Sat 4th Aug: A day at Bicester Village

Whilst I was holed up in the insane waves of  spectators in the Westfield centre at Stratford, my roving reporter Emily Beard went on an alternative adventure under her own steam, out of Marylebone to Bicester Village.  This boutique shopping village isn't far from town but far enough to escape the Olympic crowds and chaos for a peaceful day of retail therapy.  Here are her snaps of the styles on sale within the cross-section of stores including one of my fave Matthew Williamson red and pink prints, EK hazard patterns and the Fendi shoes I customized and prop-styled into a giff for AnOther "Objects Of Desire" last year. 
Head over to the site to find details of brands you can find at Bicester and check out my last blog post from the day I went to visit the British Designers Collective with a  Bistrotheque lunchbox! 

Friday 3rd Aug: ADIDAS All In 2012 customizers - TeamFB for Fencing

Here is my last post from my time as an ADIDAS customizer at the Olympic Games and the brief for this fencing shoe was to encapsulate the idea of the eyes of the world on London.  ADIDAS asked me to visualise the notion of the international audience focusing on the best athletes in the universe as they smash records across every discipline............... therefore we painted a ping-pong ball with the globe map and used the world flags as fabric to construct a keyring.  Watch Ian Pons Jewell's film to hear more of my explanation which I had to record mid-flow of sewing ........... and also see my fab teamFB in shot - Rosy and Keely who are the best in their game and win gold for performance in my own invented sport of simply being rad!  Thanks girls!!!!

Keep up to date with all of the customizers each day in the films to come over at All in. All 2012.

Fri 3rd Aug: ADIDAS All In 2012 customizers - TeamFB for MKS Official

On our second day we were given a pair of ADIDAS red wrestling boots which Mutya from MKS Official (original Sugarbabes trio formation) had picked out to be blinged up with pattern, studs and crystals............. by the end of the day and some spray paint and rolls of African wax cotton later this is what we came up with..........

Fri 3rd Aug: ADIDAS All In 2012 customizers - General Vibes

General vibes down at the Olympics ADIDAS lounge in Stratford where athletes come to get there bespoke shoes attended to and even customized if they wish.  Here is NASH fixing Louis Smith's bronze medal ribbon which was an exciting  article to be brought in by the man himself when he came for a live Q&A on the emotional experience of winning.  We are privee to many talks which we can overhear whilst stitching away ............ or use the forecourt space when the press have cleared out inbetween to have a little kick about with our spare Olympic footballs..........

Thurs 2nd Aug: ADIDAS All In 2012 customizers - TeamFB for Stella McCartney

Whilst customizer Craig Green was teamed with David Beckham, I drew the Stella McCartney straw and was designated the designer behind the official ADIDAS GB kit.  Stella came in to meet me and pick her favourite pair of training shoes to give a brief of what she would like.  Choosing the sprinter style, she asked me to create a structure to fill the negative space behind the heel when its up on its toe to make a new wedge silhouette.  As an accessories designer I approached the mission to make a separate component  so that she could still wear the shoe and have a keepsake memento artifact as an additional ornament.  Her other wish was that I kept the colour palette "in the world of red" so when we knew Louis Smith was dropping by we asked him to bring in some of his red kit from winning bronze for the GB gymnastic team the previous day.  We set about cutting up his shirts and patchworking them into dodecahedron shapes to mimic sports balls and also fit perfectly to my signature style as Stella's prints are geometric and in keeping with materials I usually select.  Here is the result which we managed to finish for 7pm on the dot for her to pick up before she skipped to another studio at Stratford straight into a live interview with Gary Lineker on the BBC.  It was very surreal having just given her the gift I had been intensely sewing all day to finally sit down and look up at the big screen in the ADIDAS lounge to see her on the TV.  I think that sums up my whole experience of that day, from touching Louis's incredible medal and chopping up his actual kit to hand back to the original designer in a completely new format.  The pressure was on working against the clock like Count Down , every stitch being monitored by the camera crew but I just took a deep breath and counted myself lucky I wasn't actually one of the athletes having to perform 4 years of training in one go infront of the whole world's live audience!!!!  That perspective made it all possible!  Massive props to TeamGB and their success so far ............ looking swag all the way in their Stella McCartney kit! 

Find out more about this particular customisation over on Grazia, Wonderland Magazine.

Thanks to Rosy Nicholas and Keely Hunter for being on TeamFB <3 nbsp="nbsp">

(Ian Pons Jewell and Doug pictured on the filming)

Thurs 2nd Aug: ADIDAS All In 2012 customizers - Craig Green

Here is Craig Green on his final of three days in the customising zone at ADIDAS in the Olympic park putting his midas touch to a pair of weightlifting shoes by turning them into a gold dumbbell.  He had to step up to the mark on his first day taking on the ultimate challenge of being thrown David Beckham's kicks to make into a narrative of his life story.  Watch Ian Pons Jewell's documentary clip which explains the process from putting the map of east London on the sole to branding the leather with his birthdate.  Each designer is being put to the test of having to come up with the goods in just one day to answer the brief of capturing the current story of each moment as it unfolds - in this case, David visiting the ADIDAS photobooth to surprise fans................... see more here.

(Craig working with his team Helen Price and Helen Lawerence)