Jaccuse Illustrations

2011-04-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

Jane Russell (1921-2011)

2011-04-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

Jane was someone who enjoyed life right to the end and didnt take life too seriously, she is most famous for "The Outlaw" (1943) which was censored and not released until three years later. In a TV interview she explained How Howard Hughes had designed this Brassierre for her to wear, that she didnt like so threw it to one-side and made her own arrangements. She is perhaps most famous for "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" (1953) in which she implored a Gym full of uninterested muscle men "Aint There Anyone Here for Love?" She and Monroe got on like a House on fire, Russell playing the protective older sister to Marilyn's nervous orphan. Up until just before her death Jane Russell enjoyed a good night out and sang at her local Country Club.

Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

2011-04-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Taylor

2011-04-03T05:44:00.000-07:00

A little tribute to Elizabeth Taylor, in my book a pretty amazing actress. For me she is at her best playing unsympathetic characters. I find her early films like "Ivanhoe", "Beau Brummell" entertaining but there is nothing like the charge of Elizabeth at full throttle in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" or "The Taming of the Shrew", "Boom" or "Zee and Co".

New Year.

2011-01-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

I detest New Year...its bloody awful, I can well understand why January is a highpoint for depression and suicides. The enforced jollity or rather the outrageous drunkenness of which I used to be a part is awful. I am in a terrible mood because my computer will not do what its meant to....I was trying to burn a disc and the more I tried the more discs it spat out in defiant rejection until I was at the point where I wanted to really "Hurt" the disc drive...I wanted to rip it out and yell "Thats the last time you fuck with ME!!!" anyway i didnt but anger makes my skin extremely itchy and so I really need to get in the shower to calm down before I literally hurl the laptop out of the window.

2010-10-23T15:21:00.001-07:00

I am not sure what I really want to do at this point in my life, I am 37 nearly 38 years old and I am not sure if Fashion is what I want anymore, I went after it when I was still an actively drinking alcoholic pre-recovery and it nearly killed me....My heart was never truly in it, even though at the time I thought it was. The death of a loved one really makes you re-evaluate and think about what you really want. I think all Ive really ever wanted was an "easy" life whatever that is. My approach was all wrong. I didnt ever really go out and grab the world by the balls so to speak. I thought I was "brilliant" and that it would all come to me.....Half the time I thought I was brilliant the rest of the time I thought I was Dog-shit. I had a massive ego with a massive inferiority complex.

2010-10-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Its quite a while since I blogged here. This year has probably been the most unpleasant I have encountered in my life so far. At the moment I am immersing myself in books I find interesting...Ive just read "No Bells on Sunday" the journals of Rachel Roberts and I am just making a start on Stella Adler's "The Art of Acting" because I am harbouring a desire to act again, Ive appearred in a couple of....shall we call them "amateur" films with other friends who act. In fact I made a film earlier in the year with Mandy Sellers and Rosanne Robertson from a premise Mandy had conceived. I am also reading Bertolt Brecht and watching films that really appeal to me. Maybe it is all about trying to surround myself with ideas and people I feel an affinity for.

Vivien Leigh, Ship of Fools

2010-06-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)

2010-06-28T10:44:00.001-07:00

Jeanne Moreau (born 1928)

2010-06-28T10:18:00.001-07:00

It seems so disrespectful to call her Jeanne. In the spirit of talking about great artists one must call her Moreau, she is one of my favourite actresses. There are quite a few favourite actresses whom I love at various stages of their careers. Moreau however I love as a Young, middle aged and older woman. She is a superb prescence on screen. The first film I saw her in was "Les Amants" (1957) when I was about 18 years old. Then I saw her in "Querelle" (1982) singing "Each Man Kills the Thing he Loves" as a saloon bar singer in Fassbinder's steamy adaptation of Genet's novel. The fascination with her is hard to explain, but if you love Moreau you will understand. As she has got older she has aged the way women who arent actresses age, the way her contemporary Simone Signoret did, totally naturally. My most recent discovery was Moreau as a Shoe obsessed school teacher wreaking havoc in a small french village, lusting after an Italian lumberjack in "Mademoiselle" (1966) by Tony Richardson and again based on a premise by Genet.

Jeanne Moreau (born 1928)

2010-06-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

I Haven't blogged for what seems like an eternity....such a long time. My little sister Natalie died on February 21st this year and I haven't really had the will to carry on. Keeping going has been a struggle. Ive been drawing for over 35 years since I was a small child and its something Natalie and I shared in common, she was an exceptionally observant and detailed draughtsman whose work was sensitive and direct...over the last few years with work commitments and life....Natalie didnt get to draw as often as she would have liked. Ive started Drawing again, from films, sculpting on my small mannekin and also sculpting Hats.

2010-02-11T05:10:00.000-08:00

Pink Balenciaga

2010-02-11T05:03:00.000-08:00

2010-02-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

Schon 4

2010-02-03T10:55:00.001-08:00

Usually I really struggle to find images worth drawing in Fashion magazines....the best I can hope for is usually two or three in Italian Vogue or maybe a pose in ID or a good shoot in Arena Homme Plus. Schon however is a gorgeous German magazine with lots of gorgeous shoots and images to work from and its available to view online.

2010-02-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

2010-02-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

Diesel Dress 2008

2010-02-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

A Diesel Dress from 2008...I was in Venice teaching and I found the nib to end all nibs to draw with and paper I really loved...It was ochre colour and it was super absorbant...I just sat in my friends courtyard drinking San Pellegrino by the 14th Century well drawing. Occaisionally a student would pop by....usually one in trouble and I would help them pull a collection out of nowhere. Thats something I learned at St Martin's from Louise Wilson, Chris Brown and Fabio Piras.

Yves Saint Laurent Russian Collection 1977

2010-02-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

1912

2010-02-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

Ann Demeulemeester

2010-02-01T03:28:00.000-08:00

From Demeulemeester's latest collection.....Its got all Dark and feathery....The way I like menswear....and womenswear for that matter.

Eva Le Gallienne

2010-01-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

Legendary American Theatre Actress Eva Le Gallienne (1899-1991)

A Century of Fashion

2010-01-30T10:32:00.000-08:00

This is from one of my current projects...."A Century of Fashion" Each year of the Twentieth Century is represented with an illustration of an outfit from that year and each decade is colour coded so the sixties are on orange paper and the seventies are on Purple paper so that when then sit next to each other they remind you of the airplane interior decor in "Airport '75". I am still seeking that elusive publisher....

Yves Saint Laurent

2010-01-30T06:56:00.000-08:00

A Picasso inspired dress from 1979-1980. My interest in Fashion was greatly nurtured by several mentors, Anne Taylor was my first teacher of Fashion and Textiles when I was 14. Duane Michals book on Yves Saint Laurent was the first book I clasped my little hands on and pored over as a spotty bespectacled teenager. A glorious book....it up there with "The Genius of Charles James" and "Vionnet" by Betty Kirke...In fact whenever I leave the country or start a teaching job anywhere these are the books I take first.

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)

2010-01-30T06:29:00.000-08:00

My first Marilyn Monroe film was a VHS copy of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953) which I bought with pocket money at the age of 15. From the opening sequence of Marilyn and JaneRussell singing "Just Two Little Girls from Little Rock" I couldnt keep my eyes off her. Saving up for Monroe films or taping them when they appeared on TV became a compulsion. I became addicted to her. She has a compulsive quality....She acts even in stills. I recently found the Richard Avedon series where she portrayed Jean Harlow, Clara Bow, Lillian Russell and Theda Bara. When eventually I ran out of Monroe films to watch I widened my search for actresses who could give me the same electric charge from the screen... was led in turn to Rita Hayworth, Garbo, Kay Kendall and Jessica Lange.

Kay Kendall

2010-01-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

We didnt have Kay Kendall for as long as we would have liked but what we have of her "Lady Godiva Rides Again" (1951) "Genevieve" (1953) "Doctor in the House" (1954) "The Adventures of Quentin Durward" (1955) "Simon and Laura" (1955) and "Les Girls" (1957) show us a brilliant talent at work. Kay was one of those rare women who projected light, she absorbed it only to reflect it back at us and make us laugh. The only other women that the camera has loved as much as Kay are Garbo, Monroe (who was a fan of Kay's) and Frances Farmer.

A contemporary and friend of Diana Dors, and Audrey Hepburn she is in Britain largely remembered for her dazzling turn in "Genevieve" as Rosalind Peters the "Plumpett" playing model who accompanies Kenneth More on the London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally. The film has an evergreen quality largely for the presence of Kay. A great career beckoned sadly it was discovered that Kay had leukaemia a fact that was kept from her by her husband Rex Harrison who told her she was merely suffering from anaemia. She died in 1959 after completing "Once More with Feeling" with Yul Brynner which was released in 1960. She has been extremely missed ever since.

2010-01-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I find that Less is most definately more.....not all the time....but Quite often

Greta Garbo

2010-01-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

Born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18th 1905, I think I have a bit of an unusual view of Gabo in that recognise her ability to be enormously funny. Many of the anecdotes I have read remark on her drole quality. Her acceptance toward the end of her life that her search for the perfect Turtleneck sweater was going to go unrewarded made me smile, whilst her letter to Salka Viertel whilst beginning work on "Queen Christina (1933) stressing the importance of "girls in trouser" made me laugh. For me her finest performance is her only one where she was able to poke fun at her "I vant to be alone" persona. As Comrade Yakashova Ninotchka, "Ninotchka" (1939)s he is at first dry and imposing and only half way into the film does she melt.

Bobby Kendall

2010-01-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

This was drawn from the James Bidgood film "Pink Narcissus" (1971) which for many years was a Gay Cult classic which was directed anonymously, only relatively recently did James Bidgood claim the work as his. Saturated with gorgeous colour its focus is Bobby Kendall named after the beautiful British star Kay Kendall.... who dresses in various guises. At one point in the film he lounges whilst listening to a 1920s gramophone record "Ive grown so Lonesome...thinking of you"

2010-01-29T15:52:00.000-08:00

2010-01-29T09:16:00.000-08:00

A drawing from a Richard Avedon photograpn....Avedon is a gift for an illustrator, there is so much there...I could do a drawing from one of his photographs and return to the same image for another and another.

Bette Davis

2010-01-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

Bette Davis in "Dead Ringer" (1964) in which she plays Twins....(not for the first time) one good, one bad. Directed by Paul Henreid this is a taught underrated little thriller with a stunning score by Andre Previn. Davis as always is superb value for money and her co-stars include Estelle Winwood and Jean Hagen.

Andre Perugia.

2010-01-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

A Shoe by Andre Perugia...Positively my favourite shoe designer, they are so sleek they are like wearable Brancusi Sculptures.

2010-01-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

A drawing of Tilda Swinton wearing one of Viktor and Rolf's Ribbon Dresses.....

2010-01-28T10:41:00.001-08:00

Blah Blah Blah....