Friday 9th August: Gary Card's "Abandoned Amusement Park Attraction" @ Eternal Youth

Since Gary Card once exhibited a sculpture tunnel of plasticine faces at Spring Studios, he has been  morphing his signature shape shifting characters into a stand-alone solo show.  His illustrative style has come alive, off the canvas and crafted in 3D form with his trademark wire'n'tape technique.  You may have seen his figurative props popping up in shoots, events and installations - now honed into his first fine-art debut.  The space for the occasion is Eternal Youth on Kingsland Road set in the heart of his East London haunts.  Head down before 21st to have a look and perhaps meet the man yourself!

Follow Eternal Youth for gallery updates & general coconut water goodness on Twitter here.

(Photos by Ciara Clark and Nicci James)

Thursday 8th August: Spoek Mathambo at WOMAD festival

This time two years ago I was sewing lots of swirly seams for my sea creature SS/11 collection ........... and now the wavy big blue sea jacket has come out from the depths of the archive to resurface for a live performance.  Harris Elliott borrowed the billowy number for "Afro-Futurist" artist Spoek Mathambo when he came to the UK for the Womad Festival.  Here are Harris's snaps of Spoek and Remi Kabaka backstage wearing some KTZ and Jeremy Scott for Adidas.  If you don't already know Spoek's music ..... go HERE.

(Bottom photo I have lifted from Fault Magazine  by Ilana Garry)

Weds Aug 7th: BARBIE OPENS HER FIRST SHOP IN SELFRIDGES

BARBIE OPENS HER FIRST SHOP IN SELFRIDGES SHOWCASING DOLLS

DRESSED BY FRED BUTLER, NASIR MAZHAR, AND SISTER BY SIBLING

Barbie asked me to dress five dolls to be sold as special one-offs as a launch for her new home within Selfridges's Toy Shop which launched this week.  I gave each one a different identity so the collection ended up looking a little bit like a girl group!  The other two London designers in the project are SISTER by SIBLING and Nasir Mazhar who made their Barbies into miniature perfect versions of their collections.  The detail of the knitwear sets and logo tracksuits are so cute!!

Here are snaps from when I finished my girls outfits at my studio and hair-stylist Sami Knight came in to transform their hair.  He straightened their curls and gave them a super slick angular bob to top off my cosmic creations.  As hairstylist to Iggy Azalea I thought he would be the perfect artist for the job, used to taming a long ponytail!! Here you can also see a couple of snaps of the dedicated Barbie department where a central totem pole-style display is housing the dolls.  Head down to Selfridges to see for yourself and check out the whole 4th floor of toys!

Monday 5th August: BLOG TAKEOVER Ciara and Nicci hit BRIXTON SPLASH

  
We headed over to Brixton Splash yesterday for a day of Reggae, rum and music. Carnival fever was definitely in the air.

Brixton Splash is a free street festival led by the local community. The event celebrates the area’s diversity, its progress through the years and the fusion of the wide range of ethnic groups that now call Brixton home. It is a celebration of peaceful relations, vibrant living in Brixton and Brixton’s contribution to the wider London culture.

Brixton splash proved to be the perfect warm up for Notting Hill carnival (which we can't wait for!)

Now recovering at Fred Butler HQ, this has been a blog take over from Ciara and Nicci.

Sunday 4th August: BLOG TAKEOVER - Y-3 I Love Thee: Y-3 Turns 10 and Opens New Covent Garden Store.

Sports Luxe is a term that, over the past ten years, has planted itself firmly within fashion's central vocabulary, and it's no coincidence that this year marks the 10th Birthday of Adidas’s Y-3; a brand that has consistently played an essential role in the haute sport fashion revolution.

As Covent Garden’s Floral Street welcomes the label's 2^nd London branch (along with the arrival of a new collection) the brand continues to push sportswear further into the fashion realm than ever before, infiltrating the industry by incorporating cutting edge sports garment technology into the fashion forward designs of creative mastermind, Yohji Yamamoto.

Yamamoto takes this idea of going beyond the functionality of sportswear even further, creating a somewhat theatrical fashion-sports- fusion spectacle. And this effect is not only seen in Yamamoto’s diverse designs, but in every aspect of the Y-3 aesthetic, from their campaigns and their catwalks, to their in-store merchandising; the new Covent Garden store, which is housed within a Grade II listed building, features futuristic Erco developed tailored lighting and 360 view mirrored walls.

Y-3’s accomplished brand identity has not only achieved and sustained a viable concept, but the brand still succeeds in remaining true to itself and its urban ties as it continues to move forwards. The latest campaign features an ingenious interactive fashion film that is controlled through a computer keyboard; in a system that works in a similar way to that of an electronic midi keyboard as used by music producers, it allows the viewer to ‘compose’ their own version of the film. This is done using number and letter keys to rearrange the the order and tempo of the visuals and soundtrack; almost as if the viewer is remixing the collection. Which is what, in theory, we as consumers actually do; we see a collection, we buy pieces, we team them with other pieces, we give them alternative accompaniments. It’s the same piece, but different, like a remix. It is precisely this kind of creative mentality that keeps Y-3 at the forefront of fashion sportswear innovation, and connects the fashion of today to the fashion of the future.

Y-3 is at 12 Floral Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DH and is open now.

Words and pictures by Amy Lee