“God, I need to take a piss. I swear I never used to piss this
much. In the ‘80s I pissed twice a month! Those were the days
– phones ringing off the hook – ding ding ding! – Hello? –
Yes, you’re through to Julia! – I’ll take four, please! I’ll take twelve! – SOLD!’
February 21st, Bloomsbury, London, an audience waits expectantly, the darkness abruptly punctuated by bright spotlights. The show begins with a lone figure standing in a pastel turquoise dress, reminiscent of those worn by stage and screen stars decades before. Dripping in pearls and jewels, our protagonist is flanked by homeware, television screens and jewels in a set that nods to Formica-clad shopping channels abound with must-have buys.
Words by Leigh Maynard.
It's a show of synchronous narratives, switching from dark to light, from polished performance to unhinged internal monologue, brought together through witty dialogue and a tragicomedy conclusion. The show entitled “Look at Me”, a continuing expansion of CompletedWorks' use of narrative to illustrate their collections, was commissioned by creative director Anna Jewsbury, written by playwright Laura Waldren, and starring American actress Debi Mazar. From Goodfellas to Malcolm X, our protagonist’s credentials have weight, and her performance was searing as the washed-up show host drowning in memories of the past, self-loathing and a reluctance for change.
The performance highlighted a collection of earrings, necklaces, and rings underpinned by a dual aesthetic, melding past and present, where clean lines were garnished with motifs from the archives, pearls were draped in zirconia and geometric and gilding embellished the organic. Working primarily with recycled materials, CompletedWorks show exemplified their desire to reshape convention and explore a broader narrative around art, history and the human condition.
In the frame of the shopping channel studio, all this brought some much-needed light to London Fashion Week, a show and a collection that will shine as strongly in our memories as our protagonist's diamond-encrusted jewels.
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