The Unidentified Rocker: fblog

If a rock star was a sofa it would probably be a Chesterfield. Fact. I’ve been wanting one of these beauties for so long and finally I have found the one for me. This is a momentous day, so momentous you’re all getting to hear about it now on my blog! Initially I walked straight past him in the shop, never even realising he was there, spotting him on the second pass and knowing he was the sofa for me and getting the bargain of the century!

So let me introduce to you, my new couch, this is the Chesterfield of my dreams and yes I’ve decided to do a full post about it! Not necessarily telling you how it was made or how comfortable it is but to show you some killer photographs I've taken in my flat. After all, it’s the second biggest thing I’ve ever bought! I must be an adult now - right?

Over the years I've seen so many cool images taken on, or around the Chesterfield sofa, so with that in mind, I thought I’d add mine to the collection. As you can see I’ve moved a few things around in the flat to make room for my legendary new sofa, the coffee table for instance was against one of the walls, has been rightfully placed in front of my new three seater and I think it looks perfect!

I was lucky enough to get my pal & photographer Dennis in on this post, which had now turned into a full on shoot in my living room. We met early Friday morning, had a coffee then started shooting. The way the flat looks at the moment is sick, I have everything I want in there now and I think Chloe and I have aced the interior decoration game, with this sofa being the final flourish!

The scene was set, incense sticks were lit and the room slowly began to fill with smoke giving the photographs a certain ambiance. I think we got some killer shots of both the Chesterfield and myself, the shoot I’d imagined in my head was starting to look pretty damn good! It was actually pretty hard to choose an outfit for this shoot as I wanted it to look as cool as possible, which blatantly meant I had to wear my leather jacket. Since I was in the comfort of my living room I thought I'd loose the shirt and just go with the necklaces, rings and my other jewellery, rock and roll.

The sofa was pretty hard to manoeuvre into the flat but after a good ten minutes and help from the legend who kindly delivered it, he was in. I think the sofa has been around a few good years so with that in mind a thorough clean was necessary. I polished and buffed him right up and as you can see he's come up a treat!
My small coffee table (yet another vintage find) is looking pretty damn good if I do say so myself. As you can guess, I'm huge fan of candles but these guys were actually harder than to finds you think, as everywhere only sell non-drip candles, no idea why? However, after finding a seller on eBay I have purchased quite a lot of these epic candles that slowly pour and dribble down anything you put them on! The roses are the main feature of the table, which were initially from Valentines day and are now totally dry. I bought these for Chloe, however, I think I’ve had more enjoyment from these than she did for the week and a half they lasted in full bloom!

The decanters arranged around the table are all from various car boot sales or second had shops. I love the etched glass and think they look better like this, than for their intended use of holding alcohol. I positioned my new pride and joy against the back wall of the living room as this is where the sun falls in the summer months, so sitting back relaxing in the sunshine is exactly what’s going to happen. I did have to move some of the frames we had on the wall as the back of the sofa is very high, but they look just as good in their new position.

Overall I think the flat is looking its sexiest, with this sofa being the final touch it needed. You can head across to my YouTube channel today where you can see a catch up with me plus a little bit more of the big red beauty!

Photographs by Gimbaa

Cheers for reading,

Leave a Comment Chesterfields, cool flats with guitars, Fashion Blogger, fblog, flats in Manchester, Manchester 70's, Manchester flats, rock and roll guys, Rock n' roll apartments, Rock n' roll interiors, Rock N' Roll Style

A few weekends back I travelled to London to catch up with my pal and main man, Mounir, who is the legend behind Mounir Ghazi Paris. I was invited down to shoot and star in his new campaign imagery and video, plus to party with him and his friends at the launch of his new e-shop at The London Edition. How can you star in and shoot the campaign I hear you ask? Oh, and how did you manage to do all when drunk?! Well, well, well, all will be answered in tonight's new post.

I remember first discovering Mounir's collection on Instagram, I came across his feed which was covered with black and white photographs like my own, and inspired by true rock n' roll. After distinguishing we both had very similar feeds we discovered that it wasn't where our similarities ended. We also shared the same outlooks on our personal style, especially when it came down to leathers.

I physically met the main man the last time he was in the U.K as he extended his visit to travel up to Manchester to shoot with CJ & I over a year ago now, since then we've kept in touch and become firm friends. As soon as I tried Mounir's collection of killer leathers the initial time, I was hooked. Their ridiculous quality, fit and the general feel you get when wearing one of Mounir's creations is unrivalled. I've featured in two shoots for the brand in past, but this shoot we captured in London was definitely the most fun!

When I arrived in the capital I walked straight around to the hotel to be greeted by Mounir himself and headed up to the hotel room. I was expecting your normal classic room but oh no, Mounir knows how to do it. Mounir scanned his jet black key card against one of the lift doors in the lobby which took us straight to the top of The London Edition's ultra cool penthouse suite, where Mounir's friend Edi was hosting his annual summer party! The night had started.

Mounir had his entire collection with him and it was perfectly displayed, hanging in the back of one of the bedrooms. The views from the penthouse were ridiculous, with each side of the large living room having its own terrace. One side looking over the houses of parliament and Big Ben, the other looking north toward the B.T Tower. The plan was to party first and when everyone went to bed, we'd start shooting.

Mounir Ghazi Paris is known for it's amazing detail and craftsmanship when it comes to leather. I've said this time and time again, but the jacket you see above is the best biker I have ever had the pleasure to wear. Mounir's black Biker Jacket is my favourite piece from his collection where its style, detail and thick weighty leather encapsulates everything rock and roll stands for. The collection takes inspiration from the 70's with his muses of the era like Jim Morrison and Keith Richards, plus the motorcycle culture of the decade.

Mounir's decided to name the campaign 'Magic Hour', which came about when partying till the early hours of the morning. We started shoot at 4:30 AM when I was extremely tired and still drunk. The start of the shoot didn't go as well as we first envisioned, the light wasn't on our side until later on. Had we partied too hard, should we have started shooting the photographs way earlier than we did? Was that last beer of mine one too far? These questions (plus a lot more) were going through our heads.

This was until 'Magic Hour'. I'm guessing this was roughly between the hours of 6-9AM that morning, I can't quite place it due to the events of the whole night. But, we got through it and these are the photographs we thought summed up the night and made for some really cool campaign imagery.

Even after partying all night long in the hotel, not sleeping and then shooting in the corridors at 5AM, this is what magic we came up with. Rock & Roll at it's finest, we actually partied like rock stars that night and wearing Mounir's leathers, I really felt like one too!