toys for it. These were what I submitted. Before my babies sailed off to the states I got my good friend and long time collaborator William Selden to do this little still life project with me.

Monday 10 October 2011

Comme Des Garsons Spring 2012 Headpieces.





“I got a call from Ronnie Cooke-Newhouse telling me to ‘cancel everything!’ as Comme was about to get in contact about an exciting project that would be too amazing to refuse and that I should wait by the phone,” explains set design extraordinaire Gary Card on his latest collaboration for Comme des Garçons’ S/S12 collection. “I was really excited but also a little terrified as I had no idea what they were going to ask me to do. Adrian Joffe called the next morning to tell me that I'd been selected to make headpieces for the show…”

For designer Rei Kawakubo’s latest collection she commissioned three artists to create headpieces to accompany her “White Drama” themed collection. Giving Card only three words: “white, rubber and object” he was left with a vast creative freedom to make whatever he wanted with the only restraints of practicality, “Rei works in complete secret, never letting anybody see the collection in progress or explaining the direction. Adrian informed me that it was the accident of it all coming together that Rei always looked for.”

Often using playful objects in his work Card was immediately drawn to “bundling” together dog chew toys, rubber animals and clown dolls which later led to the idea of contortion and inflated amorphic shapes tied together with elastic bands, “Latex was an obvious choice – it allowed me to play with the different qualities of latex objects, like deflating or even dangerously over-pumping them,” explains Card on his material and process. “I liked the connotations of rubber as well, but playing with that as well was fun: making this 'sexy', 'sleazy' material cuddly and approachable, almost innocent. Subverting the subversive I guess.”

Working closely with House of Harlot, who specialise in rubber clothing and accessories, Card experimented with shapes, sizes and the attributes and constraints of the unique material. With no idea of what the collection was going to look like Card’s overall aim was to make something close to the brand’s heritage, “I knew they had to be dramatic, progressive and yet slightly playful.”

The result? Unique, inflated amorphous forms that perfectly complimented and added a sense of fun to Kawakubo’s grand, almost couture-like collection that appeared to track the progression through birth, marriage and death with its ceremonial robes, bridal gowns and floral burial dress. “I guess I wanted people to be delighted and maybe challenged by them,” explains Card on the response he wanted his pieces to give.“But really all I wanted was for them to stay on the models’ heads. I had actual nightmares about the headpieces exploding down the catwalk.”

With an entirely white collection, it has led editors to suggest white is the new black. Card agrees with Kawakubo's strong colour decision for S/S12, "White is rarely completely white, the light and colours around a white object will change its tone completely, right now all the white things around me have a yellow tone to them because of the low lighting in my studio, I like how it mimics other colours, in this respect white can be anything and everything."

Article taken from anothermag.com. -
http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/1453/Gary_Card_on_his_headpieces_for_Comme_des_Garçons_SS12

Wednesday 28 September 2011

GARAGE Magazine with Nick Knight and Dino Chapman






Wow! its been ages hasn't it. I'm so sorry for neglecting you, I have been busy I swear, so many exciting things have been going on, Garage magazine with Nick Knight and Dinos Chapman, (both of which are childhood hero's of mine), as well as year 2 of my onging collaboration with Loewe. My first range of toys for Nicola Formachetti's pop up store in New York (of which I can't wait to show you!) As well as some top secret stuff that I'll be unveilling next week.

Here are a few bits from the Garage 'Agarthe's House' project, the first being the shoot for the magazine and the second, the installation at the Gagosian Gallery. For this I remade the shoot's dolls house set for the Garage Magazine Launch.
Special thanks as always to my trusty set builder Russell Beck and lovely assistant Penny Mills.

Right, Paris Fashion week, here I come!.

GARAGE Magazine with Nick Knight and Dino Chapman





Thursday 4 August 2011

WOOYOUNGMI A/W11 FILM AND CAMPAIGN










Ahead of their Kacper Kasprzyk-shot winter campaign, the Korean sister duo worked with set designer Gary Card and filmmakers Videopolis on this conceptual video,

The South Korean duo behind Wooyoungmi base the label on their sharp eye for advanced sartorial details and conceptual plays on traditional shirts, jackets and coats. For this new season, focus was moved to the practicality and function of the clothes with technical fabrics paired against standard luxury materials to fit a 21st century urban lifestyle. Styled by Dazed & Confused's Robbie Spencer, the new collection was also shot for a new film for Wooyoungmi's Autumn/Winter 2011 collection.

Art Director Katie Chung worked with set designer Gary Card to create the video with Videopolis, featuring model Alexander Beck in disconcerting blurring shots and shifting shapes between looks. The result is a perfect mix of the modern aesthetics seen within the pieces alongside the conceptual film.

Monday 18 July 2011

Angelo Sorrenti film for New York Times






Angelo Sorrenti, a martial arts champion who is known as the Miracle Trainer, shows off some of his moves in this video, created exclusively for T by the fashion photographer Jacob Sutton, set design by me.

These really don't do this project justice. View the video at-
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/06/30/t-magazine/100000000889982/t-exclusive-the-partisan.html

Special thanks, Penny Mills, Harry Riley and my wonderful dad, Christopher Card.