GABBY YOUNG'S STYLE BLOG

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2012-01-03T12:14:00.000-08:00

Photo by Andy Grieve

I will start 2012 with an apology - I have been badly neglecting my blogging duties.
I have been busy, I promise, and you know how Christmas takes over everything (especially for me aka Mrs.Christmas as my friends call me!) from about November.

So now I don't know where to start... or end for that matter!

I want to tell you about the tours, appearences, goodies I've gathered but it will take so much time and I don't want to bore you so instead I'll give you the rest of the 2011 in pictures and the odd video ending with us headlining and curating New Year's Eve at the almighty Royal Festival Hall - what a way to end the year/ start the new one!

OCTOBER
Was the month of my favourite show to date - KOKO
Here's two videos by Fashot TV of the leadup to the gig:

The first half I wore a dress made specially for the event by Sam Cook aka Darkest Star which is so unique. I adore it and am incredibly grateful and honoured for all Sam's hard work.

Photo by A R Harvey

The second dress was fresh from Inbar Spector's latest collection -lucky me!!

Photo by Gem Hall


We had a BIG band that night! Photo by Saul

It was PACKED and the audience blew me away! Photo by Gem Hall

We were joined by dancers, aerialists, brass band, Songlines Choir and Carnival Collective samba band. Photo by Gem Hall

NOVEMBER
For one day only little ole me was a real model...
I did a wonderful fashion shoot for the lovely Kundalini Arts who design stunning scarves that I am a big fan of. The photographer was a real pro and I loved working with her and what she got out of me. Emma Crosby styled the shoot and Jeni Dodson did the hair and makeup- what a great team. I had a lovely day and am so happy with the shots- more coming soon!

PHOTOGRAPHER - ANUSHKA MENON.
SILK SCARF - KUNDALINI ARTS.
JACKET - INBAR SPECTOR.
RING - IMOGEN BELFIELD.
GLASSES - RETRO SUPER FUTURE

PHOTOGRAPHER - ANUSHKA MENON.
SILK SCARF - KUNDALINI ARTS.
JACKET - ALICE PALMER.

To get an idea of what might be coming up here are some behind the scenes pics -

Wig by Annabelles Wigs

Next up was a big show at Royal Festival Hall supporting the mad Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra. I am in a gorgeous dress by Alice Palmer and hair accessories by Now Voyager:

Photos by Gem Hall

Then we went on tour to Holland and Germany... (All photos by the lovely Gem Hall)

GRONINGEN. 'Ruff' by Jane Elliot , Ring as hair accessory by Sweet Trash

UTRECHT. Dress by Beyond Retro, Hair accessories by Now, Voyager!

ROTTERDAM. Dress by Beyond Retro, Wig by Annabelles Wigs, Feathered Headband by Her Curious Nature

RADIO SESSION. Ridiculous sillyness in Annabelles Wigs and my Elizabeth Lau pom pom dress.

AMSTERDAM. Dress - Beyond Retro

Hanging out in MUNICH. Coat & Turban - EBAY

Band picture. EINDHOVEN. I'm in a Kundalini Arts silk scarf and Bolongaro Trevor Jacket

DECEMBER
This was a busy month and I didn't have time to take many pictures but we started the month releasing a Christmas single:

Then it was CHRIIIISSSSSTMAAAAS! I had a lovely family one - lots of food, games, good company, movies and lovely presents!!
My dad blew us away by getting all his daughters a very special first edition book by A.A.Milne (it's been an hard year for him as he had a major health scare and operation but he has come out the other end in amazing form and better than he has been in decades so it was emotional Christmas for him). Mum did an incredible portrait of Hobbes for Stephen and I which she got framed beautifully too.

Judy Young is available for commissions by the way.... ;)

Everyone was very generous this year and Stephen really spoilt me with a sewing machine, wooden stamps, a beautiful silk collar (that I wore on NYE), jewellery and the whole Harry Potter DVD Collection! YES!

Then to top off a brilliant, busy year we finished 2011 at the Royal Festival Hall surrounded by family and friends. The perfect end to a pretty perfect year.

Me and the family watching the fireworks from RFH! I'm wearing the silk collar I got for Christmas and Annabelles Wigs.

My brother and I. I'm 'in disguise' in a dress from Vintage Secret and another of Annabelles Wigs.

PS. The theme was Hollywood Glamour!

I might add some pictures of our gigs that night when they come through so check back in a few days too!

So... 2012... it will be another busy year and a lot of change for me - new team, new album coming, new songs to perform, new designers to wear and support and hopefully lots of lovely new people to meet along the way.

I hope you all had a lovely holidays and are ready and excited for the new year.
Oodles of love and fireworks,
Gabble012
Xox

London Fashion Week!

2011-09-21T03:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,I'm back!I finished touring the States last week, got home for a couple of days of jetlagged rest, then headed off to Barcelona and Switzerland before making it back in time to catch the last couple of days of LFW. Somehow my touring schedule has always clashed with the last few seasons, so I haven't managed to attend any shows for ages.But all the lovely folk at Vauxhall Fashion Scout still remembered me, even Bob, working on security!They always look after me so well an get me front row seats-thankyou! It was so nice to finally catch up with some of the designers who I support and who've lent me their wonderful clothes for gigs and photoshoots. There were so many wonderful people I got to touch base with, I can't possibly mention them all, but here are a few. First up, lovely Nicola Woods of Beautiful Soul , whose kimono pieces I loved wearing on tour in Tokyo.She did a quick interview with me which you can see here, by Oliver Prout.

Next, the amazingly talented Jeffrey Michael who creates fabulous light-up costumes and set pieces-look out for something very special from him for our big gig at Koko in October!

Monday night I got to see Jasper Garvida's show and meet the designer himself and his partner Neil afterwards.I've been a fan of Jasper's for years and hope to wear some of his pieces soon. Ziad Ghanem's show was amazing-so theatrical, like a piece of performance art, featuring incredible corseted dresses.

The highlight of LFW for me though was Inbar Spector's incredible show.I've worked with Inbar for a long time now and have been lucky enough to wear her dresses for a number of shows- (there's a picture of me on stage in Holland in one of her creations below). This show was full of Inbar's signature volume and textures, masses of tulle and gold leather, I can't wait to wear some of it!Everything about the show-from the music to the make-up- was brilliantly theatrical, creative and totally original;just how fashion should be in my opinion!I was sitting with my stylist Katie and we really felt that we were witnessing a star being born, it was quite emotional!For the last few dresses,we kept thinking every one must be the finale piece as they just kept getting more and more spectacular-see for yourself!

me wearing Inbar Spector in Holland-photo by Thijmen Sietsma

I'll leave you with the new collection from one of my favourite day-wear designers, Elizabeth Lau. Her videos always reflect perfectly the playful,cheeky and timelessly stylish quality of both her clothes and her personality- the songs and the model's dancing are ridiculously catchy!

Photos from the USA!

2011-08-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick peak at a couple of my stage outfits from the first few US gigs-both dresses from the vintage haven Beyond Retro.This is a shoot from The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood! Photos by Brian C. Janes for Buzzine, see the full gallery here, and a few bonus shots on the photographer's website here.

And below are some shots by Iancinerate of our gig at Amoeba records in Hollywood, another great dress from Beyond Retro!

As always, thanks to all the photographers who capture our performances on the road- if you have pics of any shows please do share them with us on facebook or twitter!

Now we're in Milwaukee about to do another show then we have a few days off before hitting the road again for some east coast tours I will be enjoying spending the next few days in my pajamas!! ;)
Take care kiddlywinks
xox

Beautiful frocks from Juno Says Hello

2011-08-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

Hello animals!Just a quick post while I'm on the road in America to show you some of the gorgeous vintage frocks I borrowed from Juno Says Hello for my recent performances in Europe.

The sequin details on this blue dress are stunning!

I love this pink 1950s dress.Worn with some of the lovely hair pieces NowVoyager sent me. Many thanks to Rebecca at Juno Says Hello, Felicity at Now Voyager and Gemma Hall who took these photographs.

Larmer Tree Festival

2011-07-20T03:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a lovely little video of Stephen and me performing 'Whose House are you in'(or 'Whose Tent are you in' as it became!), at Larmer Tree Festival this weekend. We drove down for the day which took a while as we kept getting lost, but Katie and her boyfriend came along for the ride, armed with plenty of Percy Pigs, so it was a fun road trip!Here are some pics Katie took of the set too.

Vintage finds & goodies galore...

2011-06-23T06:58:00.000-07:00

Hello!
I've actually got some time off- for the first time this year... I'm not gigging, recording etc etc for a week so I got my first chance to go shopping- vintage shopping to be exact (my favourite)! Since losing all my luggage on American Airlines (thousands of pounds of vintage, one offs and bespoke items) I have been not only gutted but in despair of what's left in my wardrobe so I have been de-cluttering bigtime. I am selling off 50% of my clothes and other random belongings that were gathering dust on the shelves. I'll keep you posted on where the sale will be but it's looking likely that Battersea Car Boot is about to be Gabby-fied!

ANYWAY

The clearout did clear some space for some new treasures and Katie Antoniou of London Plinth advised me to visit the £20 sale at 123 Vintage where you cram all you can into a large bag for £20, or £10 for a smaller bag. Katie went on the first day and very kindly picked up 3 dresses for me- all of which are GORGEOUS!

Stunning pink ballgown.

Floor length blue cocktail dress.

This needs work and a iron but great potential!

So of course I travelled through the rain to get there on my first day off- I needed retail therapy and £20 couldn't be better spent!
I found lots of great things - my favourites are:

Gorgeous 50s swing skirt

Purple tailored trousers

(that you can't really see - but they're great!)


Great destructured wool top and black cotton breeches

A bad pic of blue checked skirt and white shirt

I bought home a kids dress...

Cut it in half...

Voila!

How very 80s of me!

I also got a black velvet prom dress, a white and black netted hat, silk white shirt with birds on it, white braces for my man and a black and white velvet dress!

That's Tigger my mum's dog!

There were a few items that have now added to my 'for sale' pile but I think I did very well for £20!

Another thing I have missed a lot from the luggage disappearance is my makeup- all my products from Illamasqua that I blogged about here were in that bag.... :(
However they have now replaced all lost items and more- I am so excited by my new kit and have already had 2 gigs for trying out the new colours and pieces and love them... THANKYOU ILLAMASQUA!

Also as I blogged about before- I got some other amazing goodies...
Hairpieces from Annabelles Wigs who have named a wig after little ole me!

Which you can get now (just click on the picture). I am so excited to be the first to have this and I wore it at Festival Mundial in Holland last week for the show and for meeting fans and eating cupcakes made by the famous and charming Dutch chef Rudolph Van Veen . Huge thanks to Annabelles Wigs- I can't believe how perfect the match to my hair is! And now I don't have to hide under a hat when my roots get bad and I have no money/ time to sort them- yey!

Photo by Gem Hall

This picture might just end up in Rudolph's new cookbook!! Which reminds me our lovely Gem Hall (my official photographer and tour manager) was in The Telegraph this week with her amazing picture of Nell from Gifford's Circus:

GO GEM!!

ALSO Now Voyager sent me a whole load more gorgeous, colourful things for my hair... I love them all! Butterflys, birds and flowers (which I wore at Mundial Festival to lots of great comments!)

Here's a fan video of me wearing all three -Illamasqua makeup, Annabelles Wigs' 'Gabby' headpiece and Now Voyager flower fascinators!

Woh! I haven't done a long blog in a while... and now I'm doing two- come see what I'm up to in my new interiors blog Living On A Shoestring too...

Take care ladies and gents (I know there is at least one man who reads this! ;) )

Adieu!
Xox
Gabs

Two of Wands

2011-06-19T05:09:00.000-07:00

photo by Albert Nijmolen

Just a quick post to thank some lovely people for their ongoing contributions to my work- firstly the lovely team at Illamasqua who've replaced all the make-up that was in my luggage lost by the airline on tour in America.I'm loving experimenting with some of their new range of colours. Also Felicity of Now Voyager who has sent me yet more incredible goodies for my hair, like the giant orchid in the picture above, taken at Festival Mundial yesterday. I've also just received some wonderful hair pieces and extensions from Annabelle Wigs.

Two of Wands by Katelan van Foisy

I've just seen this wonderful painting by my friend Katelan van Foisy, who did the beautiful artwork for our Song for Japan.This is the Two of Wands card from the Tarot Deck- I love that I'm wearing the headdress by Her Curious Nature and a fabulous dress that Katelan came up with herself- I may have to have one made!I love collaborating with designers, artists and all creatives really, its such a great complement when others find inspiration in my work, as I do in theirs.

Queen of Hearts

2011-05-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

A very quick picture post of me backstage at The Sage last night where I was supporting the legendary Marianne Faithful. You know how I have a real thing for Alice in Wonderland, so you can imagine how much I fell in love with this Queen of Hearts dress by Victoria Bramwell. I'm really excited about wearing some of her other 'Alice' inspired pieces this week on tour in Germany too.

And it just so happens that Gabberdashery contributor Chloe of Hatastic had created a stunning playing card headpiece which could have been made for this dress-they went perfectly together! You can buy one yourself here.

Song for Japan by Gabby Young and Friends

2011-05-20T03:51:00.000-07:00

Our 'Song for Japan' is now available to buy on itunes for only 79p, featuring me, my friends and family including my mum and dad, my boyfriend Stephen Ellis from the band Revere, Tallulah Rendall, Kate Sikora and Kai Altair. The artwork is by the amazing New York artist Katelan van Foisy. All proceeds go to relief efforts in Japan.Please support us by buying the track and spreading the word on blogs and social media accounts.The people of Japan may not be in the headlines everyday anymore but they are still struggling to rebuild their lives and need our help.
Thankyou for helping us make a difference!
xxx

Firework

2011-05-06T02:37:00.000-07:00

Another cover-this time Katy Perry's Firework for Radio 3 (their equivalent to radio1) in Holland!I'm wearing a vintage domino hairband made by Katie, and my make-up is by Jennifer Nash.

Like a Virgin

2011-05-05T01:50:00.000-07:00

Hat by Eliane Sarah Millinery. Clothes all vintage. Hair and make-up by Jennifer Nash.

Designer Interviews: Eliane Sarah Millinery

2011-04-22T02:39:00.000-07:00

An interview with rising star Eliane Sarah whose millinery we used on our last video shoot.

What's your earliest fashion memory?

Wow, that’s going back a while. I have always lived in fashion. My mum is a designer and she always made sure I was dressed in made to measure dresses following every trend. I do remember an amazing black velvet dress with pink stitching that I pretty much lived in when I was 4 years old. It was possibly the first and last time I appreciated getting my sisters’ dress as a hand me down a year later!

And the first piece of clothing you ever made?

I helped my mum make a skirt for me to match a T-shirt when I was 9 or 10 years old. It was in three layers. One was black and white striped, another yellow, the third was possibly white and was finished off with a ribbon trimming. The first piece I made completely by myself was a head-piece I made when I was 15. It was a huge flower made of sinamay. I did some embroidery on the petals and made butterflies out of wire and old tights which I then painted. This piece is probably what made me decide to go into millinery and I also show it to clients for ideas!

photo by Gemma Hall

If you could dress any personality, (dead or alive) who would it be?

Lady Gaga. I would love to make hats for her. Got a few already in my collections that I think she would love (including the silver disc worn by Gabby Young).

If you hadn't become a designer, what might you have been?

I always considered going into architecture, but got put off by all the years of studying. I thought about TV production, PR, Advertising and a few others, and then had accountancy as the back-up plan cos it’s a lot easier to get into but also very boring!

Whats the best thing about working in fashion?

Seeing my designs and finished products in magazine, videos etc.

And the worst?

People not liking or understanding my work. Timings of things! The list is endless! Luckily the best things about the industry cover up the bad days.

What are your goals for 2011?

My goals … I would love to have my business properly set-up and established by the end of the year. Have pieces stocked in department stores and boutiques. Possibly to try and expand internationally but I think that may need an extra year or two!

Her Curious Nature

2011-04-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a little shoot we did on Hampstead Heath when I'd just got back from tour. The beautiful floral headpiece is by Sabrina Said, creator of Her Curious Nature. Hair and make-up by Jennifer Nash, styling by Katie Antoniou and photography by Gemma Hall. The dress is vintage; it used to be my mum's! Shoes by Irregular Choice, tights by Tabio tights.

Pictures from across the pond

2011-04-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some snaps caught by some lovely photographers over in Canada and the States!

At Canada Music Week, snapped by Eric Robertson for The Indie Handbook. Here I was wearing my pom pom bolero by Elizabeth Lau, diamante domino hairclips by Hatastic and my 'Gabby' brooch from Love from Hetty and Dave as a hairclip!

These shots are from SXSW, of me leading the marching band down the street and onto the stage!They were taken by photographer Olivia Brown.
If you have any shots of me and the other animals performing from anywhere in the world, do post them on facebook or email them to info@gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com; we'd love to see them!

We did a fantastic photoshoot for an Italian magazine in my back garden and then around Hampstead Heath yesterday; it felt so good to be home!The tour was amazing, but it'll be nice to spend the next month in London doing more shoots,interviews and of course, song-writing before we're off to Europe for some more shows.
I'm still awaiting the return of my luggage that was lost by the airline- all vintage pieces, designer samples and one-of-a-kind pieces- I'm keeping everything crossed!!!
xxx

Song for Japan

2011-03-20T06:25:00.000-07:00

INFO, LYRICS & LINKS to get involved - http://gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com/blog/song-for-japan/

We were so devastated by the recent events in Japan, a country close to our hearts where we were welcomed so warmly only last month. Please get involved in our Song for Japan project-thanks to Gemma Hall for making the video. Also pop along to Katie's sale and auction if you're in London.

Video blog from Australia

2011-03-11T03:14:00.000-08:00

Here's another video for you, the latest in my series of video-blogs with the wonderful Jonny Levene. Featuring some tentative scuba-diving, voracious sweet-eating and some of the sites of Sydney!You can spot me wearing some of the fantastic domino hairclips by Hatastic, stil available from Gabberdashery.

And yet another video; this time from Illamasqua, my fantstic make-up sponsor who kitted me out for my tour. I'm SO excited about this new range- a whole new take on pastels which I can't wait to wear!

Here's another of my recent performance outfits:

Much love from across the pond!

Gabster

xxx

More Behind-the-Scenes action!

2011-03-10T02:12:00.000-08:00

Here's another lovely video made behind the scenes at the filming of the music video for 'Ask you a Question', this one is by the Chai Wallah's team-thanks guys!

They have a quick chat with my stylist/Gabberdashery partner in crime, Katie Antoniou, who's wearing a jewelled turban by the lovely Georgia Nash, who she interviewed here.

And more behind-the-scenes action from the Wheels and Doll Baby crew in Australia, where I just borrowed one of their fabulous frocks for my performance in Sydney. Here's hoping for a UK store!

Love from Canada!
xxx

Designer Interviews: Georgia Nash

2011-03-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

Zip jacket by Georgia Nash, hat by Eliane Sarah Millinery, Photo by Gemma Hall, Hair and make-up Jennifer Nash

Here's another mini interview with one of fashion's rising stars, Georgia Nash, who lent us some wonderful pieces for the recent video shoot, including the amazing zip jacket pictured above, that was delivered straight to British Vogue after we finished with it!

What's your earliest fashion memory?

When I was three years old and put on my mothers shoes.

And the first piece of clothing you ever made?

It was a hooded draped dress which covered the face. Thinking of it now it wasn't too bad but the fabric was awful! Little did I know!

If you could dress any personality, (dead or alive) who would it be?

It would have to be Alice in Wonderland or Grace Kelly

Georgia Nash, in the black hat, with her models.

If you hadn't become a designer, what might you have been?

Probably a dust bin man!

Whats the best thing about working in fashion?

Everything, I get so lost in my designs that nothing elase matters. I love the feeling of making some one feel beautiful. If you can do that its a very powerful thing, for me this is extremely important.

from Georgia's collection inspired by The Nutcracker, image source.

And the worst?

It would have to the lack of sleep but I'm used to it now!

What are your goals for 2011?

Im currently designing for REEM alongside my label. So I'm extremely busy. With REEM the couture collection in Tokyo and Georgia Nash I have a few secret projects as well as showing next season.

Sheer cape and headpiece by Georgia Nash- you can see them in the music video for 'Ask you a question' here.

We're all in this together- alternative version, just for you!

2011-03-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

We did a very special intimate performance of the radio edit version of We're All In This Together- Enjoy!

Directed by Hamish Logie;
Director of Photography - Andreas Williamson
Produced by Dreadnought Media (www.dreadnoughtmedia.co.uk)

Thanks to JENNIFER NASH- Hair, Makeup & Handmade Glass Headpiece KATIE ANTONIOU & RIVKIE BAUM- Styling ELIZABETH LAU - Bespoke Pom Pom Bolero JACOB KIMMIE - Tassled corset belt JEFFREY MICHAEL - Light Up Rubber Band Jacket

And here are some lovely stills by Gemma Hall

This wonderful portrait is also by Gemma, featuring me wearing a stunning necklace by Kat of Creme Nouveau.

And finally, if you buy the April issue of Psychologies magazine you'll see me in my favourite Rosa Bloom creation, talking about how the dress was made and how it made me feel on stage.

Ask you a question: THE VIDEO!!!

2011-02-25T05:15:00.000-08:00

Thankyou so much to everyone for all their hardwork on this! The single is out on the 28th March! More lovely stills from 'behind the scenes' here.

We are in Australia where we are having an amazing time and being greeted so warmly. I got to wear the most wonderful dress for my performance in Sydney, kindly lent to me by Wheels and Doll Baby.

Lots of love
Gabby of Oz
xxx

Designer Interviews: David Longshaw

2011-02-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

Hi there, animals!Katie here, Gabby's fashion sidekick. Whilst Gabby's away on tour, I'm going to be posting some interviews with a few of the designers who lent us pieces for the music videos we filmed last month. This will also involve leaking some super exclusive, never-before-seen backstage shots of Gabby!
First up is David Longshaw; designer, illustrator and fashion writer, David is multi talented and already one of the winners of Elle's talent launch pad. We borrowed a very theatrical, feathered neckpiece from David, which you can see Gabby wearing here. (corset by Lee Klabin, skirt by Jacob Kimmie)

Photos by Gemma Hall

Here's a little interview I did with David.

What's your earliest fashion memory?

Making clothes for my teddy Hands in pockets Harold when I was very little.

And the first piece of clothing you ever made?

A rather naty purple jacket and trousers of Hands in pockets Harold.

If you could dress any personality, (dead or alive) who would it be?

Maude the fashion fabric mouse ( I created whilst for my final collection at St martins out of cashmere suiting Richard James of Savil Row gave me) She's the editor of MAUDEZINE- she's been on the front pages of the LFW newspaper 'the daily', on vogue.com and a variety of other publications.

Actual person-wise I would say the late Isabella Blow - who asked me to meet her at Tatler when I was in my second year at St Martins and wore one of my pieces during LFW.

David's illustrated birthday card for Vogue

If you hadn't become a designer, what might you have been?

Possibly a 3D stop motion film maker/animator- I love creating characters and realising them in 3D.

Whats the best thing about working in fashion?

Getting to be creative everyday. And the uncertainty of everything

And the worst?

Also the uncertainty of everything

What are your goals for 2011?

To be as creative as possible.

You can see a sneak peak of David's new collection on Fashion156- looks like another stunning neckpiece!

From Tokyo with love...

2011-02-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm now officially on tour-first stop; Japan!But before I start blogging about my travels, I have to fill you in on one of the busiest weeks EVER. Not only were we filming the new music video for much of the week, I had lots of other exciting places to be too- first up on Friday was the launch of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration, showcasing drawings by some of the best new talent, as well as interviews with lots of wonderful ethical designers. I got the chance to meet some of the winners of the competition to design my tour posters, including Artist Andrea who had come all the way from Arizona and gave me the original copy of her design! I also met Zarina Liew who illustrated the Beautiful Soul fashion video which has my song 'We're All In This Together' as the soundtrack. Zarina drew this beautiful picture of Stephen and me- having illustrators sketching the guests was such a brilliant idea. I appear twice in Amelia's gorgeous book, in pictures of my performance at Secret Garden Party last summer- I'm so honoured to be in such a beautiful book- you can buy it here.

Home for a quick change into my Elizabeth Lau dress that I wore tucked into a stripey (ebay) skirt, then it was time to head to Selfridges for the launch of Supermarket Sarah's instore wall. It was great to catch up with Meg from Merrimaking Hoods who supply Gabberdashery and Sarah's wall too, and to finally meet Kat who makes the gorgeous Creme Nouveau range we also stock in Gabberdashery and is on sale in Selfridges through Sarah too.

Saturday was just another day at work for us- performing at The Barbican alongside The Irrepressibles!

I wore another show-stopping newspaper creation by Kumiko Tani, and Jennifer Nash my make-up artist outdid herself with this amazing flower-eye look. All these pictures were taken by our new official photographer, Gemma Hall who's not only super talented but also lovely to work with.She was on set for most of the music video shoot so I hope to share some of the still shots she took with you soon...

On Monday evening I was asked to speak at The Hospital members' club in an event organised by Bright Young Brits. One of the other 'bright young brits' was Judith Clark, a wonderful designer who creates beautiful pieces using traditional materials like tweed and tartan, but with an avant garde twist. I love the mix of vintage Victoriana and bright modern colours.

I'm so honoured to be invite into the BYB collective- they are showcasing young talents from all walks of life and everyone is independent, DIY and entrepreneurial and I was so happy to be one of the first to join the list... I also got a chance to claim the owl logo for music in the colour red (of course)

Please look at their site here: http://www.brightyoungbrits.org/

and nominate, get involved - they are doing a great thing and seriously lovely people!

While I'm away, my partner in crime Katie is going to be doing mini interviews with some of the designers who kindly lent us their spectacular clothes and accessories for the new video- so stay tuned as she'll be posting those here to keep you entertained while I'm away. Beautiful Soul have lent me two of their stunning corsets made from vintage kimonos to wear in Japan; I'm so looking forward to playing here again.

Anyway so I have to get some sleep as my Tokyo trip started with a meeting with Peek-A-Boo salon and a drinks in a tiny (I mean tiny as in room for 20 people!) and apparently it's 1am here although it definitely feels more like 4pm (UK time) so that's confusing!!

I will be sending footage from my flipcam to be made into video blogs by Jonny Levene throughout my travels too so I will post them here!

To start us off here is one from the set of 'Ask You A Question' music video shoot:

And that is all my prettys...
Chow!
Gabbletina
xox

ILLAMASQUA INSTORE SHOW

2011-01-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

Good eve all!
As you must know by know I am HUGE fan of Illamasqua- it is the makeup for my alter ego and I am in love with their ethics, originality, quality and personal approach. I am lucky enough to be sponsored by this amazing brand and when I first received some kit from them I gushed about it here.
Anyway needless to say I'm besotted with their products and when I was invited to do a pre Christmas instore I couldn't refuse.
I hadn't actually had to chance to visit their flagship shop in Dean Street until this day and knew it would be chic and beautiful as everything they do is but I had no idea how inspiring it would be - the first thing I saw was a black and white vertical stripe PVC curtain behind a shiny black perspex counter. It really is a gorgeous shop- I was so happy to be singing there!
Another thing I like about Illamasqua and something that I really relate to is there charity side they have a whole range dedicated called S.O.P.H.I.E to Sophie Lancaster ... here is a short tribute to her commissioned by Illamasqua (featuring one of my favourite songs- 'Roads' by Portishead):

I hope you don't mind me bringing down the mood- but this really effected me and I always want to help spread awareness - we are lucky to have brands like Illamasqua help educate young people about tolerance and promoting individuality.

*before I get tearful let's change the subject*

Everyone in the store were so friendly and welcoming and I have noticed this from everyone that works for Illamasqua which makes a nice difference from the snooty staff at some makeup shops that I am almost scared to go in... I will say no names!
I had my hair and makeup done by an incredible artistse -Claire Lille ... I think you can agree she did a pretty good job (you should have seen me when I went in!!)

All Illamasqua makeup

I'm wearing a beautiful black vintage dress from Beyond Retro

Stephen (Ellis) joined me for the gig and we played in the shop to a very appreciative audience and some milling around the makeup who stopped to listen. The snow began to fall whilst we played 'We're All In This Together' and it was pretty idyllic!

All these fantasmagorical photographs were taken by the super talented and lovely lady, Gem Hall who we've all grown very fond of and is our official photographer now so expect so see a lot more from her!

I hope everyone had a lovely christmas and are enjoying the beginning of the 2011... I'm busy in and out of studio, plotting a new music video and getting ready to tour the world! I leave for Japan in 3 weeks then to Australia, Canada, America and Europe! Exciting times here- I need a new word for excited in fact, answers on a postcard please!

I will leave you with a video of a session we did at Green Man Festival - I am all decked out in bespoke beautiful Bonzie dress and wrap and yes, we DID need those wellies!
Oh and I URGE you to vote for Bonzie to be Ireland's Most Influential Designer 2010 there are only a few days left and I can't think of anyone more deserving than this lovely, talented duo.

Green Man Sessions 008 // Gabby Young and Other Animals - We're All In This Together from Green Man on Vimeo.

Nighty wighty kittens!
Xox Gab - up xoX

PS- Some people like to know when our next gig is and so I will use that excuse for a plug:
SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY
GABBY YOUNG & OTHER ANIMALS + THE IRREPRESSIBLES
AT THE BARBICAN, London
Details here
Tickets here

Fashionable Times

2010-12-20T17:59:00.000-08:00

Hello merry ones!
The snow and proximity to Christmas day has made me like an excited puppy- I keep on leaping about and blurting out cliches like 'isn't this magical?' But it is... I went tobogganing on Hampstead Heath the other day and watched a christmas movie with friends and I can honesty say I haven't had so much fun since I was 5 years old!! I just love the snow... I hope everyone gets home OK though- there are a few family members coming from afar and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will make it.
As I am a ridiculously christmassy person and have been known to be named 'Mrs Christmas' by my closest friends I have 3 things to share with you of that vein... consider them presents from me to you but online, with no wrapping paper and probably not that exciting...
1) A CHRISTMAS PODCAST - For 'Different Class Radio'
2) A CHRISTMAS COVER with REVERE
3) A CHRISTMAS CARD FOR YOU ALL:


Photo (without Gabby-added Santa hat) by the marvellous Gem Hall, dress by Beyond Retro and hair & makeup by the 'never fails to amaze me' Jennifer Nash

OK Gabby... we get it ... you LOVE Christmas!

So anyway...
I was in The Financial Times last week- which was nice!
You can read the article by lovely David Honigmann HERE and see the main picture by the talented Michael Hughes at the top of this post...
Which leads me onto nicely onto what I was wearing for the editorial shoot:
Skirt and shirt were very cheap purchases one from Ebay the other Battersea Car Boot - together they cost me £7!! And yes check and stripes DO go together... or so I think!!
Then I got to wear some brilliant TABIO tights which is beautifully documented HERE and my new favourite IRREGULAR CHOICE boots- which should be arriving on my doorstep any day now!!

Another time I was 'papped' in another fantastic pair of Irregular Choice boots was at Elizabeth Lau's amazing pop up shop where Stephen and I performed an acoustic set for a lovely press evening she was having. Elizabeth's designs are incredible- kooky, cute (or kawaii as she and the Japanese would say!) and original- I got given the choice to take something home and I can honestly say I would be happy with any of her garments. The shop itself was SO well displayed - with half fish bowls with real fish, gorgeous illustrations by Little Doodles - http://little-doodles.blogspot.com/ and lots of warmth, character and love! Below I am wearing an Elizabeth Lau dress (from her stunning new collection) and a pom pom bolero that I fell in love with and now has pride of place in my wardrobe along with a similar style dress! THANK YOU ELIZABETH!

I think that's me up to date apart from my excitement about being in a very cool Japanese fashion magazine:

It's called Fudge, in the main photo I am wearing an amazing piece by Kumiko Tani . I can't wait to go back to Japan in February - for many reasons... but I admit I'm looking forward to delving deeper into Tokyo's shops- they are so 'me'!

So happy happy Christmas peoples. I hope you have a wonderful time and get a chance to relax at least! Help your mum out with the cooking and pretend you LOVE all your presents!

With plenty of joy and awesome tidings,

Mrs. G Christmas

xoxoxooxoxoooxo :o) xoxoxooxox

Gabberdashery and Supermarket Sarah!

2010-12-03T04:55:00.000-08:00

I am very proud to announce that the wall we created with Supermarket Sarah is now live, so you can start your Christmas shopping from the comfort of your sofa! We had the most amazing day making the wall; its inspired by Alice in Wonderland as you can see from the tea cup and watches in my hair!Merrimaking Hoods made us some special Alice themed hoods, and Love from Hetty and Dave made special 'Drink Me' necklaces and brooches, whilst Alice Gabb made some gorgeous clock, key and bottle props.

We'd also like to welcome newcomer to Gabberdashery, Dot your Ts and Cross your Eyes who made the amazing rope necklace, amongst other pieces.

Thanks to Sarah and her assistant Annette, fabulous photographer Bruno, my makeup and hair artist Jennifer Nash,Inbar Spector for the loan of the amazing dress and Katie Antoniou, my Gabberdashery partner who co-curated the whole thing with me.
Also, The Guardian have reviewed my album- its in the paper today, so go and buy it!

Supermarket Gabby
xxxx

The Tabernacle

2010-11-29T11:45:00.000-08:00

Last night I was doing a radio interview (which I happily seem to be doing a lot of these days!) and I was asked what the highlight of my year was...
I had many options including playing in Japan, Glastonbury, Womad, BAFTAs afterparty but my choice was clear it was the show at THE TABERNACLE the Saturday before last (20th Nov) which was our London tour date and Gabby Young and Other Animals brought the whole schebang to town!

Firstly we were joined by a brass band, a string quartet and stalls (more on that later) but most importantly a load of people gave up their Saturday and XFACTOR to come and dance, sing or just stand still and lend us their ears and clap wildly- it was amazing!
Before I ramble on about it (as I could do all night!) we must remember that this is a style blog so I will tell you all the visual elements that made it a very special night for all involved.

Firstly we had a lovely set designer working with us on this tour - Susan Lawson- and we got a chance to use all the pieces she had put together for us. There was an amazing backdrop with vintage style cogs and clocks surrounding our logo and a big red perspex cog to hang our bits of percussion on - as we use a lot! It looked amazing and I am so thankful to Susan- it definitely wasn't the easiest job without a ladder for a start!!

Jennifer Nash spread her usual magic on my red locks and pale skin (just a different way to say face and hair - prententious? Moi?!) We went with a backcombed afro which took ages but fully worth it -by the end it was laden with birds of all types, including Jen's own origami made ones! The makeup by Illamasqua was bright and bird inspired too which fitted brilliantly with...

THE DRESS
- which needs it's own title for sure!
For those of you that read my blogglings and I excitedly met a big fan of it at this gig which made me beam all night! You will know that I am a GIGANTIC fan of Inbar Spector who this night, lent me a masterpiece of a gown- light blue and fluffy layers of tulle with black lace and other embellishments. It was like wearing a cloud and I LOVED the way it fitted and moved. We are due a chat for some new pieces for next year and I can't wait!!

I also have on board a brand new wonderful sponsor - TABIO tights who have given me a pile of beauties to cover my pins- they are great. Go visit their flagship store on Kings Road or in Convent Garden - its full of the best tights and socks I have ever seen and made in Japan- who are brilliant for being unique and thinking outside the box and very apt for me! I wore a pair of cream lacey tights at at the Tabernacle. Thankyou Tabio!

The whole night was a dream come true and the truly amazing Gem Hall has captured the whole thing with stills and video in this short film! Gem and I have been plotting for some amazing photo shoots very soon and they are extreeeemely exciting!

Here is her take on the night:

Of course we had a wonderful array of Gabberdashery stalls which included Alice Gabb, Dot your Ts and Cross your Is, Rosa Bloom, facepainting from The Dressing Room and arts and crafts from Hunga Munga.

Here's a pic of the Gabberdashery stall where we were selling the winning poster designs and the new album as well as gems from our usual sellers...

The team worked their little tush's off for this gig and we got some great press from it, including these:
INTERVIEW -http://www.mienmagazine.com/style/original-style-interview-with-gabby-young-avant-garde-musician-and-rising-star/

REVIEW - http://www.musicomh.com/music/gigs/gabby-young_1110.htm

MENTION (alongside a little known band!) - http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/24/beatles-week-1-2-million-singles-sold-but-which-classics-endure/

I've also only just got any decent pictures of a wonderful dress I was able to wear for the gig in Swindon- made for me especially by CorinaCorina who specialise in upcycling and customising vintage pieces. See me on their blog here.

Swindon Photographs by Chris Fay

I love it!

And that's all folks!

I'm an extremely busy bee this week- interviews, photo shoots and recording so I will bid you adieu!

More love than is humanly possible,

Xox Gabbernacle xoX

Levi's Shape What's to Come travelling Journals

2010-11-29T03:52:00.000-08:00

Levi's contacted me a few months ago to put together a 'travelling journal' for them alongside 15 other young ladies that were doing something different and inspiring- of course I was honoured and delighted to be a part of this and this is my one.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Katie Antoniou for all your help with this!

Love ya!

Xox Gabjournal xoX

KONICHIWA TOKYO!

2010-11-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

Helloha!
I'm afraid this is another 'better late then never' blog... mainly cos I've been in the studio working on the next album but also because I lost the lead for my camera and having no photos for my blog is like having a main meal without meat- not complete!!

ANYWAY (sorry vegetarians for that -don't hate me!)

My trip to Tokyo was AMAZING! I went there for a very special show with a brand new non profit organisation 'Tokyo Tomorrow' which is run by some rather exciting Japanese musicians including, our host, Fumio Ito who was actually a mega famous rock singer from the band Kemuri and luckily for us a wonderfully generous and supportive guy- he chose me to go out and perform at his launch party and I am very thankful that he did!

I have wanted to go to Japan for ever...and it didn't dissappoint!
Tokyo girls are colourful, playful and a bit like me on stage so naturally I LOVED it!

The shops were all amazing and everyone put so much time and energy into the way they looked it was very refreshing to see personal style everywhere!

I was there just in time to see Halloween in Tokyo and they had some great costumes- there was Mr & Mrs Santa, Vampires, Fairies, lots of cartoon characters and the cutest kids all dressed up with toy pumpkins!!!

My manager and I found out where they had got all their costumes- 'Tokyu Hands' -the strangest mall in the world...

These are SPEAKERS!! YES!


And these are mushroom and radish costumes!! VERY YES!

Oh and the gig was great- I wore a bespoke piece by the incredible Kumiko Tani made out of recycled products such as crisp packets and a giant butterfly in my hair!

Now my favourite thing to do in Tokyo is KAREOKE!They have small booths with cheap, drink, food and Stevie Wonder & Queen singalongs!

I became rather fond of a few great Japanese sing-a-longs too!

A little birdy tells me we are going back in February and I can't wait!!!

In other news- back in my home town of London we are preparing for the climax of our UK Tour which is going to be a HUGE show at THE TABERNACLE, Notting Hill
Not only am I playing with the whole lot of my lovely animals but also a big brass band and a string quartet, also Hungamunga are DJing and have a craft area to get stuck in AND we have a very special extended Gabberdashery area too!
I hope to see you there and its ALL AGES so bring some kids (discounted tickets)- I have treats for them too!
TICKETS HERE

We got some nice press recently too that I'm posting in case you are interested- its mainly for Gabberdashery and this week we did a Supermarket Sarah wall which I will talk about when its up very soon...

Le Cool - 11th Nov

Time Out - 17th Nov


Making Magazine- Issue 2

Also I fully suggest you have a gander at this BEAUTIFUL magazine (have a look for yours truly in there!)

And that's it folks!
Love and lots of sushi
Xox Gabyo xoX

View from tour...

2010-10-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

A very merry unbirthday to you and you and you...
Oh wait- it might actually be your birthday - if so- get off the internet and go and have a great day!!

I'm officially on tour so its busy times between shows which means this will be a short blog.

I just wanted to pass on a few things to you all...
Firstly those beautiful tour posters (that I still owe a whole blog too and I will!)

are now for sale online along with an end of summer merchandise sale with TShirts designed by the brilliant Twinkle Troughton

CLICK HERE FOR SHOP

A lovely new friend and amazing photographer Gem Hall put together a lovely video of us on tour and some gorgeous pictures of the Tamesis Dock '"boat gig" - I love her!!

There is lots more but I can't think right now- I'm too hungry!

If you are around at any of these dates it would be great to see your lovely face at a tour date:

Love and lunch!
Xox

Gabless

An English Girl In New York (and San Fran.. and L.A)

2010-10-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

Good morning bloggettes and blog-men?!
I hope you are enjoying the turning leaves and crisp air of autumn (although you may well be in a sunny land and if so - lucky you!)

As some of you may know (or scroll down and find out) I went on a mini 'promo' tour of America a few weeks ago- this was mainly to play a few gigs and meet a few people that may want to help us on our way- and a nice little preview of the big tour that we are going to do there next March.
So we had some time to kill and explore and SHOP!
I feel the need to apologise to my drummer at this point as MY shopping ended up on HIS credit card and I am still paying him back...
It's not my fault... it's America's fault... the shops are just TOO good to say no too!
Especially in San Francisco where this mammoth blog begins...

My favourite shop EVER- Trunk in Lower Haight

The shops were so ME- I had such a hard choice of getting just one thing in each place- If I had my way I would get one of EACH item! Victoriana lace collars, upcycled jackets made of old ties, (fake)fur arm warmers, amazing jewellrey EVERYWHERE and they were all decorated and displayed like my dream shop. I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO (NB- the areas that really excited me are Mission and Haight Ashbury). 3 shops that really struck a chord with me were 'Trunk' where I met Silver, the lovely shop keeper who had her designs in the store- turns out that everything in there is by independent designers and they all share the shop and take it in turns to look after it - I love their community spirit! I had to stop myself buying the whole shop and instead settled on an amazing neck piece of fur, tassles and lace!

Silver also pointed me towards my other new favourite shop round the corner- Swankety Swank
full of more lovely trinkets, upcycled garments and friendly people with much the same independent ethos... I walked away with a gorgeous dusty pink layered lace collar (sadly I didn't get any pictures of this shop!) Walking towards the main high street of Haight Ashbury (also full of gems) I spotted a little sign saying 'vintage and handmade items this way' and I found myself in the wonderful world of the adorable 'Aline's Closet' - I love the way she decorated her shop with beautiful furniture, candles and antique mirrors- not to mention the dolls house above her door... I could live there!

In the Haight I also fell into my new facourite place in the world- AMOEBA RECORDS... Holy wow this place is incredible. EVERY CD, Record, DVD etc you could possibily want in the style of 'Empire Records' complete with a stage in the corner where I just happened to catch my newest 'girl group crush' - Grass Widow playing.

I felt like I was actually in the 70s and it was a pretty powerful place to be- very inspiring and ALL about peace and love. Of course with every alternative town came the crazy people- in abundance... it's a drug fuelled place that I definitely wouldn't live in but makes for a very interesting place to visit and people watch!!

Oh and the gig, although on tiny stage in a laundrette went rather well...

I'm wearing some S.F purchases- the collar was from Trunk and the Headpiece from P-Kok

Next we were treated all week to the amazing FOOD of L.A by our host- the extremely lovely, generous and talented Al Stewart who is full of amazing stories and insights to the music scene of the 1970s and knew all the tales of the sunset strip in Hollywood and more importantly, to my stomach, THE best places to eat in town... of course it would be rude not to sample them all. I won't go on because when I start thinking about food I get hungry but it was gooood... especially the Sushi and Italian fish, oh and breakfasts- mama mia- I ate VERY well!

We did a great gig at Hotel Cafe - which is dark but a fantastic venue with amazing sound...

I did say dark... Headpiece by UglyLovely, Dress from Vintage Secret, Adam in Beyond Retro

Another place I loved in LA (because let's be honest it's not exactly my kind of place- orange tanned girls with nothing to say and BAD music don't tend to excite me that much!) was ANTHROPOLOGIE...

Oh and L.A's very own bigger version on Ameoba Music (I'm slightly obsessed)

I actually managed to be allowed into the staff loos and was feeling mischievous...

hee hee!
In my defence there was A LOT of graffitti on those walls...

We also went vintage shopping and crazy people watching by Venice Beach...

The sun ain't so bad...

Then we spent a week in New York (no I wasn't deported from drawing on the toilet wall!) - where I purchased a good camera for once in my life - about time too! So I will leave you with some snaps from a great 7 days of sights, comedy, hip hop and new friends in the big city!


When I went to stay in Brooklyn- I was greeted with this sight...

I joined MC Undakova doing some improv (singing not rapping!) at a Manhattan Hip Hop jam...

I was blown away by the art at the MOMA- including my favourite- Kandinsky

I sang/shouted a one note song as part of Yoko Ono's 'art' at the MOMA

I met the lovely and talented Katelan Foisy who showed me around the Village for a day- we laughed a lot!
Don't you love her sunglasses?! She oozes style and everything I love about New York!

We had brunch (eggs benedict for me) at Yaffa- which you can see is pretty awesome!

Then to Screaming Mimi's vintage shop - which is where Cyndi Lauper used to work and happens to look like her wardrobe. This was the only shop in NYC that let a London blogger take pictures in!

Katelan and I went a little crazy in Pearl River - a chinese shop full of lanterns, fans, birds, butterflies
and everything you could possibly want - I did and had a lot more to pack after our trip there!

At the Italian festival we saw lots of great things and I found my dream coat at an up and coming designer pop up shop - I got this coat in black and white stripes from (my only blank... I have to go back to my flat to find the designer's name but all of his clothes were brilliant) and won't take it off- ever!

This was people paying $2 to watch snakes - as you do...

Patricia Field's shop is AWESOME!

After a long day of shopping it was high time for a nap on a bed of bread called "Comfort Eating"
which was one of the many pieces of Edible Art at the Last Supper Saloon in Brooklyn!

We got to make our own edible art out of junk food that Katelan and I named- "Bibically Political"
...which it was.

The lovely Katelan had an amazing soiree at her beautiful flat full of the loveliest, creative and
inspiring women I have met...complete with homemade cupcakes and pink rose tea! :)

We did a secret gig at Hotel on Rivington which went down a storm even though I was worried how we would be received in this 'bump n grind' r&b nightclub!

I got this hat from my new mecca- Cheap Jacks in NYC - LOVE!
I couldn't help but try out my new camera in the amazing bathroom there!!

We finished the trip with a lovely gig in a lovely venue with my wonderful friend, Kate Sikora who is super talented and beautiful, supporting us...
I wore a great outfit from a NYC designer Julie Schworm who was so kind to lend it to me!

Kate Sikora and I in the dressing room of Joe's Pub

In other exciting news that I can't help but share-

I signed a contract for a licensing deal in Europe with World Connection!!!

My song was used in this GORGEOUS fashion film for Beautiful Soul's new stunning collection:

Beautiful Soul SS:11 Believe. from oliver Prout on Vimeo.
Eco-aware fashion label, Beautiful Soul, teamed up with photographer Oliver Prout, illustrator Zarina Liew and recording artist Gabby Young, to create a short film to celebrate their Spring/Summer 2011 Collection, ‘Believe’.

The poster competition was amazing- and will be a blog of it's own very soon. I am soooo excited about them!

I will leave you with some pictures of my family in MerriMaking animal hoods from Gabberdashery and the dogs! Just because...

Awwwwwwww

I started writing this with a good morning and now I can leave by say good afternoon!
Xox Gabhomey xoX

Ahoy me hearties!

2010-09-10T04:16:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of a nautical post for two reasons; firstly to thank you all for coming to the secret gig on the wonderful Tamesis Dock boat last week; and secondly because by the time you read this, I'll be an ocean away in the good old USA!

You can see the beautiful set of photos Gemma Hall took of me before the gig here, my dress is from Beyond Retro, make up and hair by Jennifer Nash using Illamasqua products.

Gabberdashery took up the top floor of the boat, whilst we performed down below; I 'm afraid I still have no sea legs but luckily the river was quite calm!

You can read some lovely reviews of the gig by blogger Lira Leirner and on entertainment site Skiddle.

So now I'm in the States, please, please come and see me if you're this side of the pond!The lovely Nonita has blogged about my visit on the Spanish Moss Vintage American blog here.
I've chosen the winners of the poster design competition and left them back in the UK working on some really beautiful designs for the UK tour, can't wait to come back and show you! I'll leave you with some amazing pictures from Shambala by Richard Shakespeare- I'm wearing the dress Rosa Bloom made for me, and make up and hair is by Jennifer Nash again.We ended the festival season on rather a damp note- in true British style!

Missing you all already,

Gabs

xxx

Gabberdashery Calling!

2010-08-12T04:15:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jo Lowes of me in the Gabberdashery shop @ Standon Calling

wearing an amazing dress by Inbar Spector and 'Gabby' brooch by Love from Hetty and Dave for Gabberdashery! Of course my hair and makeup was beautifully crafted by Jennifer Nash.

.....

What a weekend! Not only was I at Standon Calling as a musician - playing a full band set on their massive main stage on Sunday but also as a fancy dress judge, a model (lots of photoshoots this weekend) AND A SHOPKEEPER! I was lucky enough to have my very own shop in the Dickensian row of street boutiques - so GABBERDASHERY was alive and very very well!!
Katie and I piled a little hire van full to brim and arrived at our shop aghast with excitement - WE HAD OUR OWN FRONT DOOR! We didn't know what to expect - a festival type open shop was what I had in mind but no- it was beautiful, special and very Gabberdashery! We spent hours making it look beautiful - flowers and birds sat upon antique Tiffany lamps and lined the wicker mannequins and lay out all our wonderful stock and rails of my very own 2nd hand clothes for sale! It was rather like my bedroom but with a lot less mess and everything was for sale...

more gabberdashery pics here

We stocked wonderful pieces by Rosa Bloom, Merrimaking Hoods, Love from Hetty and Dave(who made Katie and I our own personalised brooches which you can read about in their blog), Creme Nouveau, Bbel, Hatastic, Her Curious Nature, Alice Gabb (who also shop-sat for us while Gabby was playing-thankyou!) my sister Nicky Young had her brilliant TShirts, the gorgeous smellies of The Green Grocery, infectious art by Tinsel Edwards, Twinkle Troughton, 'Gabby Young customised merchandise' by Vicky Sennett of Hungamunga, as well as cakes from Love Bakery and zines by Ladyfest. And of course a rail of my own clothes - I did a massive clear out just before the festival!

Here's a idea of what we got up to courtesy of WinkBall.Com

And a great video of a stripped down unplugged set we did in the tiny Rough Trade tent filmed by Gareth Bradshaw:

A lovely picture by Holly of our main gig:

This summer is such a success here are some more press links for your perusal -
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-barometer-still-corners-beck-wavves-yuck-lofifnk-gabbyyoung-and-other-animals-darker-my-love-glasser-2044368.html

http://ireadfaux.com/charles-darbyshire/new-blood-gabby-young-other-animals/

http://www.thebeatsurrender.co.uk/weekly/reviews/gabby-young-other-animals-were-all-in-this-together/

http://www.xtaster.co.uk/publiccontent_Article.aspx?id=8996

And I would love your help again - if you have a minute- we have been nominated for the best UK female album of the year and if we win (which would be rather lovely) we are giving the £50 prize money to Cancer Research, as it is very close to my heart.
http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/2010/08/introducing-the-venusno-penis-music-prize/

I will leave you with my favourite picture of the weekend - By Jo Lowes...
Hope everyone is a happy chappy!
Love and Loganberries,
Gabberdashery
xox

A 90% picture blog...

2010-07-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a whirlwind of festivals, amazing dresses and exciting press. If I started writing about everything I would carry on till the morning and seeing as it is already 1.39am on my ONLY night off until September I'm just going to show you a run down in pictures instead....

Above is Stephen and I doing an acoustic set at Latitude - you will notice that if there is no Jen to do my makeup then I will probably be wearing sunglasses!! Also it was really bright - I'm not doing it to be cool - honest! Clothes- models own (I've always wanted to say that!!)

Then we went and performed a headline slot at our first international festival - De Affaire in Nijmegen to about 3000 screaming dutch!!! It was amazing and I still don't fully believe it was real!
I was lucky enough to wear a one off by INBAR SPECTOR who has to be my new favourite designer- as you will see from the next 2 dresses- I'm a bit addicted!

Photos (in order) by Stewie1980 , Mellissa Kamps and Thijmen Sietsma
My favourite moment of my career (so far) is this:

Captured by Thijmen Sietsma

Before this momentous gig we did a lovely unplugged session in a chapel where I was wearing another beautiful Inbar Spector creation:

Gabby Young and other animals from Marcus Moonen on Vimeo.

Then we drove all the way to Wiltshire (where I've lived all my life) to play at WOMAD -which is a HUGE honour for me and another big success....

Yes- it's Inbar Spector again... and although you can't see it this dress had a massive train of layered tenticles it was amazing to dance in!
The two days I was there were full of interviews and sessions and on the second day I wore a gorgeous dress from my other new favourite designer- Kumiko Tani

Photo by David Mbiyu

We have since had 2 brilliant reviews in national papers for our performance at Womad -
Guardian = "The most original British contribution came from the new Charlie Gillett stage (an excellent touch), where the flamboyant Gabby Young mixed brass and banjo with impressive ragtime vocals." Robin Denselow

Financial Times = "Gabby Young (as local as they come, having been born in neighbouring Malmesbury) was more distinctive. Clad in a white dress, red hair teased into what looked from a distance like a giant geranium, with a tracery like Victorian gothic ironwork over her right eye, she delivered what she termed “circus swing”. Her band, Other Animals, provided the swing, pumping trombone and wheezing accordion and the blocky beats of a Balkan wedding. Young was the circus, twirling a Bridget Riley umbrella and coaxing the audience to sing along." David Honigmann

and we were on the BBC news - Points West on Friday and Saturday - not bad for a weekend's work!
I couldn't have done this without our lovely festival publicity agent - Lauren Roth De Wolf who is a saint!!

Of course the unstoppable force that is Jennifer Nash was with us all the way and for our last day of this mental tour for Secret Garden Party we decided to get the wigs out and create this little masterpiece with me adorned in more Kumiko Tani . I had practically lost my voice by this show but the audience sang along with me the whole way - THANKYOU GUYS!!

Photos by Katie Antoniou

Amelia's magazine did a lovely review of this with a couple of mindblowing illustrations like this one below by Michelle Urvall Nyrén who I am now obsessed with - thanks to Ameila and Co. for the mention and introducing me to so many talented artists through the years.

So what's next after my epic sleep... STANDON CALLING
Not only are we playing the main stage on Sunday (2.30pm) but I'm judging the fancy dress on Saturday (!), playing and signing a special set in the Rough Trade tent AND I'll have a Gabberdashery shop there ALL WEEKEND! We have so many amazing artists, crafts people and designers contributing to our shop I will find it hard not to buy everything myself AND I will be selling all my own second hand clothes from my massive clear out - (it's all good stuff just doesn't all fit in my wardrobe) so come and say hello if you're at Standon this weekend...

http://www.standon-calling.com/2010/07/19/dressing-up-dancing-and-shopping/

Oops I still ended up writing more then I was meant to...

So it's beddypies for me - yey!
Good nightings
Xox GabZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

PS- I can't believe I forgot to show you our new music video so here it is:

The second 'candy coloured' dress is by Lee Klabin who is not only a lovely woman but an amazing designer about to break through big time. And the headpiece is by the wonderful Rosa Bloom. I also was honoured to work with the stylist Jakob Brondum on this video and am very thankful to his team and especially to Jonny Levene and Aaron West for putting this together.

now I'm really going to bed! Xox

ILLAMASQUA - The make-up for my alter ego

2010-07-14T02:34:00.000-07:00

One of the perks about my job is I get to wear amazing things by designers and collaborate with incredibly talented people and this includes MAKE-UP. As you are all aware, (because I can't stop going on about her) I am lucky to have my own hair and make-up stylist - Jennifer Nash, and she has become one of the most important parts of our live show - making the band look great and not just great but completely different every gig and ALWAYS unique and eccentric. SHE IS A SAINT TO US...
So when we came across a make-up brand that has the same ethos as ours -to dress the alter ego that comes out of me when I am onstage - the showgirl, the vamp, the starlet, the circus ringleader etc. naturally we were eager to find out more.
This brand is:

http://www.illamasqua.com/

It just so happens that the people that run this brand are equally lovely and have taken me under there beautifully decorated wing and will be supporting myself and Jen to create the looks that we aspire to for the future. We are so excited and in love with there looks it appears to be a match made in heaven.

To start with I have recieved my own kit to use when Jen is not around for me to be creative with and l have just recieved a beautifully packaged box of Illamasqua make-up.

Now I have had a chance to play with it all I can honestly say that it is the best make-up I have ever had - it is a dream to apply and actually doesn't end up under my eyes or faded after a few hours which is what I have been used to for years (and that is from some high end brands not just Tesco's own!!)

Here is a run down of my specially chosen Illamasqua kit...

NB, I would do before and after pictures but I am too embarassed to be seen in my current no sleep or makeup state...

CONCEALER in CC15 - I am definitely human and have regular outbreaks (annoyingly this started after my 18th birthday which upset me as I always thought adults don't get spots!!)

ANYWAY I have found it hard to get a good concealer to cover these naughty bits but this one does the job (HALLELUJAH!!) it's light and masks a whole manner of marks.

POWDER FOUNDATION in PF 120 - I've been lead into using a liquid foundation before and always got it a bit wrong (being taken aside at a party to remove streaks from your neck is not so pretty!!) so I decided to go with powder and I am pleased I did. This really stays and gives me that clear complexion that I aim for.

ILLUMINATOR in POISED (rose pink) - A new thing for me but I tried it out on my cheeks, eyes and lips and really loved the glint it gave them - it has now replaced blusher and will be a great addition to my make-up bag. It does wonders for my cheekbones!

LIQUID EYELINER in SHATTER (black) - I have to admit I went off the pen type eyeliners because of smudging and dripping but was willing to try it again as the pot and brush is just a little bit trickier when you are in a hurry so WELL DONE ILLAMASQUA I finally have one that STAYS and is so easy to draw with- I like to do all sorts of curls and spots with my eyeliner and this one lets me be really creative.

VOLUME MASCARA in HARNESS (blackest black) - Like most girls I know - mascara is the bain of my make-up life ... I have tried so many and although I like some and have stuck with them for a while I am yet to love one... could this be the love of my life?! I'm sure by now you must all be thinking - she can't love them all THIS MUCH but I'm telling the truth when I say I will NEVER use another Mascara... I have annoyingly short eyelashes and now I feel like Rita Heyworth!!!

LIPSTICK in BOX (red red red) - This was a colour designed by the mindblowing make-up artist Alex Box who happens to be Illamasqua's creative director:

Yup- this is her work.... WOW! The lipstick is wonderfully matt and a great colour so when I feel like vamping it up I know what to reach for!

NAIL VARNISH in Untold (Red Glitter) -Glitter nail varnishes always rely on many layers to look good and I did 3 for the ultimate glamourous diva look! Their varnishes glide on beautifully and the brush is easy to apply with so I will definitely be adding many of these to my collection.

PENCILS - FINE in EERIE (black) and MEDIUM in SPELL (pillar box red) - both of these are great - good colours and show up nicely on my skin. I used the fine pencil for under my eyes and it worked like a fine kohl which I was impressed by and then 'Spell' makes a great lip liner for 'Box' Lipstick- as above- too.

ACCESSORIES - EYELASH CURLER, LIP AND POWDER BRUSHES - My happiness at these products goes right the way through... I especially love the lip brush that gave me perfect precision.

I did an acoustic gig on Friday at Marlborough Jazz Festival and wore some of my Illamasqua kit and after 10mins in the bathroom this is how I looked :

Dress By Lira Leirner ... but more on that later...

Jen will be able to create some amazing looks with these products so keep an eye out for my alter ego!

This is also a perfect time to intro you all to Illamasqua because at the moment they are running a brilliant campaign where you can take in your old makeup and replace it for new with 25% off everything!

It's also an inexpensive way to add some high end products to your collection - there is something for everyone!

Do go and check it out for yourself...

I assure you that I feel passionate about this brand I don't want you to think I have been in any way swayed to write this blog, I just wanted to do my bit to thank them for their generosity and spread the word to you as they are worth it and you are too!!

Till next time,

Gabbamasqua (!)

Xoxxoxoxoxoxox

STORM THE CHARTS

2010-06-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

Ok so I know this has not much to do with my style but I think music and style go hand in hand so I hope you don't mind me pleading with you a little...

http://www.gabbyyoung.co.uk

(Amazon have discounted all 40 tracks in Storm The Charts to 49p for the week but you can also buy it on itunes and play.com)

For more info:

http://www.run-riot.com/storm-the-charts-gabby-young-and-other-animals
http://stormthecharts.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPOrNwIY6A

Our Facebook event... http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128299670540740

With all your help WE JUST COULD DO THIS!!

We are already No.1 in the Amazon Folk and Rock charts and No.45 in Amazon's top downloads!!

Please pass it on and support independant music...

Also REVERE are also part of the campaign withe their amazing new single 'We Won't Be Here Tomorrow' which you can buy for 49p as well here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wont-Here-Tomorrow-Album-Version/dp/B003KSMXCC/ref=dm_ap_trk1

Thankyou SOOOO much!

Gabstorm

xoxooox

Art Car Boot Fair, the BAFTAs and more!

2010-06-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

Well whether the weather reflects it or not, the summer has well and truly begun for us! We had a fantastic day at the Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair where I was performing, curating a fashion show and running the Gabberdashery car-phew!I got to wear an incredible creation by the super talented Amelia Mullins, who also helped me with the fashion show which featured work by some incredible designers, as well as the awesome King's road fashion boutique Ad Hoc who lent us some great pieces. Rosa Bloom's handmade pieces were also on display, not only in the fashion show in the wrestling wring, but also for sale in our Gabberdashery car, alongside arts and crafts by my sister Nicky, Vicki Sennet of HungaMunga, Merrimaking animal hoods and artists Tinsel Edwards and Twinkle Troughton. Here's a close up of the content of our boot- all these pics were taken by Katie Antoniou, my Gabberdashery partner; you can see more photos and read more about the event on her blog here, and on the CultureLabel blog too.

As usual, Jennifer Nash did my amazing make-up; the art car boot fair being something of a dress rehearsal for the most exciting gig ever; the BAFTAs after party!I'm still speechless about the whole affair; performing in a venue like The Natural History Museum is just a dream come true. You can see me making my entrance, walking down the massive staircase here- I had to be very careful not to trip up!There are a few pics on the official BAFTAs website, and here's a video Johnny Levene made for us. These photos are by Anthony Ellis.

We've also made a start on the festival circuit, playing Sunrise where I wore a great ensemble generously lent to me by Ad Hoc; I just love the feathered headpiece!

Heres a very giggly interview we did literally just after the gig so we are hyper and a little sweaty - so all the boys makeup was dripping off them!!

We also performed at the Wiltshire Jazz festival- heres a pic of the whole band doing 'jazz hands'!

Next up; Glastonbury! We're performing four times over the weekend, so if you've got a ticket, do try and catch one of our shows!
AVALON STAGE -2.20PM is our main show and the only full band one so don't miss it!

I'm just planning what to wear for all 4 days now... hope it doesn't rain!

Muchas love
Gabbalina
xoxoxoxooxoxoxooxox

Gabberdashery!

2010-06-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Last week I was lucky enough to play an exclusive gig at a really stunning venue; 22 Portsea place. Owned by the lovely Fran, this Georgian building is home to over 3000 works of art, its like living in a museum or art gallery! The gig was in aid of Cancer Research, a cause very close to my heart, so guests were plied with champagne and delicious cupcakes kindly supplied by LoveBakery to encourage everyone to donate generously!My gorgeous dress was lent to me by vintage superstore Beyond Retro, and as usual, my wonderful hair and make-up was done by the incredibly talented Jennifer Nash.

Speaking of make-up, I had a very exciting meeting with British make-up brand Illamasqua earlier this week. They love my look and are going to help Jennifer continue to create it with their wonderful products!I love how theatrical their aesthetic is, and their slogan 'make-up for your alter ego' is so appropriate to musicians and artists who often have a different, more flamboyant persona they adopt on stage.
We took the opportunity to create a Gabberdashery boudoir in the bedroom at Portsea Place, where Rosa Bloom sold some of her beautiful handmade bustles, gloves, feather headpieces, jumpsuits, frilly knickers and much more.

Artists Tinsel Edwards and Twinkle Troughton are also on board as we take the Gabberdashery venture online- Twinkle has created our gorgeous logo, as well as a really stunning new t-shirt design:

Canvases and prints you can see in these pics will all be on sale tomorrow in the Gabberdashery car at the Art Car Boot Fair, as well as merchandise from a number of other amazing craftspeople; HungaMunga, HerCuriousNature headpieces, Merrimaking animal hoods and much, much more. Tinsel Edwards handpainted this amazing vintage jewelery box especially for us- I'm trying really hard not to buy it myself!If you make something in keeping with the Gabberdashery style- be it jewellery, accessories, artwork, or anything creative- then email me info@gabberdashery.com and we'll see if we can stock your work too. We're all in this together!

I'll be curating a fashion show too, wearing a truly stunning creation by Amelia Mullins. I'll also be wearing it to....drumroll.... the BAFTAs afterparty where we'll be performing Sunday night!!!!SCREAM!!!!!!
Really hope to see you all at the Art Car Boot Fair tomorrow- there'll be so much going on, wonderful stuff to buy and see, and I'll be performing a few songs too. Do come and say hello, and wish me luck for tomorrow night!!!
much love,
Gabster

And all that jazz...

2010-05-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

Photo by Saul

Good day my pretties!
Last Saturday we played our best gig... yet! The Jazz Cafe was full to the brim of every kind of people all of which sang and swayed along wonderfully to our 1.5 hour set from the album and before. I even played a solo song right in the middle of the set- Button- which is my very appropriate ode to the government!! You could hear a pin drop- it was magical to have the stage all to myself and such a supporting audience... of course when the band joined in it was riotous again!
I won't go on about it but we have had amazing feedback and pictures... here is a sterling review from THE FLY
and the lovely people at EMERGING FERVOUR

We were lucky enough to be able to delve into the rails at bundles at BEYOND RETRO
as they are kitting out the whole band for the festival season - the boys, and girl looked so chic for this gig- I almost felt under-dressed in my tasseled bodysuit (bargain from EBAY) and various array of netted skirts, striped tights and Irregular Choice boots. As always, Jen spread her magic across the stage too doing all of our hair and makeup. We really enjoyed doing my 'candyfloss' inspired hairdo and will be posting a 'HOW TO' video guide to my gig styling soon!

Last week I got to be a model for the evening at LadyFest's 'Swallows and Amazons' life drawing class - I chose not to go naked but I did get elaborately dressed up in a theatrical 'pirate' shirt, black breeches, an Amelia Mullins feathered headpiece and my favourite I.C boots!! I was so flattered to be invited to take part in this and loved meetings the artists and seeing their beautiful work!

I even played a few songs for them to draw along too- making sure I stayed as still as possible!!

What else have I been up to?!
Oh yes... VIDEO BLOGGING... here are the first two:

Other than that I have been an extra in REVERE's new music video - spot me and my dog Hobbes! I have also been plotting fashion shows, organising my festival-filled summer and filming my '7 Days of Chic' for Fashionair

I was also in The Guardian last week :o)

So it's been an exciting time for me - thankyou for all your lovely messages and comments - keep them 'acomin!!

lots and lots of cuddly love to you and you and YOU!!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxox
gabsing

Sketchbook Style

2010-04-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Today I played a one-off intimate performance at the amazing Sketchbook magazine pop-up shop. The shop has been beautifully decorated by some of the artists who've worked on the magazine and great news; whilst today was meant to be the last day of its run, the shop will now be there til mid May! Check their blog for updates on more talks and bands coming up.

There wasn't really room to bring all the animals along, so it was just Stephen and me doing an acoustic set

Here's the lovely Cleide from the Sketchbook team interviewing us outside the shop.

In other news, I won the best live photo, and the best hair and shoes categories in the Recharged Radio awards, am really chuffed! I'm also in this month's Company magazine- heres a sneaky peak, but you can buy your own copy and read the whole piece for only £1 !

I'm wearing the first Salon Gabrielle creation and shoes by Irregular choice.To see me in full Salon Gabrielle regalia with all my animals, come along to my next gig at the Jazz Cafe in Camden on 8th May!

Exciting Times!

2010-04-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

Been super busy- SO much to tell you; I'll start with my performance at the Ivy...

TUESDAY 6TH APRIL
This place is decadent that's for sure... I was very disappointed to not spot ONE single celeb there but the decor impressed me... especially the glass- 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory' style lift!! Tonight was the first outing of 2 new outfits- one being The Gabby Young trio - which is basically me and 2 'animals' who play trombone and double bass- they were all dressed up in their DJs and looked very smart! The second was the revealing of the second Salon Gabrielle dress- 'The Peacock dress'... It is a beautiful 30's inspired draped corset dress with a VERY long train of peacock feathered design. Designed and made by Sofia Kalaitzidi, with fabric design by Kundalini Arts, with Robert Burton, I felt like a peacock princess in it and was honoured to stand tall in another of my own collaborated collection; Salon Gabrielle!Jennifer Nash did an amazing job at matching my hair and makeup with the dress- complete with peacock feathers in my hair.

WEDNESDAY 7TH APRIL
Today started with a visit to the Vintage Secret sale where I recieved a present from Naomi - a long green 40s dress and I also acquired 4 vintage hats to add to my evergrowing headwear collection!
Dingwalls was the gig tonight and I decided to rock the UglyLovely headdress with the new dress from Vintage Secret - this gig was mindblowing - we were lucky enough to support the world music LEGEND- Vieux Farka Toure (yes, Ali's son!) and we African danced the night away. I got a lot of people wanting to try on my headdress and even had a group of Japanese girls surrounding me taking pictures too!Here's a little video:

THURSDAY 8TH APRIL
I was up at ridiculous o'clock which could only mean I one thing - I was off to either the airport or Eurostar... it was the latter. My mum, sister and I went off to Paris to stay with my brother (who lives out there with his lovely wife and my 2 adorable nephews- Oliver and Henry) this is Oliver playing my Ukelele- I love these kids!!
It was mainly a baby sitting mission for us all but I did manage a bike ride to the Eiffel Tower from Place D'Italie and back in a MINI SKIRT!! This was a HUGE achievement for me as I haven't ridden a bike in over 5 years and NEVER in a city before - I couldn't help but feel pretty proud of myself (Ah, life's little wonders!)

MONDAY 12TH APRIL
I did a special rare acoustic show at Blacks members club tonight - it was a tiny space but very enjoyable. Stephen and I played a blinder, if I do say so myself and I wore a black vintage dress, Irregular Choice boots and a gorgeous feathered headpiece by my good friend - Amelia Mullins aka Miss Sassy's Spectaculars! I would have worn the Pandora dress tonight but my playing space was a tiny stall and there was no room for it's beautiful train so I had to think on my feet and stay in the dress I arrived in - I haven't gigged in a simple black dress in a while- I definitely prefer dressing up!!

This week has been mainly about packing up my room at my parents house (they are moving to London in less than a month!!), a photoshoot for Art Car Boot Fair- which I will show you soon, AMAZING news about festivals and waiting for Company Magazine to come out to see my feature!!

This weekend I have another special acoustic show at The Sketchbook Pop Up shop and I am so excited to be a part of this - especially on their last day. I am fan of their magazine and an avid follower of their brilliant blog and twitter page so I am honoured to play for them- and you if you come at 3pm on Sunday 18th April!

Something old and something new...

2010-03-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well, London Fashion Week ended and I thought I'd have time to blog, but it seems to have turned into fashion month for me, and doesn't show any signs of stopping!I've had a chance to see and be part of so many wonderful new creations, as well as some very old, very beautiful ones which I'm going to share with you here.I AM going to do a whole blog post about the Bloomsbury Ballroom gig, but I want to be able to include pictures of all the stalls who took part, so I'm just trying to collect them all together!Here's a sneak peak at the amazing dress I got to wear, Designed and made by Sofia Kalaitzidi, with fabric design by Kundalini Arts, with Rob Burton, plus an amazing headpiece by Sarah Freemantle of UglyLovely- you can read more about my outfit here.
Did you follow my London Fashion Week Diary on Run-Riot?If you missed it you can still catch up here.I had such a great week, learnt a lot about fashion and it's crowd and was pleasantly suprised to make some wonderful friends there.I even got papped a few times- here's one of me trying to take some pics on my iphone for the blog; front row!!!!Loads more pics on Run-Riot, check it out.

I was recently invited to the Hardy Amies exhibition - beautiful, inspiring and a real treat. I definitely learned a lot about vintage couture and it was great to see how he dressed the Queen, Maria Callas (my idol) and even the costumes for 2001 Space Odyssey!Here I am in a vintage suit of my own!

I've also recently taken part in a shoot for Company magazine!I was a bit worried that they'd play it safe but they were excited to work with me and do the opposite!! I got to wear the Salon Gabrielle dress created for the Bloomsbury Ballroom event. They'd wanted to put me in the sequin bodysuit that Marina (and the diamonds) wears in her 'Hollywood' video but I'm already sick of comparisons so I wasn't going to attempt that one even though it was AMAZING! But our dress is better and looked incredible in the shoot- I was very proud! The stylist and whole team were lovely and let me put my own spin on things- we went with a circus influenced style with a white top hat and pink eyebrows- can't wait for you to see the pics!
The band and I have lots of other successes to share with you; 'we're all in this together' was played at the end of BBC documentary 'Jobless', we've been signed in Australia and lots of exciting new gigs/dresses and of course festival season coming up!Become a fan on facebook to stay tuned to all our news.
I've also been nominated for 'best female' and 'best shoes and hair' by Recharged Radio- please vote for me here! Very appropriate since amazing shoe makers Irregular Choice are now sponsoring me- see more on that here.
Well I think that's all for now; I'm going to try and post more regularly so you don't get hit by essay-length posts like this one!

Love to all my animals!
Gabblette

xxx

London Fashion Week...

2010-02-22T15:18:00.000-08:00

FOR THIS WEEK MY BLOGGLINGS ARE NOT ON THIS PAGE BUT INSTEAD I AM AN OFFICIAL BLOGGER OF LFW A/W10 HERE
I'll be back here to debrief after all these exciting goings on...
Mwah! Mwah! Darling!!
:o)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxox

MISS KIKI SALON PRESENTS...

2010-02-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

Well good morning everyone!
I have my usual sympathy hangover (I'm allergic to alcohol!) after a big night but I am deliriously happy as last night was a monumental success! I performed a couple of songs at the after party for Miss Kiki Salon Presents... 'Six Easy Pieces' an exhibition at Reading Room, Frith Street, Soho in the most beautiful venue- St. Barnabas Chapel which is in Quintessentially Soho to a lovely crowd and for the first time to my new 'family' Miss Kiki Salon Presents...

The exhibition itself showcased the work of 6 artist's silk scarves, paintings, photographs, interiors, garments and films all from the collective Miss Kiki Salon Presents... This is very close to my heart as not only was I lucky enough to be a part of it and help set the exhibition up but I have formed strong bonds with many of the artists and all those involved in the project and I am in love with each and every one of them... I am also sure to collaborate with them in the future too!
The private viewing last night was packed- it was so exciting for us all as this was the launch to introduce what we are about and everyone seemed to love it and be very interested in what we were doing, which is essentially bringing together Art, Fashion, Music and Performance in a lovely way- 'We're All In This Together'...

I wore an Osman Yousefzada dress, UglyLovely headpiece by Sahar Freemantle, Irregular Choice shoes and a 'Pandora' Scarf from the collection by the amazing Kundalini Arts:

Anyway I can't do my usual Gabbying on as I have the first of MANY London Fashion Week shows to get ready for but I just wanted to say - I am excited, I'm excited to be a part of this enchanting collective and to all we will do together.
Tomorrow I meet with the team that will ultimately be Salon Gabrielle, my very own clothing label and I am soooooooooooooo EXCITED! There's just no other word for it!
In the mean time... here's some pictures from last night, oh what a night!

The lovely Miss Kiki herself - I LOVE this lady with all my heart!

Oh and PS. I will be blogging daily on LFW's goings on - what I'm wearing and more importantly what the models on the catwalks are wearing! Watch this space!

Excitingles (my new favourite word = Exciting tingles!)
xoxoxooxoxoxox
Gabscout

ARTISTS/ PHOTOGRAPHERS...

2010-01-22T16:40:00.000-08:00

Creative Brief for Miss Kiki Salon Presents- Artists, Illustrators and Photographers read this!

I am the luckiest girl alive - I have stumbled upon a life changing collective who have welcomed me into their world and launched a project to get creatives involved with my music. This is a dream come true and I hope YOU can be a part of it too. Oh and THIS is just the beginning... much more coming soon -but for now, the brief:

The first 'Miss Kiki Salon Presents...'collaboration brought together a collection of exceptional artists to form the beginnings of a new art/fashion concept producing a unique range of beautiful, limited edition silk scarf squares. Initiating a new movement in art and culture, the first collective of artists is growing and the momentum has brought innovative ideas working on progressive, mutually beneficial creative incentives.

Submissions are now sought for a new exciting project that pushes the boundaries of creativity and inspires the individual to think in news ways in collaboration with artists and makers.

'Miss Kiki Salon Presents...' and Gabby Young invite artists from all fields of creativity to select a track from the new Gabby Young and Other Animals album to interpret as a 2-dimensional image, The original artwork can be in any media but must be submitted as a digital image at a minimum of 200dpi.

The submissions will be juried by Miss Kiki and Gabby Young and those artworks judged to best capture the sensibility of the song will be made into the finest quality limited edition, unique digitally printed silk square artworks. The selected artists will be invited to exhibit other works at curated high profile 'Miss Kiki Salon Presents...' art exhibitions and events.

The initial submissions can be low resolution JPEG images but the final digital images must be high resolution images 90cm by 90 cm or 65cm by 200cm for the final silk scarf squares.

All submissions should be received by Monday 15th February 2010.

To get your lovely mitts on a copy of 'We're All In This Together' by Gabby Young and Other Animals to enthuse and inspire, or for more information:

Email: studio@misskikisalonpresents.co.uk
Telephone: +44 7787550927
www.misskikisalonpresents.co.uk
www.gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com

Love and Luck
Gabrielle
xoxoxooxoxoox

BELATED BLOG...

2010-01-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

I'm going to have to blame Christmas this time... belated blogging is pretty common around the festive period... and mine just lasted until today!
I do actually have lots of reasons for not blogging - all of them are amazingly exciting. It has been so busy at camp GY... busy is an understatement!
I might have to start a new blog to discuss music things - album releases, press features, reviews, writing, gigs etc. as I feel like I shouldn't gabble on about such things on a styleblog.

Instead, today I am going to talk about one night: a night that pretty much changed everything for me, that led me down new, wonderful paths, to a glimpse of what the future may hold.
I am talking of course of my favourite gig of last year:

22nd October - 'Alltogether now' -ALBUM LAUNCH @ BUSH HALL, London
This was a early start to preparing for a gig. Jennifer Nash arrived with makeup and fake hair at around 8am and the fun began! Our little flat was soon brimming with band members, friends and my manager sorting things, unwrapping CDs, decorating dolls houses, making giant butterflies out of tights and wire (Jen was by FAR the best at this!) We loaded into the van with fake plants, grass, flowers, TREES, birds, boxes of our new album and about six of us... was it a squeeze?!! haha... it definitely wasn't legal!!! Luckily the police had better things to do and within 40 mins we pulled up outside Bush Hall to meet the rest of the band and mammoth crew that we pulled together to help us.

Bush Hall is a beautiful venue. You could easily drive past it (I have about 3 times already!) on the Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush (west London) but the moment you get inside you won't forget it! Once you're through the entrance, past the bar into the main hall you can't help but gasp! BEAUTIFUL - It was an Irish Dance Hall built in 1904 (good ole' google!) and has chandeliers and a wonderfully grand and romantic decor. I chose this as my album launch venue very easily after playing there in May.

There were a lot more people to meet when we got there as tonight was something I have been plotting for a very long time - I had invited friends, people I met at fairs and found on the net to come and set up stalls, pop up shops and exhibitions of their work and items for sale - from food to full on dresses! I will be telling you more about them very soon... (in about 5mins reading time!)

We then decorated the hall and turned it into a giant dreamlike garden with fake trees either side of the stage - littered with the giant butterflies (the one I had made was hidden somewhere at the back!!) And brightly coloured feathered birds! We laid down a roll of synthetic grass on the stage and wrapped flower garlands and fairy lights over the mic stands. It looked amazing - the band did a great job at making it look beautiful - I'm admit I was busy at work sitting still whilst having a beautiful bird painted onto my arm...
(Jen's work! Might make it permanant!)
So the stall holders set up, we soundchecked and then I was whisked off upstairs to the lavish balcony for a photo shoot. This was for a project called A-Z London Songwriters being put together by the talented photographer Dylan Walker ... it was FREEZING and I was outside in hotpants and a tiny top - made by the sublime Rosa Bloom but I think it was worth it:

Here are a few choice picks- after I melted back inside we also got these:

As the flash went off for this one I saw a worried looking man in the corner of my eye - it was my manager, Brett informing me that we were about to be open and I cannot be seen before I come on stage... I half like this- on one side I love to make an entrance (who doesn't?!) but on the other it does tend to get quite lonely backstage I wanted to shop at the stalls and mill around meeting people... actually having said that I was WAY too nervous to do that so I think its better I was hidden away this time!!

So I was shuffled back into the 'green room' and the night began. I heard voices- people popped in and out looking happy and excited, especially my dad who had a constant chesire cat all night long! I guessed from the expressions running in and out of the dressing room that things were going well. I got vague responses of 'yeah- all is fine out there' and 'don't worry about anything just relax' ... RELAX????!! I was practically nailess!

Whilst everyone was filtering in they were greeted by the DJ Tricity Vogue and a band of STEEL DRUM players from Battersea Technology College:
(Photos by Joseph Lee)

The support band, Magic Lantern, are friends of ours and sounded amazing through the doors, so did the applause - this was getting exciting.
I did have a panic moment - tears, sweats etc etc. Its a girl thing to do when you have spent so much time on one night and the fear of it not going exactly to plan!!

Soon it was time to go on stage - we were ready, the band was giddy with excitement and after one of those cheesy hands in the middle go team go moment (which of course I lead much to the dismay of some people!!) I had to wait for the band to go out start the first few bars of 'Umm' (we were doing the whole album in order!) then I walked out- parasol in hand, fairy lights in my hair and nearly fainted.... because...
(dun...dun...dunnnn)
the hall was PACKED... I can't describe that feeling but I know that I LOVED it - everyone was screaming and going mad- our band was VERY well received and I could hardly start the song with lack of breath and tears in my eyes! I would describe the gig but I honestly can't... it was a wonderful blur of colours, dancing, wild costumes, the lovely sight of the popup shops surrounding us and people, lots of people- some familiar but most suprisingly not.

I do remember running offstage in the middle whilst the band was still playing... don't worry I wasn't ill I was about to do something I have dreamed off for a very long time:
A MID GIG COSTUME CHANGE!!!
I went from this:

to this:

Both outfits - headpieces & gloves included were bespoke pieces specially for the night made by the beautiful and amazingly talented Miss Rosa Bloom I LOVE THEM! Incredible to wear such beautiful handmade clothes!! Thankyou Rosa!

Needless to say the gig was a success- it was punctuated by one unique special moment where the steel band crept in front of the stage to join us for Lipsink!!

The stalls were a different matter all together...
I loved them all and am so thankful for their time and energy.

HUNGAMUNGA
had a craft table, led by Lloyd Ellis - where you could gather together materials, glitter, glue, paint etc to make your very own mask or whatever you wanted...

ROSA BLOOM
had her own stall of beautiful homemade bloomers, hairclips, jewellery and pasties (these are nipple cups not the cornish steak snack!)

NICKY YOUNG (my sister) and MERCH CORNER
My talented sister was selling her own T-shirts which she designs with amazing abstract prints and postcards - inspired by the supernatural and definitely SUPER!
My parents were heading up the merch area which was not a table but a grand piano!! We had brought along a dolls house complete with furniture and in each room was merchandise - the album won centre stage of course and there were dolls house picture hairclips that I made (with my own bare, gluey hands!) also pocket mirrors, tshirts and posters. The highlight of our merch table was an exclusive sale of collaborative bespoke pieces with Hungamunga's own Vicky Sennett there was a handmade Skirt, shoes, a gorgeous little clutch bag, a fantastic hat and a butterfly encrusted fascinator - I considered buying them all myself but I wasn't allowed to!! All of these items will be on sale online very soon! (I sadly don't have a picture but it looked great!)

SHORTT STITCHES
was a very popular stall run by a friend I met through Twitter! It featured knitted wonders and animal ears!

LAURA MACLENNAN and STEPHANIE LAING
brought their own designs of amazing jackets and dresses all the way from Edinburgh - they were lovely girls and I am in love with their clothes!!

KAREN MORRISON
set up the most professional, spectacular stall of incredible jewelery - I think our audience were maybe feeling the credit crunch a bit that night but everyone walked away from her bedazzled and inspired.

OF CABBAGES AND KINGS
had an awesome collection of pretty brooches, bags and keyrings!

FIDGIT
My lovely friend Alice Hoddell came up from Cornwall with her incredible handknitted hats -perfect for this time of year or just being snuggly - I love my bespoke Fidgit hat!!

PINKWORKS
their fluffy little things were extreeemely tempting and I could easily fill my house with them!

There was also art from Crystal Brook, cakes and headbands from Christie Carter and her friend Amy and facepainting/balloon making by our very own extraordinarily talented Jennifer Nash.

Thankyou to all involved... you all worked so hard and and were so selfless in putting time and energy into this event - you have no idea how much you have been integral part in my life.

Lots has come from this gig- to start with there was a Sunday Times journalist there, David Stubbs who I met with days later for an interview that became my first national press feature and made the FRONT PAGE of the music section in the Culture Magazine in the Christmas Edition...
AGHHHHHHHHH!!! I am still over the moon to see this!! Imagine my face when I first saw this... my jaw was nowhere near the rest of my face!

I leave you with a final selection of photos from the night by our wonderful (yes, really running out of words for 'amazing' now - which apparently I say all the time!!) photographer JOSEPH LEE:

Thankyou Joe and thanks to all that came- what a wonderful lot you are!

a truly magical night.

And MANY more to come...
DATE FOR THE DAIRY - 4th MARCH = Single launch @ Bloomsbury Ballroom
more dates to come - throughout THE WORLD!!! :)

Sooo much more to say...
photo, video shoots, V. exciting collaborations etc etc etc but that will just have to wait until next time!

I love you all my pretties
Fly happy
xoxoxoxoxooxxooxox
gabgab

A Video Message...

2009-11-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

Whilst wait for a few free hours to write my next bl0g I thought I'd leave you with a video message I did this week instead.

CORSET by Lee Klabin - http://leeklabin.com/
HAIR & MAKEUP by Jennifer Nash - http://www.jennifernashmakeupartist.co.uk/

A written blog WILL be coming soon. I have nearly done it on paper- I just need more hours in the day!!

Hope all is good in everyone's fur trimmed hood
Xox Gabling xoX

VINTAGE SHOPS TOUR PART II- Beyond Retro

2009-11-06T06:09:00.000-08:00

Good day blogglings!
I have started the day the best way- walking in the autumn sun across Hampstead Heath with my lovely, but oh so naughty, jack russell puppy- Hobbes!

This is him:

Yes there is a possibility that
A- he is the cutest dog EVER
B - not entirely jack russell (we like to think he has a bit of Corgi in him too!)

Isn't he adorable?! He is currently sleeping on my knees! Awwww...

ANYWAAAAAY! What am I doing? Gabby! This is not a HobbesBlog... pull yourself together girl.

I have a tour to report and some exciting news.

Last Monday (2/11/09) THE EVENING STANDARD printed this:

(NB, The Standard forgot to credit LEONORA SAUNDERS for this amazing photo)

It was THE MIDDLE PAGE SPREAD and sooooo exciting!!! I thought it was going to be little pic and article I had no idea it would look like that- so yes I was a teensy weensy bit overexcited so much so that Stephen refused to let me drive after nearly crashing in my mental state driving round north London to pick up copies of the paper - sooo didn't realise how hard they are to get hold of after 4pm!!!

What happened the next day managed to top even that as I had an interview with THE SUNDAY TIMES... I won't say anymore but please look out for me in next weeks edition (15th Nov)

eek and eek!

RIGHT now to the VINTAGE SHOPS TOUR:

After Manchester's wonderful Vintage Fair next was a double whammy of BEYOND RETRO gigs...

15th October @ Beyond Retro LAUNCH, Brighton
For those of you that haven't squeezed round the aisles of vintage treats in the London Beyond Retro stores let me just say that you should definately put it on your 'to do before I die' list- its that amazing!!
Whats even more amazing is Brighton's brand spanking new Beyond Retro shop- its BEAUTIFUL!
This time we were a full 8 piece band - yes I had ALL my animals- and I wasn't allowed out of the backstage area (or 'van' as most call it!) until they started playing - yes, I like to make an entrance! So when I walked in to the first bars of 'Umm' I saw the shop in all it's sequinned, striped and frilly glory and I was blown away by it and by the packedness of it- the place was rammed. Beautiful and full- I knew this would be a good gig.
Reports had come back to the van for me and Jen (who was busy drawing a burlesque lady on my chest -see pics!) that the stage was 'above the shop' on a sort of balcony and it was- we played looking over the shop- it was like 'birds eye shopping' for me- I couldn't help but get distracted my the ballgowns hanging on the walls!!
Everyone was vibing in the band and the audience and they even quietened down for the beginning of 'Maybe' which was an unexpected treat - to have a silent busy shop for a few minutes is a rare, wonderful thing! I actually spied some people singing along to my lyrics!!! YEY!
Needless to say I LOVED THIS GIG- I sadly don't have pictures of us on stage (yet?!) but here is what the shop looks like - see the balcony where we played:

Here's some nice pro shots of me and band members:

Me & Rory Shaw (trumpet) and with my lovely man Stephen Ellis (guitarist/multi-instrumentalist)
Photos by www.garage-studios.co.uk

oh and to see a closer view of what Jen did with my hair/ makeup etc...

and these were on my new iphone!!

That was a Thursday- I don't remember what happened on the Friday after- I think I went to work and showed off the pinup girl body art!

But SATURDAY we did it all again... sort of.
17th October @ Beyond Retro, London

London is an all together different kettle of trendy hipsters when it comes to Vintage Shops- this makes it a tougher gig as the people that are there are there to shop and look cool and occasionally glance at the 8 piece band playing their hearts out! I was so happy the the lovely girls from Vintage Secret came as they were a very welcome addition to the little gaggle of people interested in live music gathering around us. I know I seem sarcastic but seriously I always leave East London feeling a little rejected and not cool enough! ANYWAY- we did play our hearts out and get a bag of vintage clothes for free so it was a great gig afterall!!

A selection of pics (one of my favourite costumes to date - including the dress I got FOR FREE at Brighton's store! I think Jen excelled herself!!)

Oh yes that was the BIG bonus of playing Beyond Retro stores - we got paid in CLOTHES- beautiful vintage clothes. So far I have added 2 dresses, a furry hat and scarf to my wardrobe! YEY... A HUGE thankyou to Diana and everyone at both Beyond Retro shops for having us- we hope to see you again soon!

Thats all folks...
NEXT UP....
THE ALBUM LAUNCH @ BUSH HALL

Lots of love and puppy yawns from Hobbes
xoX gabbitha Xox

THE VINTAGE SHOPS TOUR PART I

2009-10-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

I know, I know its been a long time since my last blog.
I am guilty of being stupidly busy...
I'm sorry but also I'm excited.

A LOT has happened recently... I can't tell you about all the things yet but I will tell you that we were on BBC RADIO 2 last week which was AMAZING- so exciting to hear our single on the car radio!! And the TOUR BEGAN! Oh and I got a proper job in a beautiful clothes shop - I needed to pay the rent and it seems a fitting place to do so!

Oh oh annnnd THIS:

So yes a busy busy bee.

DAY ONE of VINTAGE SHOPS TOUR:
10th October @ Vintage Fair, Manchester Metropolitan University
Me, Stephen and Jen left London at 8am and tried to stay awake for 4 hours till the 'Manchester Metropolitan University' sign was a few feet in front of us...
What a great fair - amazing stalls of accessories, clothes, cupcakes and incredible fascinators (one of which I now own thankyou to lovely Stephen!)
We set up on a little stage just by the walkway through the fair and our audience including my dad and sister stood the other side of the room which made for an interesting gig!! Jen did her usual magic on my hair and makeup and I wore my mum's old mint dress and Marc Jacobs stilettos that I couldn't walk in!!

After the show we went shopping, of course, well browsing due to lack of funding... it was at this point that I suddenly realised that this vintage tour idea was a dangerous one for my shopping habit!!
Then Jen and Stephen left for London with my guitar in the car... which I later remembered I needed for a radio session in Manchester the next day - WHOOPSADAISY!!
Luckily my sister lives in Manc and has a very talented musician boyfriend who is incredibly generous and owns a beautiful electro-acoustic Tanglewood guitar- PHEW!

We had a family night out at a yummy Italian restaurant with me, dad, sister, her boyfriend and our 2 cousins who happened to be in Manchester that weekend too... what great timing, eh?! The timing was SO good in fact that I managed to blag a bed in the hotel my dad was in, only THE nicest hotel in Manchester- The Palace- HOLEY MOLEY this place was incredible- very art deco and BIG, very big. Somehow we were upgraded to a double suite which meant we both had king sized beds- wow! This amazing luck was slightly dampened at 1am when the fire alarm went off and woke us... I admit dad and I are not good in an emergency... we just sleepily wandered round our room wondering what to do!! When we finally got wrapped up warm and stepped out the door the alarm stopped... apparently it was a false alarm because a customer was (and I quote) "using the shower too hard" !!!!! ?????? !!!!!!

The next day after a yummy "free" cooked breakfast we trundled off with the borrowed guitar to the Lowry theatre where I joined the BBC Manchester crew to read through the Sunday papers live on air with the DJ Andy Crane , Comedian Ruth Cockborn and Politician Matthew (I fully admit I never found out his surname, sorry!) they were all lovely and although I'm not exactly a connoisseur of current affairs- it went well and was good fun. Oh and I played 3 songs- just me and the borrowed guitar...

Our journey home was a long one...traaaaaaaaffic all the way.

So THAT was Manchester!

Xox Gabspell xoX

PS. that lovely photo was by my talented sister NICKY YOUNG

DRESS FOR LESS

2009-09-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

I have a new addiction...
EBAY - well, not new, I have had this addiction for a while. It started with Vinyl - I bought a collection of 200+ from The Pixies to Nat King Cole's Christmas Hits - even The Muppets Picture Disc!! Then I got into DVDs... I was very much a gadget girl too and all of which I could find cheaply on EBAY - even my microphones that I used to record my 'bedroom demos' arrived in the mail with a paypal invoice!

Then... one day I needed a smart pair of high heels for a party - I was about 18 and all my 'heels' were disgusting lime green wedges or clumpy Doc Martens - I was a bit grungy, to say the least! So I looked on the internet and discovered a whole new world on there...

Clothes shopping on EBAY!
It started my longest love affair...

Recently I have have an influx of post and its all because of a discovery of an EBAY shop - Dress 4 Less where every item of clothing is £5 each and guess what?... there is some REALLY nice stuff there- I am trying hard not to check everyday for new items.
My best 2 buys from them are these... so far:

£5 each!!!

OK so they were cheap but I have had some amazing luck with FREE CLOTHES recently - which is even better for my (very angry) band manager right now.

YES, more FREECYCLE beauties!! I picked up 3 black bags of clothes last week and there are some real gems in there. The others that I'm not so into/don't fit/suit me aren't going to waste though... I have a new project : GABBY YOUNG MAKES THINGS (working title- *please let me know if you have any ideas for this*)
I have finally started using my sewing machine (another amazing freebie!) to customise lots of great items to be my new merch range... I'm not going to say too much yet but they will be for sale online and at all my gigs- oh and EVERY piece will be a complete one off!

Which ties me in nicely with my exciting news for the week... (seems like a good time for a drumroll!! ;o)
I can finally tell you about something my manager and I have been brewing up - a VINTAGE CLOTHES SHOP TOUR!!

Well we have a album and single coming out and I love to tour, and I'm not such a big fan of a lot of smelly music venues across the country so it makes sense to take this show on the road to my favourite places across the country- shops!

Some of these will be solo, some of them will be with the band but ALL of them will have clothes, lots of clothes, amazing hair and makeup (the lovely Jen is joining me for the whole thing!!) And all of them will be different - I will be asking suggestions for set lists and outfits nearer the time.

I really want lots of people to be involved with this and if you are someone that is reading this thinking - 'I live in Newcastle and would love Gabby to wear to knitted hat and mittens for her gig there' then write to me - gabby@gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com ...although mittens may make guitar playing pretty tricky... but you get the idea!!

So here is the GIG LIST:

SATURDAY 10TH OCTOBER - VINTAGE FAIR @ MANCHESTER MET UNIVERSITY
THURSDAY 22ND OCTOBER - *ALBUM LAUNCH* @ BUSH HALL
OK, so it not exactly a shop but I have ways and means... so we have having stalls of fashion, art and crafts (this deserves a blog in itself so watch this space!)
FRIDAY 23RD OCTOBER - FLASHBACK BOUTIQUE, LIVERPOOL
SATURDAY 31ST OCTOBER - STYLE AND THE CITY, PORTSMOUTH
FRIDAY 20TH NOVEMBER - BLUE RINSE, LEEDS (TBC)
SATURDAY 21ST NOVEMBER - BLUE RINSE, MANCHESTER (TBC)
SATURDAY 28TH NOVEMBER, BETWEEN THE BUTTONS, NEWCASTLE
SATURDAY 5TH DECEMBER - MOTEL, BRISTOL
SUNDAY 13TH DECEMBER - BANG BANG VINTAGE, SHEFFIELD

STILL TO COME - BIRMINGHAM, EDINBURGH AND CARDIFF
***If you have any ideas for this tour - ie, other shops that might be happy to have us or designers that may want to lend us a piece or 2 etc etc etc.. you know who to call... GABUSTERS!! aka: gabby@gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com

Now to end with some slightly shaky pictures from our last gig- a very special night @ Monkey Chews. Hair and Make- up by the ever lovely Jen Nash and dress by DRESS 4 LESS (on Ebay!)

(I did say they were shaky!)

Love and customised denim roses
xoxooxo gabalos xoxooxox

I'VE BEEN RANKED!!

2009-08-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

So I was going to blog a few hours ago... I was sat down with a cup of Peppermint tea and a re-run of America's Next Top Model and ready to blahblahblah online BUT THEN . . ...... (=dun dun duuuuhn)
I got an email... a FREECYCLE email saying

OFFER: Various vintage clothing items

so naturally I typed quicker than Bolt running and replied that I would love to take these off her asap. In a few minutes I had the reply I prayed for:

"Hi Gabby,

Would love to see the clothes go to a good home - when can you come?"

WOOOOOOOOOH!!

So I decided to go and pick up the bag of FREE VINTAGE CLOTHES before blogging!
They are beautiful!
Looky here:

I feel soooo lucky- I'm doing well with my new wardrobe - FOR FREE!!
YEY!

OK so this might be 'GABBY HAS GOOD NEWS' blog as the next bit was yet again another exciting email that made me literally jump up and scream - " WOWEEE" and " $^*%" and other things (CENSORED)
As last week I got invited to have a photo shoot with none other than RAAAAANKIIIIIN (Rankin) as part of RankinLive - I was over the moon, and the stars, and the sun and the universe to be involved!

Before I teared apart my wardrobe I decided to Facebook and twitter "what should I wear to the Rankin shoot?" and my guardian angels and allround lovely girls from Vintage Secret replied saying they want to help and style me for the shoot so I met up with Naomi outside the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane with a huge bag of beautiful garments and we went inside to meet the Rankin crew.

I was a little nervous (do you blame me?!) and practically shaking when I was asked- how I wanted to look by the hair and makeup artists- I just mumbled something like "I normally go for edgy and eccentric but I'd love to see what you would like to do with me" then I heard the words "big, messy hair, wind machine and black eyeliner" and I knew I was in great hands!!

After a FREE FRINGE TRIM (bonus!!) and my hair backcombed and my lids swept with pitch black M.A.C fluidline (which I bought for myself hours later) it was time to change into my outfit.

I am no good at decisions and I feel bad for Naomi as she brought along so much to try on but I realised pretty quickly after getting there that I was only allowed one outfit for the shoot and no time to choose or even look at the others, so I went with the tiniest dress in the collection- silly Gabby!!

I don't even think I should tell anyone this but it was hilarious so I will.
The next 10 minutes was spent with me face down on the bathroom floor with both my boyfriend and Naomi on top of me trying to zip me into the dress!! haha- a poor unexpecting lady walked in and looked quite shocked by these odd goings on- who knows how THAT looked!!!
I GOT IN (just)! I was just no longer able to breathe!!
Then I was whisked off for the actual shoot- aghhh
The rest is pretty much a blur- there was Rankin and his crew and bright lights and a lot of Rankin saying "chin down, smile with your eyes, CHIN DOWN, good, CHIIIN DOWN!!" There were lots of people about watching the shoot and all the photos came up on screen straight after each shot- I was spurred on by gasps and oohs and ahhs and suddenly was in my element! All those ANTM watching sessions were paying off and I think I'm at liberty to say that I was FIERCE! It was awesome.
I was extra lucky to be able to have a second shoot with my man, the lovely Stephen (from REVERE) and was even more relaxed... enough to bite his tongue on camera!! (I knew Rankin would want to sex it up so I was expecting that one!)
So needless to say I LOVE the pictures- we were allowed to choose 1 pic from each shoot (bloomin hard choice) and got to have a wander round the exhibition muttering "I can't believe he just photographed US!!" whilst oogling his portraits of so many luminaries including Bowie, Bjork, Tori Amos and Radiohead!!!

Rankin was a lovely guy also- we were lucky enough to have a chat with him and I handed out CDs to him and the crew (it would have been foolish to pass up that opportunity...)

I can't show you the pictures just yet but here is one of Rankin himself, Stephen and I:

Anyway... it was a special week and this one is shaping up to be the same especially as yesterday the doorbell rang, I answered and the man on the other side of the door said: "Are you Gabby Young? I have a delivery of 1000 CDS for you."
YES! MY ALBUM HAS ARRIVED! IT IS HAPPILY SITTING IN MY HALLWAY READY TO GO OFF TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE...
If you want it before the release date (2nd November) please become an animal...

So what am I wearing right now?!
A HUGE SMILE!
and that's the best thing I can suggest everyone to wear as much as possible!!!!

ooodles of love and life's little excitements!
xoxoxoox gabalot xxoxoxooxox

SO MUCH SHOUTING, SO MUCH LAUGHTER...

2009-08-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

Woh... festivals seriously take it out of me. I am lying here surrounded by olbas oil tissues, throat sweets and a half full/empty cup of lemsip feeling a bit sorry for myself.
The good news is: it isn't swine flu (though I was worried for a bit there...)
The bad news is: this happens to me everytime I have a bit of time off -I get ill :o(
I am NOT happy bunny!!

What I WAS meant to be doing today was the big wardrobe clearout... the plan is to only keep what I would be happy doing a gig in and give the rest away (to charity and friends) but that will have to wait... and believe me I will be blogging about it...

So I don't want to bore you with my ailments lets focus on the good, the bad and THE FASHION...
I have so much to tell you about, but for now I will recount the recent
FESTIVALS and VIDEO SHOOT

This summer has been MENTAL... I have performed at a different festival every weekend so far including LATITUDE where I wore this:

...mainly to fit in with the locals!!
( NB, This picture was taken before my hair and makeup was done... stars around the eye with silver glitter and butterflies in my hair)

Then we did the video shoot where I got to wear 4 different outfits/ looks - from clown to 70s fairy goddess! The amazing Jennifer Nash did my hair and makeup -she is THE loveliest girl and does wonders!
I will only show you a sneak preview as I want the video to be a surprise!!!

(Thats me & Jen - the 'crime fighting' duo!)

Next was SECRET GARDEN PARTY... We had an amazing time there and I got to wear my FAVOURITE bright stripey boating jacket that I think fitted in very well...
(I was always laughed at for liking this jacket and have had it for years but finally it found it's place! YEY!)
Sadly I don't have a picture of said jacket but I do have one I found on the net of our gig on Sunday night in the Living Room tent complete with a gorgeous pillbox hat I bought that day at the festival ...

This gig ended with a few of our musicians friends joining us onstage with percussion and mayhem conceded! It was great... even if we did have to politely ask the drunk guy who tried to sing the song with me to leave the stage and my mic alone!!

We also played a full band plus Jamie Doe (from Magic Lantern) in the tiniest tent in the festival (apart from Yusufs '2 man tent' cheapy from Tesco- hahahah!) for HUNGAMUNGA, our favourite promoters and arty folk) ... I say TENT , we actually all ended up amongst the crowd gathering outside...

Other highlights included: Seeing Yusuf WIN the dance-off!
(NB, thats our new Trombone player!)
Fiona Bevan (made me weep like a baby)
Magic Lantern
Mark Hole
Rodriguez Y Gabriela

I LOVE SECRET GARDEN PARTY!

Next up was STANDON CALLING where we played on the MAIN STAGE!!
I turned up with my manager at 10am on Sunday (I was too busy with the album artwork to stay this time)
I have never felt so pampered... I was escorted to our OWN backstage cabin where the lovely Jen was waiting to do my hair and makeup...

Then she added some details to every band member and lent me a BEAUTIFUL hat...
It was a great gig and with that huge stage and dry ice smoke- I felt like I got a glimpse of what the future could be like for us (fingers crossed eh?!)

(pic by SAUL ANTHONY)

So that pretty much wraps things up for now...
I think the lemsip is working so I might manage the clear-out afterall... I will also be searching for the best possible outfit for some gypsy madness for our gig at THE LEXINGTON on Saturday night... it's going to be epic!

Oh there was one other thing... I wanted your help...
I have lost my favourite hair accessory - my big beautiful butterfly, that I got in Seattle :(
I don't expect anyone to go 'I FOUND IT' but I thought if I posted a picture than someone might know where I can get one... or, even better, might be able to make me another??!! Its made out of tights and wire but I'm no good with that crafty stuff... I'm all about ideas!

This is the best pic I can find of it (the large one on the top):

Love and lemsip
xoxoxoox gabsniff xoxoxooxox

PS, Next blog won't be all pictures of me me me ... I promise!

VINTAGE SECRET

2009-07-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am a few days late with this blog but my excuses are VERY good.
1) Shooting the music video was a manic rush- a very exciting wonderful one- but MANIC (more on this later)
2)I was at LATITUDE FESTIVAL on Friday (and yes... more on this in a bit too!)
3)I have been planning something rather huge and wonderful that I am not allowed to talk about for a while but wowzers it's exciting!

So... last Wednesday I went to visit two lovely ladies by the names of Katie Antoniou and Naomi Thompson in the prettiest vintage apartment in Hackney. They go by the alias of Vintage Secret and although I may be divulging this fabulous secret, I can't help it... I was like a kid in a candy shop!!

These beautiful queens of vintage left me rifle through the chiffon, velvet, lace and feathers of the amazing dress collection:

I tried many on- here are some choices that we pulled out.

I ended up wearing 2 of the dresses in the music video shoot and this spangly jumper:
at Latitude which gathered up a host of awesome feedback everywhere!

The girls were so friendly and made me feel wonderfully welcome, pampered and even had tea and cakes on hand- it was a lovely experience and I fully suggest you go see what they have online or try some personal styling.

KATIE NAOMI

www.vinta gesecr et.com

and their blog, feat. your's truly!:
http://vintagesecretblog.blogspot.com/

Thank you ladies!!

X Gabs X

Next up... pictures and blogglings from the video shoot...

INSPIRATION FOR THE UPCOMING VIDEO SHOOT

2009-07-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Good day campers!
I have had a lovely couple of days planning my image for our new video for "We're All In This Together". The shoot is Saturday and Sunday and I have been having all kinds of fun choosing my hair, make-up and clothes...

Here are a few inspirational ideas for the hair:

I love the way this is off the face but still big, messy and beautiful and I do love my ornaments!

Then make-up:

So after hours of this internet research I met up with Jennifer- my new hair/make-up lady and she is AMAZING- she already had all the same ideas and we got all girly and excited about creating the looks- can't wait to see how it turns out!! She even helped me pick out the outfits so we can match them up which saves me from the 2am rush of pulling out all the clothes in my wardrobe the night before the shoot! THANK YOU JEN!!

The clothes deserve their own blog which is coming up tomorrow!
Excitingles!!
xox gablet xox

ARTROCKER ARTICLE...

2009-07-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I would start my blog with my biggest fashion article to date -
ARTROCKER MARCH 2009:

(Click on picture to see it big)

DAY ONE...

2009-07-12T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hello...
so it's 2am in London and I thought it's about time to BEGIN what I have been planning on doing for a while now... my very own style blog!
I didn't think I was quite the person for this at first as I don't see myself as 'fashionable' but I do like to be original and I love the edgy fashion world and friends, fans, my band and my mum insisted I start an online diary of my on and off stage outfits and style ideas/ tips etc...
So here goes...

I can't promise it will be good...
I can't promise it will be life changing...
I can't promise I will be punctual and organised enough to do this every day, or even every week!

BUT
I can promise I will devote my time and energy and la la la love into it...
And I will TRY TRY TRY to make it as interesting, inspiring and beautiful as I can.

Enjoy!
Oodles of love and circus striped tights,
Gabby
xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoox