Wednesday 22nd July SHOWstudio SHop Press Day

Hello Butlerettes! Naomi Attwood here, looking after the blog this week. Hope I can manage all the technical uploading ok, and do Fred justice with some top quality reporting from the very edge of London’s fashion and creative scene.

Today I’ve been off to swanky Mayfair to SHOWstudio’s new premises to investigate the latest addition to the Show studio empire: or, as they put it in the press release: another element to their constantly evolving platform: The SHOWstudio SHOP.

As the original aim of Nick Knight’s groundbreaking website was to expose the processes that go on behind the scenes to create fashion imagery, its logical that the SHOP puts up for sale some of the props and scenery used in Knight’s shoots. Created by stylists such as Simon Costin, Shona Heath and Michael Howells who are artists in their own right; it’s awful to think of these items getting all dusty in some cupboard after the shoot has wrapped (or even end up in a skip as Nick Knight said in one interview) so now they’re up for sale individually from the Mayfair shop and online.

On the ground floor gallery you are greeted not only by not only this ferocious Bengal tiger rearing up on its hind legs, once used in the campaign for Alexander McQueen PUMA collection Crane Vs Tiger


. . . but by no small amount of heat radiating off this fantastic dollar sign, which was designed by Knight himself for a W magazine shoot in 2003, and features 178 25w bayonet lightbulbs. Phew!

These beautifully reflective cherries are artfully arranged on both floors of the gallery (can you see the dollar sign behind them?) which were made by Simon Costin for a cosmetics shoot by Tim Walker for A/W 2009.

Upstairs you can see these ghostly white animal heads; created by Michael Howell for a Dior catwalk show. . .

. .and this life size toy soldier costume by Shona Heath for a male model to wear in a VOGUE shoot.

So far so good, but it wasn’t until I was about to leave that I spotted these gorgeous embroidered boxes made by Laura Lees. How can you compile a Fred Butler post without at least one rainbow item?

Many many thanks to the SHOWstudio gang and Starworks, who were responsible for PR.

You can go online and buy the items here plus a few others on http://shop.showstudio.com/

Naomi Attwood