Too Many Tights!

Japanese Freaky Leg Bikini Girls... and More.

1. Found this picture from a photo shoot from a while ago... made me laugh:

 

2. Nude bodysuits are sweeeet! Don't worry, they're still on my (loooong) list.

 

Hedi Slimane shooting Natalia Vol.... vold... inovina... na. Some Russian lady.

3. I'm glad the Lace Collections have been so popular. Of course, sleep would be nice too. But hey... whatever.

My personal fave... the Lace Spartans. I was a skeptic when this was first suggested to me... now I'm a believer. 

Model is the beautiful Alex Ford. She looks so great in Black Milk, and is so great to work with... that I'm really regretting hitting her with my car just before the photo shoot. Damn. I've gotta remember to check my mirrors for stray models before reversing...

4. I recognise the Diane Von Furstenburg leggings from a couple of posts back - $115 I believe. What do you think - unusually good leggings, yeah?

 

5. This from some Japanese men's magazine - making very liberal use of the Disproportionately Extend Femur & Shin function in photoshop. Can't find it in the main menu? Hmmmm... maybe you have an older version.

 

I know legs, dahling, and this is not how they go.

6. Gradient tights. Love.

7. Jingle bells, jingle bells... if you want lovely leggings for Christmas, probably best not be waiting till mid December, capisce?

8. Oh... word about the Lace Leggings - they are deliberately not locked at the bottom!!! That means they are 'open' at the ankles without the fabric folded back and stitched. There is a reason for this, it's not just that I sewed the waist and then gave up. Being lace, they are a lot more comfortable that way and any attempt to stitch the bottoms would result in a big lumpy blob. You don't need that.

... and don't worry, it won't fray. Trust.

jL

Okay.... I'll Show Some Love.

Some have pointed out that I did a special introduction on my last item, and I should on these as well... Hmmmmm. Pressure.

Okay, don't say I don't love you. For one week all the Lace Collection stuff will be specially discounted for you, loyal blog reader... 

For this week only:

Lace Spartans ($80)

Lace Leggings ($60)

Lace Bodysuit ($100)

Entire collection - ($220)

Feel tha love?!

jL

Collection #1: The Lace Collection

As promised, the very first (micro!) collection for Black Milk. It is called the Lace Collection, and consists of three pieces:

1. Lace Spartans ( $90 )

2. Lace Leggings ( $70 )

3. Lace Bodysuit ( $120 )

.... and as I mentioned, you can also buy the entire collection - for only $250 (All prices in US$).

By the way, that little jaggedy line you can see going around the lace on the bodysuit.. they're single lines of zipper teeth - pure unadulterated hotness.

... and I've got some videos of behind the scenes at our photoshoot. Fun times...

jL

p.s. Zebs... gone! So if you own a pair, congrats, they are now a collectors item ;)

p.s. Yes, free international shipping is still happening, but not for much longer... (hint, hint!)

Lace Collection Will Go Live Tomorrow!

1. Spend all day today on a fairly MASSIVE photo shoot - working with a girl who I have wanted to get into my tights (that sounded wrong) for a long time (still sounds wrong...). Anyway, can't wait to show you guys the pics. I was furiously sewing a whole bunch of new designs for it, and they came up sweet.

Trust me peeps.

2. I have always thought there was something special about Marcella from Fashion Distraction's pics. Somehow she always manages to look totally fierce, and yet kinda cute at the same time (I'm so going to get in trouble for saying that...). 

So I was interested to see how she would go pulling off a look with the Gold Spartans. Let me just say... she didn't disappoint. 

 

You can see all the pics on her blog here. Go now.

3. Interesting story: I drove down to the Gold Coast this morning. I popped into a coffee shop getting a (nother) fix when I spied the morning newspaper. One of the headlines read: "The Coast's 50 Most Stylish Women" so I opened it up and right in the middle of a page full of stylish girls, is a girl wearing a pair of Gold Cages! You know who you are ... and I hope you win.

4. Lace Ups with purple pom poms - now why didn't I think of that...?

 

5. And - as the title of this blog post suggests, the Lace Collection will be live tomorrow. Yay! I don't think I've ever had girls be so positive about a style before, everyone just loves them. And rightly so.

jL

p.s. Not only will new styles be going up tomorrow, old styles will be coming down...

#1: The Lace Collection (Sneak Preview)

You know how I've just been randomly releasing things? No longer...

Now I shall be doing MICRO-COLLECTIONS! Little three piece collections with a similar stylistic feature. You can get the pieces individually, or get the whole collection. Cool, huh? 

Imagine the conversation - 

- "Where did you get the hot Lace leggings?" 

- "Oh these things? They're Black Milk, they're the first piece in the Lace collection - I really liked it so I actually bought the whole collection..."

Then people will think you are fashionable and rich, and in one fell swoop you will have ascended to the the apex of the western social system. No thanks required, I'm happy just to serve.

Okay, I'll stop talking rubbish. 

So can you keep a secret? Nah, me neither! Working on the first piece of the Lace Collection..

Vinyl, Chains and Lace (Yes I Did Grow Up in The 80s, Can You Tell?)

Can't sleep. Trying to figure out how to make these not wrinkle... 

 

I shall call them 'Slicks'.

WARNING - TECHNICAL SEWING STUFF: I'm thinking that the solution is to modify the length ratio between the nylon lycra and the PVC and keep it flush through the overlocker by turning up the differential feed to around 1.5-1.75. That could work.

Maybe it's just one of those things, you wear PVC, you get wrinkles. Of course, if you play with them a bit before going out you can get them to sit really flat, as in the photo above.

It's a good point actually -- with most Black Milk gear you can't just throw it on and rush out the door, you usually have to move them around a bit to get them sitting right, then you're ready for your superhero activity (that's what you guys do in them, right?)

Does this stuff keep you guys up at night as well? 

jL

p.s. Like lace? Tune in tomorrow for a special new release...

Because Vinyl Isn't Just For DJs

1. And people say I make crazy things with too many chains! What about Marty M?

Gotta love those shoulder pads. Literally, there are some shoulder pads.

2. Previous pic was from my photographer friend in France, jB.He takes some great shots and, for some inexplicable reason takes lots of photos of women's legs. We chatted a bit recently and he had this to say (in a french accent) "I like woman's legs, I am little bit fetishist maybe?" 

Maybe.

Usually if you take a lot of photos of womens' legs you're just labelled a creep. But, of course, if they're good photo's... you can get away with it. And you're listening to someone who gets away with a lot. It's okay girls, I'm a professional.

 

jL

p.s. I had a dream about Kentucky Fried Owl last night. Beat that.

Getting Waisted

The latest in the long string of high-meets-low fashion marketing strategies that have become common over the last couple of years. Rodarte for Target.

Super high waisted tights?

 

It got me thinking, maybe there's some potential there. How high waisted could you go? I'll experiment.

Hot panels and bad lighting (kinda reminds me of myself!) Looks like PVC mixed with lace. I will be doing a very special lace design soon. stay posted! Via.

 

Okay, let's talk Li-Lo. She started a label specialising exclusively in leggings, so ... you know, me and Lindsay, (beats chest twice) we're kindred spirits. Of course, the leggings from her label sold out within minutes of being on the shelves, so... let's just say there are a few points of dissimilarity there. 

However, the overt glee that was apparent as her collection was heaped upon the cyber bonfire of the vanities is certainly a damning testimony to our collective insecurities. Mine included.

Trying to do something fantastic and instead doing something that sucks is the first step to doing something fantastic. 

I just hope I will receive more grace than she did on the many future occasions in which I shall produce things that suck. ()

Found this pic via Alixrose. Perfectly illustrates the challenges involved in creating a PVC bodysuit - look at the area around the boobs. It's a complete shemozzle. Not that it will deter me from trying.... :)

 

Guessing there's a zip at the back because there's no way you're getting your head through that neck hole! Unless you can do that freaky thing that Johnny Knoxville did on Men In Black.

Really liking that white and gold combination though...

jL

p.s. Posted the first of the Velvets today... the rest will be on their way tomorrow. :)  These things turned out to be a lot harder to make than I first expected... (!)

In Which I Talk About OTHER PEOPLE!

1. Note to Marc - this is how you do an afro.

Via Luxirare.

Speaking of afros.... if I don't get me down to the barbershop within the next two days people are going to start mistaking me for the lost member of the Jackson 5 - or at least the lost member of At The Drive In.

2. Is it just me who suspects that there are no boundaries that Hello Kitty won't cross. She's kinda like the ultimate punk icon now - just doesn't give a damn about what society says in 'good taste'. For example, internal organs Hello Kitty:

Anarchy in Shinjuku. And to answer your question, no, I don't know when it will stop.

3. Need some of this kind of medical assistance? Yeah, me too.

4. Style.com's doing a thing on leggings at the moment- and yours truly was (disgracefully!) overlooked once again). A controversial omission. Ready for the motherlode?!

 

BCBG $78

 

Gareth Pugh $837

 

Les Chiffoniers $853

 

LnA $99

 

Gareth Pugh $1156

 

Alice + Olivia $297

 

Christopher Kane for Topshop $160

 

Felipe Oliviera Baptiste $347

 

Alexander McQueen $524

 

Sir Alistair Rai $500

 

Siwy $198

 

Hussain Chalayan $500

 

Diane Von Furstenburg $115

 

Helmut Lang $875 

To which I can only add my humble contribution at the moment, Velvets... $60 :)

And a little update about the bodysuits. Yes, I am obsessive about getting these things right, but I am almost there!!! A little taste of what you can expect (you didn't expect anything mainstream I hope).

Just another day at the office.

jL

Group Hug Time...

Today has been an interesting one for me. Several girls wrote to me with some really encouraging stuff. I won't go into details, but I got a lot of gratitude... and it was super encouraging to hear from one particular girl that the simple act of wearing out the Rainbows really made her day at a time when life sucked.

I don't think wearing hot leggings is necessarily going to change the world for good... but dressing in a way that says "HEY WORLD - I'M HERE!!!" can make you feel a little more alive than dead.

And nothing says "HEY WORLD - I'M HERE!!!" quite like these!

 

And believe it or not, that kind of stuff actually makes a real difference to people like me as well. We designers are hideously insecure and self critical. (You think I'm snarky about other people's gear, you should hear what I say about my own!)

I remember on one occasion, standing in the queue inside the post office with ten slinky black packages in my arms, seized with the sudden temptation to throw them all in the rubbish bin and go home and tell everyone that I was sorry, but they sucked, and I couldn't do it.

I didn't. And girls loved them. And they took photos of them and sent them to me. And in the photos they were smiling, and having fun... and that was cool.

It's funny... I spend a lot of time measuring models, and I laugh at them for all their crazy insecurities "I'm fat, I know...", "I used to be smaller...", "I've got a booty...". I can see them out of the corner of my eye looking at my face to see if they can detect any signs of disgust as I view the number on the tape measure. And if I give so much as a "Hmmmm..." you can bet there will be concern.

But I'm not much different I suppose. (Except I really don't have a booty.)

Alright, group hug. Nice an snug. Mmmmmm.

jL

p.s. OH. MY. GOODNESS. The Velvets have been surprisingly popular... I'll be getting stuck into them over the next couple of days - and there shall be mass postings on Monday.

p.s. I really enjoyed reading the book The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield who has some really interesting ideas about what's going on when we encounter self doubt. Read it. Seriously, read it!