Supreme London store opening: I wasn't there

It was all because of this

I've done my fair share of waiting outside shops. There was many a Saturday morning back in the day when you would find me queueing outside Busy Workshop with all the other Bapeheads for a chance to get my paws on a shark hoody.

But I never did get my head round waiting there overnight like some of the true (mainly Japanese, it must be said) devotees. Which is why I only ever managed to get second best, which was usually something like a purple camo crew neck sweat. Although I did once grab a Kaws chomper hoodie.

It should be noted, however, that not a single item I have ever qeueued for is still in my wardrobe, and that goes for Supreme as well as it does Bape. In fact I disliked my Supreme Damien Hirst box logo tee so much that it was on Ebay within a day of me waiting for hours outside Dover Street Market to get it.

So when I turned that corner off Wardour Street into Peter Street yesterday afternoon and discovered that the small gathering outside the new Supreme store was just the beginning of the queue which started again at the Co-Op up the road (so cars could get through) and went from there round the corner past the loading bays, I didn't feel like hanging about.

And for the first time ever I also felt a little bit old, seeing as I had just come from work and wasn't wearing a snap-back cap, a chambray shirt, skinny chinos or Vans Era.

So I hoofed it. I was later tweeted by someone who told me he had waited 18 hours in the queue. For a t-shirt.

To add insult to injury, my invite to the opening party must have got lost in the post, so these pics have been lifted with great care and many huge thanks from Hypebeast, Better Never than Late, and Firmament.

I'm going to try and get in there again in a little while.

Just imagine turning around to find that yellow thing staring at you

The crowd looked a bit cock-heavy to be honest

Insert names of people I should know here

Viewed from the front or the back it was still a massive yellow plastic thing

If I had got this close I would have considered it a success

Add caption

Leopard camo

Big white plastic thing

Bubble camo

If she got this at the store, what was she wearing when she came in?

Eddie Chen and Aaron Bonderoff

Futura still does it

Supreme London: about time

Just when I was beginning to think there was jack all to post about, along comes news of a Supreme store in London.

It's right in the middle of Soho, just off Wardour Street and in perfect trotting distance for all the skater-types working in the media companies around there.

It opens on Thursday so I'm probably the last to hear about it.

Supreme
Peter Street
London
W1F OAA

Thanks to Slamxhype for the heads up and pics

The dock in October

OK, it's only just October, but there's a breeze building over St Katharine Docks, and the water seems to have taken on a bit of a shiver. But the boats are looking as picturesque as ever.

What's more, the Kismet has docked. A curvier barge I have yet to see.

Two nights in Shoreditch: The Huguenots

Given that we're shortly to be moving house, I have started to notice where other people live and the colours they have used in the decoration of their homes.

Now the Huguenot houses of Spitalfields are far removed from the little three bed detached cottage that we've bought, but the colour schemes are right up my street.

These are the homes built by the Huguenot silk weavers who arrived in London as refugees from France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

The houses were built for the master weavers in the 17th and 18th centuries a but by the Victorian era the silk industry had declined to such an extent that the merchants' houses had become slums and Spitalfields the criminal centre of town.

These days the Huguenot houses have been restored to more than their former glory. They are studiously maintained by their owners who paint them all manner of Farrow and Ball shades, and have added things like roof terraces.

Th artist Tracey Emin lives in one, and they have become as much a part of East London tradition as bangers and mash.

A couple of the Huguenot houses of Fournier Street have been restored to their original period splendour, and one contains a museum, although don't ask me which.

Two nights in Shoreditch; The walls

As you might expect from a gentrified slum, there are some pretty impressive walls around Shoreditch, a lot of them featuring the kind of urban art it takes a bit of thought to put up.

To contrast with that you have examples of totally random scrawl, as well as the odd piece of tribal decoration. Adds a bit of colour.

Two nights in Shoreditch: Brick Lane

There was a music festival down Brick Lane on the Sunday we were there, the highlight of which was a purple robot made of wheelie bins. That's it in the picture.

Away from the throng down Redchurch Street, a furniture shop was reaching new levels of appalling with the attempted sale of possibly the worst pair of garden chairs ever made.

Two nights in Shoreditch

Before they get too out of date, here's a few shots of the hotel we stayed in last weekend on our trip up to the Smoke. My jacket even matched the decor. I can see us visiting again.

London: Randoms

After the non-event that was my experience of the Tour (see below), I wound my way through the blasphemers in the direction of Carnaby Street for bit of retail relief.

Managed a bit of roof gazing outside Liberty.
Blooms aplenty
Had to pick myself up after I saw this Porsche
Found the Honda boys outside their favourite shop.