Friday 31 October 2008

How EC became a headz





The ubiquitous cult of celebrity is a supersaturated vat of mediocrity. Yet amongst the tell tale baby bumps, and insider sources I must admit to my interest being piqued by paps of those wearing more underground labels (take note, that for BAPE this only applies pre 200/1). One name that frequently pops up in threads along the lines of “celebs seen wearing...” is Eric Clapton. His patronage of Visvim etc is by no means news to fellow otaku, but I have been a bit lost as to how it started for him. So whilst browsing the shelves of my local library today I chanced upon his autobiography and was pleased to find it indexed.

After the end of a turbulent relationship and a fire in is London house he sought to make a fresh start in many aspects of his life. Eric writes”...I woke up to what was happening with street fashion too. It was weird, because a lot of it tied in with the old fifties and sixties street look that I would wear with the Yardbirds - Levi’s and wind breakers, hoods and sneakers...”. He goes on to write...”I started looking at graffiti art, and began collecting it. It was like a whole new world had opened up to me, the only problem was , I felt I was too old to be getting into this. I hated the idea that I was this old guy, trying to come across as a hip young street dude, but the culture was drawing me in, it was powerful and I felt like I understood it. What could I do? I was hooked again.” So true Eric, so true.

Living in Chelsea and with this new found interest it was no surprise that he went onto befriend the folks at Fly (RIP). Now this is news to me, but those of you who remember Choke clothing may not have realised that Eric was on board with “me [EC] sharing most of the design duties”. With time Choke folded. It was through Fly’s Simon and his friend Michael Koppelman he met Hiroshi Fujiwara and Hiroki Nakamura, “...and over the last few years we have become friends.” On Visvim “...these are the clothes I wear every day, they are simple and beautifully designed.”

Monday 27 October 2008

Hobbies Weekly





I have a fascination for people’s hobbies, so when I chanced upon a selection of Hobbies Weekly from 1955 and 56 in a junk shop in Lyme Regis a few weekends ago I had to have them. There’s an innocence to both the tone of the magazines and the projects within, despite being less than a decade on from the most harrowing of times. Many of the projects now seem anachronistic, whether it be a pipe rack or a home made extension lead. Others are prophetic; “Save pounds and pounds on furnishings with Wren Craft” reads one add - “Home assembled furniture. Just fit the ready-made parts together.” yeah right, like that would ever catch on.

Thursday 16 October 2008

Figaro



I have spotted this car on several occasions around the village I work in and fell in love with it. Initially I thought it was a classic car then I thought it must be a kit, but then to my surprise I saw it sported a Nissan badge. Its turns out this is the ‘91 Nissan Figaro, designed by Shoji Takahashi, part of the Nissan’s special development team, the Pike Factory. It would seem that the trappings of Japanese collectables extend to cars, with only 20,000 made, in four colours, Topaz Mist being limited to 2,000 models. Its a turbo automatic and not exactly going to wow the petrol heads, but it sure looks cool.

Friday 10 October 2008

James Jarvis with...



“We don't do collaborations very often. When we do we are either very well paid or we have very strong ties with our partners” Russell Waterman, Amos Toys blog

Bemused by this quip I decided to compile a list of the JJ/Amos collabs; I shall leave it to you to decide which were for the money.

plastic collab checklist...

Silas x BxH Martin
King Ken - Clutter Magazine colour way
Mini King Ken Strangeco Comicon colour way
Kubrick Martin and World of Pain (Medicom)
Bearbrick King Ken (Medicom)
Nokia Office Archetypes
Sony Time Capsule Juvenile Delinquents
Sillything Leon
Nike x Stussy Leon
Chapel of Dawn Wrestling Elves
King Kun - BxH

Monday 6 October 2008

Cult Flicks and Trash Pics



In the mid 90s I picked up some terrific film books that proved to be formative and guiding. Reaffirming my beliefs and guiding me to pastures new these books opened up a pre web world of wonder. Amongst these were two awesome titles by Videohound - “Cult Flicks and Trash Pics” and “Idiot’s Delight: 100 dumbest movies of all time”. I can say with some confidence that I have enjoyed some really, really dumb movies of late. When I list Shoot Em Up, Resident Evil 3, Smokin’ Aces, some Segal etc etc. you could only but agree. I do lose some points as I haven’t watch a Jason Streatham film for several months now. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across a gem of stupidity that would fit nicely in both Videohound’s tombs on the latest release shelf at Woolies. Jack Brook’s Monster Slayer is like a Troma film with a budget that stretches to hiring Robert Englund. How good is it that people are still making films like this?!

Saturday 4 October 2008

Originals!



These Clarks Originals are certainly striking. Kudos to the person who thought their Desert Boots were too plain and realised what was needed was not just gingham, but a brogue detailing too. These were not samples either. I spotted these at my local Clarks Outlet store, where I feel you are far more likely to find their Originals than any of their High St stores in the UK. They seem to stock models that aren't for the UK market too and I have had some good finds over the years, but these take the cake. DId I get them? The need for gingham brogues just isn't there at the moment...