making the girls laugh

i can't remember what i said

but it must have been funny

they are laughing with me right ?

right ?

crush

just a small advert in the old argentine newspaper my mum gave to me.

nice fonts eh ?

i like that the word 'fresh' uses a different typeface.

it would make a nice t-shirt don't you think ?

talking of t-shirts... big news to come from n7 in 2013.

duckboots

do you like duckboots ?

i'm a big fan of nike af-1 duckboots.

they're like 4 wheel drive versions of af-1's.

in winter i think they are the way to go. you can trash them more than

your regular af-1's and they keep bouncing back.
in my opinion they look better the more you wear them.

this winter i was looking to add to my pair of duckboots which i've had for 

maybe 3 years or so now. i was interested to see which new colours nike

would release their 2012 duckboots in.

then i saw these...

what the what ?!

white duckboots !

i would have to say that these would become as filthy as a frenchman in no time.

white duckboots !

the materials used on them were top notch. i liked the quilted foxing

and the milky white sole, it's just that white on white has no chance.

i think these are just for those lads who wear pale blue or even pink timberlands.

no... for me, a darker boot is needed for going off road in the harsh n7 winter.

luckily nike i.d. did an af-1 duckboot option in december so that was me sorted.

3 weeks later...

i kept them nice and simple. practical yet stylish.

using the dark brown leather throughout i broke these up by opting for a red

outsole and yellow laces with n7 stitched onto the heels in yellow too.

bringing heat to the streets of n7

footpatrol af-1 30th anniversary display

2012 was a crazy year for the sneaker game.

december was the craziest month of 2012

saturday 15th was craziest day in december.

on that day, nike released 30 new af-1's to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the shoe.

i took my business to footpatrol that day.

i like footpatrol.

it's a very stylish shop with friendly staff and it's close to my favourite coffee shops.

oh and the manager is from wales... what's not to like ?

they had a special display in footpatrol that day.

30 pieces made by a 3-d printer.

30 pieces all to do with my favourite shoe. the nike air force 1.

this bloke came in just after me. he told me he'd made all the pieces
in the display cabinet. all made from a 3-d printer whatever that is.
he explained all about how the pieces were made...

... but it's kind of difficult to explain here.

tate britain

yesterday i went to tate britain.

if you were thinking about spending £25 to look at the turner prize

exhibition i could save you the money and describe it in one word.

i could also describe the members room at tate britain in one word too

if you're interested ?

as ever though, there were some unexpected pieces which caught my eye.

on this visit there were two paintings which i very much liked.

both kind of reminded me of the photoshop skills of my friend benito.

1

samuel richardson surrounded by his second family.

francis hayman 1708-1776

maybe you need to click on this pic to enlarge it but the faces on each person

here ( even the face of the doll ) looks like it was painted by a different artist

on a separate piece of canvas, then cut out and stuck on a body.

all the faces seem a little bit too big for the heads and the eyes are really big too.

a bit like in modern japanese manga.

all in all this is a really beautiful and interesting painting and well worth

checking out in real life.

2

the cholmondeley sisters

artist unknown.

once again it looks like the faces ( especially those of the babies ) have been

photoshopped onto the canvas by my friend benito.

maybe i'll dig out some of ben's room 101 archive and show them to you

in 2013... then you'll see what i mean.

queue part two

remember the other day when i showed you the photo of me coming out of 

queue retirement to buy the medicom x nike lunar force 1's ?

well when i got inside 1948 i was asked by nike's photographer if i'd

mind posing up with one of the shoes for their instagram site.

would i mind posing ?

seconds later...

as you can see, i was still smiling about the photographer asking if i'd mind posing.

happy times in ec2

christmas jumper

everybody likes a christmas jumper right ?

here's mine.

a collaboration between the scottish brand inverallan

and the japanese brand a bathing ape

wooly times in n7

sneakers in a coffee shop in n1

a little while ago i went to the coffee shop of shame in n1.

though it does great coffee and food, the customers of this place

are a complete nightmare. every time i go there it's as if i'm in a bad sit-com.

( it's like being in a sit-com with bad parents anyway )

to pass the time i took a few photos of the footwear on show

1

liberty x nike af-1's

shocking lacework but very nice shoes

2

i've no idea what model these are but they are in a very nice colourway.

i like the perforated tongue which matches the toe box.

perforated swoosh too. yellow eyelets and yellow / blue laces.

very nice indeed.

3

unacceptable.

converse all stars which look like they've been painted... badly.

i was also unimpressed by the shoddy uneven turn-ups

( nice matching socks / laces combo though )

top 20 sneakers of 2012 ( number 1 )

1

nike flyknit htm

did you guess ?

as you'd expect, these tick all the boxes.

they are rare, they look good, the details are off the hook, they are comfortable

and i have a story about them.

i also have two pairs of these bad boys, which considering how rare they are,

is quite a feat.

i always said they look like something my nan would have knitted and i stand 

by that.

i like that both shoes are different. in fact all four shoes i have in this colourway

are different.

they are a complex shoe, but they are a simple shoe.

they are my favourite pair of trainers of the year.

breakfast in n1

a flat white

of course.

and a breakfast trifle

yes, that's what it was called... a breakfast trifle.

stewed fruit, lemon curd, granola with berries, yoghurt, strawberries and cinnamon.

game on.

grandad

last time i went to visit my mum, she gave me an old newspaper.

an english language newspaper from argentina.

the standard.

doyen of the argentine press

dated monday april 23, 1945.

and there on the back page, a photo of some sailors.

one of those sailors was my grandad

william barker

my grandad was welsh.

he never spoke much about the war.

he lived most of his life in warrington.

i don't think he liked chips as much as i do.

i kind of miss him sometimes.

top 20 sneakers of 2012 ( number 1.5 )

number 1.5

( yes i know )

nike lunarforce 1 samples

i snagged these from an ebay seller in australia.

a sample pair of lunarforce 1's in a silver / volt colourway.

these have the huarache sock liner and are in a colourway not available 

to the public.

in fact, since i started writing this nike have decided to go ahead and release

these but with a few small differences.

the general release will have a white outline on the swoosh, a black logo on the 

heel tab ( mine have a volt logo ) a volt logo on the tongue ( mine is silver )

and the outsole will have a speckled finish ( mine are plain )

so all in all, one of the most comfortable pairs of trainers of the year.

a colourway i really like, and the fact that they are a sample pair... 

( chances are nike only made 5 pairs of these )

a worthy winner of the coveted number 1.5 sneaker of the year title

queue

i came out of queue retirement last week.

the reason. i needed the white medicom x nike lunar force 1's

and 1948 were only getting 11 pairs.

in fairness, though it was cold, i only queued up for 90 minutes and

i was third in line, so it was all good.

after sizing up the two people ahead of me in the queue and establishing that

they took a different size to me i decided to take a photo of the three of us.

size 8.5, size 9.5, size 11

top 20 sneakers of 2012 ( number 1.75 )

number 1.75 ?

yes. well here's the thing...

i started compiling this top 20 a few weeks ago and then last week

nike released a couple of gems and i think they deserve to be in my

list of top 20 sneakers of 2012 somewhere between the shoes i've chosen

as number 2 and number 1.

so here at number 1.75

black digi camo nike lunar force 1

my first pair of lunar force 1's

( the new version of an air force 1 on a lunarlon sole )

these are in the somewhat rare black digi camo colourway

which i haven't seen available in the uk.

comfortable as balls, rare and in my opinion a very, very nice shoe.

tea

tea is not really my cup of tea

but the tea at hkk...

magic darts !

www.hkklondon.com

self-portrait in w8

it was my last shoot before christmas.

shoes: nike lunarforce 1's ( medicom editions )

trousers: jil sander

top: margaret howell

scarf: missoni

top 20 sneakers of 2012 ( number 2 )

2

nike air force 1.

the dover street market editions in navy blue.

probably the most rare shoe released in 2012.

these were only available at the dover street market in london.

there are supposedly only 25 pairs in the world.

constructed from a waterproof, tearproof and fireproof material and using

the deconstruct version of the air force 1 these are absolutely beautiful.

( the tongue tab shows the number in dover street that dsm is located at )

 also i do like a story to go with my shoes and due to these 

af-1's i now have three new friends... it's a long story.

stuff

a while ago i thought i'd photograph a load of stuff i'd bought or come across

recently and make lots of blog posts. you know, to pad it out so that i could 

reach 1000 posts this year.

but now, i feel pretty confident of hitting 1000 posts in 2012 i think it's best

if i spare you and just lump them all together here.

1

a compass i got in a christmas cracker. it's about the size of a 1p coin.

( coincidentally, 1p is probably how much the compass is worth )

2

hiut denim yearbook.

if you're a fan of japanese selvedge denim being made into really good jeans

by welsh people, then this is for you.

3

some london spray cans, courtesy of my brainwash.

4

an orange coloured head-torch which i bought for the canoeing / camping

trip back in august.

5

some 3-d colour photos of gardens in monaco which i bought because i liked

the packet they came in. great colours, nice typefaces and look at the

bloke sitting there in his really cool chair wearing a stylish suit.

matching tie and socks too. what a chap.

6

some body wash, shampoo and conditioner i brought back from my hotel in new york.

7

some stüssy socks i picked up in new york

8

what ? i love socks.

9

this ticks a lot of boxes for me.

i bought it in new york ( i don't think you can buy it here )

it's hand gel, you know... antibac, hand cleaning stuff.

it's holiday spice flavour ( only in america )

the bottle is made from silicon, it's all squishy.

it has a loop thing so you can hang it from your camera bag.

10

some iron on patches from liberty.

i only wanted the crown really, but the others are not bad too.

i'm seriously thinking about putting them on some old bape t-shirts.








11

and finally, some ( multee ) project stickers which my friend brian sent to me
from cali.

www.multeeproject.com

a present from hong kong

a parcel arrived at whitfield towers a couple of weeks ago.

a present from hong kong.

how about those stamps credit ?

have you got them ?

and the reveal

that's right.

orange tom dixon bag

grrr ! this is a late, late post.

as you may know, orange is just about my favourite colour.

ok i don't wear a lot of orange but i do like orange things

( including oranges )

back in september when i was at design junction one afternoon,

i spotted a few people daring orange hi-vis shoulder bags.

to cut a long story short... i wanted one.

many, many thanks to ash because a day or two later, one turned

up at whitfield towers.

here it is

it's in hi-vis orange shiny plastic i guess. oh and it's made by or for tom dixon

( who for some reason i always refer to as my old mate tom dixon )

details

it has a nice external pocket

details

blackberry ?

anyway, the thing is... i like orange. i like the bag 

( maybe i'll take it to thailand for poolside / beach ? )

and i'm very grateful to ash for posting it off to me.

that's about it.

oh, i know. if you want one. if you think you can carry off hi-vis orange...

http://www.tomdixon.net/products/uk/tom-dixon-fluoro-bag

top 20 sneakers of 2012 ( number 3 )

3

nike air force 1.

the collaboration between supreme and nike that released in november.

limited editions, overnight queues and dodgy cash deals in coffee shops.

they released three colourways: black, olive and camo. for me, the camo wins.

they have a nyco upper which is pretty much waterproof.

classic white mid and gum out, subtle supreme box logos on the shoes

and insoles, olive green eyelets and to add my touch, i replaced the olive laces

with a set of orange.

very, very tidy.