If you haven’t seen it yet, watch out the short LIFE IS PRECIOUS film, made by super talented Raindown, a visual production company specialising in web video, film, animation and graphic design »
Colder Shoulder
Blog for the fashion brand – From London With Love
LIFE IS PRECIOUS – The Collection
As the weather in the British Isles starts to climb, thoughts of shorts begin to surface, and summer dresses are hoisted from hibernation, we urge yee good folk in need of new light and stylish jersey tops, to check out the ‘LIFE IS PRECIOUS’ Collection.
Available in a series of lightweight tops, vests, cropped tops and t-shirts, in sustainable fabrics such as organic cotton, lyocell, and bamboo. Complete stylish summer looks with ease and prints saying something!
A collaboration between unisex fashion brand Colder Shoulder, creative studio O.W.H., and textile designer Gemma Kelson.
Watch the short film about the collection too, made by super talented visual production company Raindown!
Here’s a behind the scenes pic from the shoot, thanks to Stylist’s Assistant Miss Louise Burton, more to come on the blog soon!
Big L day with a HEART OF GOLD
As it’s Valentines Day, and an opportunity to stop and appreciate the big LOVE, we’re sending some your way right now…
To us, having a year (indeed lifetime) round ‘heart of gold’ is important. It’s a state of pure being, where you love fully and graciously – 24 carat.
In our view, a person with a ‘heart of gold’…
- Loves and is loved
- Has a positive outlook / energy
- Has intelligence (including emotional)
- Values others
- Has respect for others
- Is able to express love
- Encourages people
- Seeks to bring out the best in people and themselves
- Truthful
- Inner beauty
- Serves / helps people
- Giver and taker – balanced
Anything to add; what does it mean to you?
If you haven’t already checked out our HEART OF GOLD prints – in the LIFE IS PRECIOUS COLLECTION – you can do so here »
Colour Your Day Mon 16th Jan (London Meetup 5-9pm)
New community project Colour Your City is great initiative to transform and enrich urban spaces with colour via fashion and action!
Join in and participate in Colour Your Day on Monday 16th January!
1 OUTFIT.
- Wear a colourful outfit all day.
- Step out and bring the colour!
1 ACTION.
- Take one action to add colour to one of your local spaces.
- Your action could be painting / craft / art / gardening related.
- Get creative and have fun!
JOIN THE LONDON MEET UP
5-9PM
@ MADAM CHI COFFEE LOUNGE
187 Upper Street London N1 1RQ (opposite Islington Town Hall)
- Talk colour and community. Would you like to be involved or develop the project in your own way?
- Hear from ethical stylist Lucy Harvey about the use of colour in her work.
- Make something: art / craft work with finger knitting and sign making.
- Show off your outfit!
- Have a nice cuppa, coffee, cake!
Adding colour can help to energise and enhance the urban environment. In doing so it can spark and create new creative possibilities, foster a sense of local pride, improve communication and social cohesion. The project has been created out of participation in the Self Expression and Leadership Programme at Landmark Education.
Brighten up your community (and Monday)!
www.colouryourcity.com
Gemma Kelson – Textile Designer
One of East London’s finest, textile designer Gemma Kelson recently launched a brand spanking new website!
We recently worked with Gemma and witnessed first-hand her awesome print skills for the LIFE IS PRECIOUS Collection.
Her work is an exploration of high impact colour, vivid imagery and a graphic style of working that works both commercially and as original artwork. Themes explored include: design with a digital edge, a mixture of soft nature inspired imagery with harder graphic geometrics which create a fusion of collaged, photo-real, hand-drawn and CAD manipulated prints that are seamless with trend led high-street and high-end fashion.
i-Sustain
i-Sustain is a a series of i-D magazine features in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, intended to change the way we think, buy, wear and discuss fashion.
Each of the 12 features includes a photoshoot, interview with the designers and commentary. Beautifully shot, the images are stunning, with the text providing a more detailed look at issues and journeys in sustainable fashion.
“Essentially this project will lay out a kind of manifesto; we’ll try not to be too worthy and to be realistic and make sure we always keep the i-D wink in there! There’s twelve months of i-sustain to come, so keep coming back for more! This project is about showing how beautiful clothes can also carry a positive message. Like it or not, what we wear is never just about the function or form of a garment, it’s also a statement of who we are and how we do or don’t fit in. Dress is the most obvious tool we have for self-expression, so what is it we really want to express? The world is changing and uncomfortable or inconvenient as it may be, we need to start doing things differently. Fashion moves so fast that sometimes it’s difficult to stop and take stock; new trend, new face, new shop, new me? No, same me different clothes, but better, more sustainable product.
Some of these designers are very conceptual, some are very commercial, some are committed to ‘the cause’ and others are just trying to make a decent living and do what they love. Collectively, they have all engaged in a process of re-thinking the way they work. That process deserves recognition and it also presents a real opportunity to show everyone who reads this that there are people out there, who can, in a credible way, combine substance, style and of course sustainability. It may seem incredible but it is not impossible to design clothes and run a business in a way that is creatively inspiring and responsible.”
Catalytic Clothing
Catalytic Clothing seeks to explore how the large surface area of clothing and textiles can be used to purify air, employing existing technology in a new way.
It is the brainchild of artist / designer Helen Storey and chemist Tony Ryan – who have come together in several highly successful art/science collaborations.
The project is radical, helps us to re-assess what clothing is and can mean, and addresses the major problem of air pollution.
“In March, the City of London was issued with an ultimatum by the EU Air Quality Directive: cut emissions or face a fine of up to £300 million. An estimated 3,000 deaths per year are caused by dangerously high levels of PM10 (harmful particles likely to be inhaled by humans).”
The project has taken the debate public, seeking to engage people and help direct the final use and applications of the technology. Fascinating.
Good Fashion Perspectives
As part of A Good Week Amisha Ghadiali and A Very Good Company bring you an evening discussion on sustainability and ethical fashion.
Thursday 23rd June 6.30-9pm
The event will feature speakers including:
— Nin Castle – Founder, GoodOne (@Goodone_Tweets)
— Elizabeth Laskar – Ethical Fashion and Fair Trade Consultant
— Ilaria Pasquinelli – Ethical Fashion Forum Consultant
— Chistian Smith – Sustainability Manager, ASOS (@ASOS),
— Jocelyn Whippie – Founder, Element 23
The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A and an opportunity for networking.
Emily Wilkinson of Mindful Maps (@mindfulmaps) will be visually documenting the event.
Guests are also asked to wear at least one item of clothing which you feel represents Good Fashion, and tell us why it’s Good in our interactive photobooth!
Spaces are limited so we encourage you to sign up early.
Tickets cost £8, and complimentary wine and canapes will be served. All proceeds from the night will go to TRAID.
Book your tickets here: http://goodfashion.eventbrite.com/
A Good Week – a global celebration of good
Colder Shoulder is very pleased to be part of A Good Week! A global celebration of all the Good that happens in the world. Over seven supercharged days, a spotlight will be shone on the people, communities and businesses who do Good.
As a fashion brand with an ethos firmly rooted in sustainability, we aim to do good through the choices we make and how we run the business.
More on the week:
Our vision is a world where everyone can Feel Good, Do Good and Live Good, and we want A Good Week to help work towards that goal.
A Good Week is a collaborative celebration, so Good is whatever you say Good is! Yes, that might sound like a bit of a cop-out, but Good obviously means different things to different people. We want you to use the week to think about – and do – what makes you and others feel Good. And if you’re already doing Good in your life then even better, just get involved and tell us about it. Use the week as an opportunity to shout about what you or your organisation is doing.
We are encouraging everyone to get involved, to do some good, to talk about good, to attend an event or run your own! We are driving a new conversation on good, and asking what it means to you. Our ultimate goal is to inspire 500,000 people across 100 towns and cities around the world to take part in A Good Week. So, what good will you do?
- Find out more about the week and most importantly how you can get involved! On and off line activities include participating in events & workshops, having a good meal, tweeting, sharing on facebook, and/or doing a good act!
Waffle free
You may have noticed these ads around the capital, especially Liverpool Street station.
The ad’s message of plain and concise talk only, with no beating about the bush or ‘waffling on’, is exactly what our ‘No Waffle’ classic unisex bamboo viscose t-shirts are all about
Bonkers for bunting
If you haven’t had your fill of bunting yet- and let’s face it, why would you it’s good fun!- get your hands on the last of these classic ‘ From London With Love’ Bunting T-shirts in soft organic cotton quick, and bring the party every time you wear it!
Royal Wedding and the jolly knees up
What a day! We enjoyed the Royal Wedding Holiday on 29th April 2011. While William and Kate exchanged vows and tied the knot, we had a lovely time out and about with a diverse array of London wonders.
Whether you went bonkers for bunting, stockpiled commemorative tat, dressed up bride-style, indulged a royalist streak or simply went for a jolly knees up, it was a lovely day of people coming together to have a blooming good time and celebrate! Love was definitely in the air…
Here’s a small selection of pics. More from this eventful day to come, we’ll keep you posted 
Relationships
Relationships. Our relationship and attachment to clothing can be complex. Like most relationships, if we don’t show respect, it’s unlikely to last or be healthy.
The ideal is to treat each other well and bring out the best. Quoting from a recent wedding speech “If you want to be treated like a King, treat her like a Queen, and vice versa”!
Treating garments well can help to ensure longer use, less waste, reduced need for new items, more wardrobe options longer and simply money well spent!
By considerate product use we can also lower our environmental impact. Considering the resources and energy of people and planet to make them, it makes complete sense! For example it takes 400 gallons of water to make 1 cotton t-shirt!
A large slice of the impact of clothing comes from washing and drying. A study with the Carbon Trust on the carbon footprint of a cotton t-shirt, identified consumer use as the largest single impact at 48% of its total lifecycle footprint (carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases).
Consumer use was broken down as:
- automatic washing 24%
- tumble drying 45%
- ironing 31%
Avoiding tumble drying and ironing could mean a reduction of 37% in the product’s footprint. Further reductions can be made by washing cold or at 30C.
That’s why we recommend to wash cool and line dry.
It’s interesting to consider the impacts of our choices within a product’s lifecycle.
Whatever you do enjoy keeping you and your clothes looking lovely longer!
London Street Photography
Fans of street photography have until 4th September 2011 to visit the Museum of London (Barbican, London Wall EC2Y 5HN) to see the London Street Photography exhibition of 200+ images from 1860 to the present day. Feel the mood, sense the grit and witness the styles.
That’s not all. A free app is available to download called Streetmuseum (iPhone/ Android). Hold your cam up to a street scene and get taken through time with images of the same location from the Museum of London’s archive. Very nice.
From London Fashion Week with love – Menswear Day
Astrid Andersen
- Astrid’s herbaceous footwear
Baartmans and Siegel
Vibrant colours, great print
Matthew Miller
Matthew's serious bags
Techno Scotsman
Agi & Sam's formation
3D glasses showed off/up some prints
Foxy at Christopher Raeburn
From London Fashion Week with love – Womenswear
Emilio de la Morena AW11
Ready steady
Emilio de la Morena AW11
Live mode
Blue lipped chic
Ladder jolly
1960s jelly revival with a twist from Bompas & Parr - Mr Bompas with an asparagus castle
Making tracks
Press: praw!magazine
Ciao amici! We were recently invited to be part of the latest praw!magazine. It’s a new Italian magazine about contemporary culture, photography and ‘mood places’, available online as a pdf. We wish our modest Italian was better!
“praw” is “The combination of the word “pro” and “raw” making it an adjective to describe anyone or anything that is both.”
London Luvs
Happy love day… here’s a few of our new London luvs:
1. Fashion & Textile Museum
Print lovers and art fans- amongst many- are bound to enjoy the excellent Sue Timney Exhibition at the colourful and dynamic space of the FTM in Bermondsey SE1. The exhibits are laid out in a fun way, making great use of the space as you journey through a printastic land.
2. Park Life
Even thought the sun hasn’t quite got his hat on, we’re prepared to get out and head for the green lungs of the City for frolics. The snowland that came with Dec was truly wonderFULL, as you can see from these shots from London Fields of people getting creative with the snow – graffiti, village of snow people, sphinx and pyramid!
This Dalston N16 shop has a charm and identity all of it’s own. The well edited finds perch along rails amongst curiosities like giant medicine bottles, globes, furniture, posters, hats, bags and accessories. Think 80 Days Around The World / National Geographic coupled with chic and vibrant vintage and you get the vibe. Described by Italian vogue as the “coolest place in London”. The website has a nice quote from William Morris “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” . Enjoy the beautiful things.
That’s all for today.. except for a big fat X from us at Colder Shoulder HQ 
Season’s Outing
Season’s greetings! Whatever and however you’ve been enjoying this season, we hope it’s been a cracker jacker! It’s a joyous, frivolous, thankful and reflective time of year. A moment to spend time (and a few quid in the shops) with family and friends. Out of our recent trips we had to let you know about this exhibition, a real treat for fashion and art lovers.
May we also say HAPPY NEW YEAR and wish you and yours very well indeed!
Aware: Art Fashion Identity
Royal Academy of Arts, 6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET
On until 30/01/2011 get your skates on!
Tickets £7
Fascinating and intelligent look at how contemporary artists and designers use clothing to communicate and reveal elements of our identity. A wide variety of works by over 30 practitioners provoke thought about the role and impact of fashion, in personal and global life. Highlights include work from Claudia Losi, Helen Storey, Sharif Waked, and newly commissioned pieces by London College of Fashion and the Royal Academy of Arts from Yinka Shonibare and Hussein Chalayan.
Newly commissioned piece by Hussein Chalayan
Newly commissioned piece by Yinka Shonibare
The colourful and quirky sketch pop-up café is also worth a viewing with its delightful décor designed by Andres Ros.
sketch pop-up café designed by Andres Ros
Fashion-inspired cakes made by pastry chef Damien Piscioneri
Seasonal slang: Keep your minces open!
You’ve got lovely minces!
Mince pies is Cockney Rhyming Slang for eyes
London’s Pattern of Development
By Colder Shoulder – From London With Love
London. A complex and vibrant patchwork. A city of patterns. Formed by the land and its people.
Here we explore some of the development patterns that have emerged over time, which help to explain the form of the capital we know and love today.
Without doubt the Thames has been a star player in London’s development. Whilst it doesn’t make the prettiest of pictures today it has been the lifeblood of the city since the Ice Age when settlers were drawn to the water and surrounding natural resources.
The inner core of the capital, the ‘City of London’, had its boundaries set in the 13th century. Bordered by the river to the south and agricultural estates to the north, the east ended up the main channel for industrial expansion. This gained speed in the 16th century with Henry VIII’s infamous dissolution of the monasteries. This freed up swaths of church land to be sold off, creating more room for eastward growth.
With the tick tock of time and swell of industry, out went the traditional trades of milling and fishing and in sailed ship building and the like. Heart of the Empire and port of the world, London packed its storehouses to the rafters with global delights. However all things weren’t sugar and spice as commerce and cargo demanded manufacturing and processing on an enormous scale.
The so called “stink industries” in the east of town flourished. Lambs got the chop in the slaughterhouses of Stratford. Breweries like Trumans kept the beer flowing. Hides went from raw to shop street store as they were tanned and turned into leather goods. This was grimy business. Fortunately for the noses of politicians and well minted west Londoners, the wind blew the smells out east to the coast.
Trades in the City of London operated as guilds, and if a long apprenticeship hadn’t been served (no fast track shows with Lord Sugar), you simply weren’t allowed to set up shop.
New comers usually landed on the north bank of the river and chose to settle locally in the East End where there were jobs, cheap housing and food.
A pattern of development emerged, with the City of London the heart of finance and business; the west the seat of government and luxury goods retailing; and the east home to manufacturing, processing and finishing trades.
We’ll be serving up more slices of history so keep your minces peeled and sign up to the mailing list.
Recommended reading: Gilda O’Neill ‘My East End’, Andrew Davies ‘The East End Nobody Knows’
Call for passionate renegades on a mission to fulfill their vision
More choice words from Seth Godin
Would we (the market) benefit from more pandering by marketers churning out average stuff that gets a quick glance, or would we all be better off with passionate renegades on a mission to fulfill their vision? …read full article
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Embracing the upcycle instead of the downcycle
Passing along some inspirational words from don marketer Seth Godin:
Does a failure set you on a path to more failure? I think they get to the heart of why some people succeed and others don’t. We can choose to create cycles that move us up or endure cycles that drag us down.
Someone who gets better whenever he fails will always outperform someone who responds to failure by getting worse. This isn’t something in your DNA, it’s something you can learn or unlearn.
The response that works is to understand the nature of the cycle and to change it from the start. You must not fight the cycle, you must transform it into a different cycle altogether. It’s a lot of work, but less work than failing. This won’t work the first time or even the tenth, but it’s the path to an upcycle, one where each negative input leads to more productivity, not less…read more
New Studio
This week Colder Shoulder moved into a new studio in the heart of East London. It’s a lofty, spacious beauty with creative, super nice studio mates. Very exciting! Here’s a few pics:
Collaboration
We’ve been busy working with a few graphic designers and artists we respect and admire, to create some interesting visuals for forthcoming collections. It’s a process where much can be learned and gained by both parties. We find it’s important to have good, open communication, respect for each other, creative sparkle, excitement and determination to achieve something that’s really special! If you’re a creative interested in collaboration projects drop us an email, we’d love to hear from you.
Collaboration is a recursive[1] (one of the steps involves rerunning the procedure) process where two or more people or organizations work together to realise shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective) — for example, an intellectual endeavor[2][3] that is creative in nature[4]—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.[6]
Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arty in E1
Autumnal greetings. On our travels yesterday in the E1 area around Shoreditch High Street and Brick Lane, we came across more works from the artist Stik. His stick people bring a welcome splash of colourful cuteness around the area. They also popped up in the Colder Shoulder Photoshoot in the same area earlier this year…
What does ‘pro-business’ mean?
Interesting thoughts from marketer Seth Godin’s Blog, which addresses sustainability in a wider business context, identifying it as the best approach all-round:
What does ‘pro-business’ mean?
What makes a policy or a politician pro business? Some would tell you it includes:
- Lower or eliminate the minimum wage
- Eviscerate OSHA and other safety and pollution inspections
- Make it difficult for workers to easily switch jobs from one company or another
- Educate the public just enough for them to be compliant cogs in the factory system
- Fight transparency to employees, the public and investors
- Cut corporate taxes
I think these are certainly pro-factory policies. All of them make it easier for the factory to be more efficient, to have more power over workers and to generate short-term profits.
But “business” is no longer the same as “factory”. (Aside: Factories don’t have to make stuff… they’re any business that focuses on doing what it did yesterday, but cheaper and faster.) It turns out that factory thinking is part of a race to the bottom, to be the cheapest, the easiest place to pollute, the workforce that will take what it can get.
It’s not surprising that there’s tension here. If you are working hard to cut prices and improve productivity, you might view labor as a cost, not an asset, and you might want as little hindrance as possible in the impact you have on the community. On the other hand, a business based on connection and innovation and flexibility may very well have a different take on it.
I grew up not too far from the Love Canal. It’s a world famous toxic waste dump. While it helped the short tem profits of Hooker, the chemical company that dumped there, it’s not clear that looking the other way was a pro-business strategy. At some point, a healthy and fairly paid community is essential if you want to sell them something.
The oil sands project in Alberta Canada is a factory-friendly effort. So was the lead excavation in Picher, OK. Creating systems that leverage the factory can often lead to financial success (in the short run). The problem is that the future doesn’t belong to efficient factories, because as we train people to look for the cheap, we race to the bottom–and someone else, somewhere else, will win that race.
Perhaps we could see pro-business strategies looking more like this:
- Investing in training the workforce to solve interesting problems, so they can work at just about any job.
- Maintaining infrastructure, safety and civil rights so we can create a community where talented people and the entrepreneurs who hire them (two groups that can live wherever they choose) would choose to live there.
- Reward and celebrate the scientific process that leads to scalable breakthroughs, productivity and a stable path to the future.
- Spend community (our) money on services and infrastructure that help successful organizations and families thrive.
Once you’ve seen how difficult it is to start a thriving business in a place without clean water, fast internet connections and a stable government of rational laws, it’s a lot harder to take what we’ve built for granted.
Capital is selfish and it often seeks the highest possible short-term results. But capital isn’t driving our economy any longer, innovation by unique people is. And people aren’t so predictable.
Linchpins are scarce. They can live where they choose, hire whom they want and build organizations filled with other linchpins. The race to the top will belong to communities that figure out how to avoid being the dumping ground for the organizational, social and physical pollution that factories create.
My Sustainable T-shirt
We recently came across this useful guide to understanding cotton production and what eco-labels mean for people and planet.
It addresses a range of issues including:
- How cotton is produced and how it works its way up the supply chain from fibre to final garment.
- Standards, Certification and Labelling such as the Fairtrade label, Soil Association Label, and OEKO-TEX Standard 100.
- Issues such as GM cotton, traceability, and other sustainable textile such as Tencel (from eucalyptus trees) and recycled polyester.
Well worth a butchers!
From London Fashion Week with love
London Fashion Week is a lot! Multiple exhibitions, shows and parties display designers’ Spring/ Summer 2011 Collections, attracting a well-styled global fashion pack from buyers to bloggers.
Fashion is what you make it
Is newness best?
Fashion: an assault on the senses or a joy to behold
Love these printed trousers
LFW's HQ: Somerset House
Emilio de la Morena's SS11 Catwalk Show
Emilio de la Morena's SS11 Collection was inspired by the light of day and night
Emilio de la Morena's beautiful SS11 Collection featured a lot of punched leather
Olivia Palermo at Emilio de la Morena
Emilio de la Morena SS11
Cosy wool and knit reindeer-style!
The Centre for Sustainable Fashion showcased 4 strong collections from up and coming designers at Estethica, which is the LFW exhibition that shows designers with ethical credentials and design excellence
Pierre Garroudi's SS11 Show wowed with his collection and incredible hair pieces
Pierre Garroudi's SS11 'one colour' theme was turquoise complete with turquoise cupcakes at the show
Pierre Garroudi
Tommy the painted face stylist
Fast art - sketch found online minutes after the catwalk show took place
Menswear day cometh - Omar Kashoura's jazz band/models - nice
Romeirez
London menswear comment
Colour therapy Danish style
Bizarre outfit
Newgen sheds on menswear day
Bowties and smiles
You lovely lot!
In the streets and spaces of London we meet some characters (do we…? Not half!) and lovely people from all over the shop. Here’s just a sprinkling of our recent snaps
New stockists
British Designers at Fashion Capital Boutique
You can now get Colder Shoulder at this pop-up boutique in Bath which features up and coming labels alongside key designers from the London catwalks including PPQ, Hannah Marshall, Jean-Pierre Braganza and Felder Felder.
14/15 Milsom Place, Bath, BA1 1BZ Tel: 01225 489 009
For more info click here
Rosita Lollipop
Retro inspired quirky clothing and lifestyle shop featuring handmade clothing and an ecclectic mix of everything from punk t-shirts to geek chic jumpers.
2 Paynes Park, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1EH Open 10am to 5pm Tues, Fri, Sat
For more info click here
From the Thames Festival with love
Pon de River, pon de Southbank
Yes the sunny September weekend that was the Thames Festival, was a cultural celebration caterpillar-ing along the banks of the capital’s main waterway. Live music, dance, fireworks, a parade and lots of lovely things to buy… this included some fine Colder Shoulder t-shirts, which sparked a good deal of interest and smiles! Here’s a few pics, including a few traditional costumes we enjoyed seeing..
Good choice ladies!
Traditional Kurdish dress - check out the multi-coloured soles too
Traditional Polish dress
Old English bob note for a spot of eccentric hat styling
Get wig it!
Morris dancer
Thames Festival
This weekend is the lively and free Thames Festival, sprawling along the banks from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and beyond! Catch the Colder Shoulder team by the London Eye, opposite Jubilee Gardens! Come say hello.. We can’t wait!
The Mayor’s Thames Festival is London’s largest free outdoor arts festival – a spectacular celebration of London and its river. An exciting mix of arts, spectacle and entertainment, all focused around the River Thames, the festival is a key highlight in London’s cultural life.
The festival commissions new work, and transforms unusual spaces on and around the River Thames with a mixture of street arts, performance, carnival, pyrotechnics, illuminations, art installations, exhibitions, river events, massed choirs, circus, music and dance, food and feasting. The finale is a magical illuminated Night Procession that winds along the north and south banks of the Thames, followed by a fireworks display fired from the centre of the river itself.
The two-day festival takes place in September, on the River Thames, the riverside walkways, roads bridges, docks and public open spaces from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and beyond. It’s all about bringing people together and encouraging them to take part.
The Jellied Eel – sustainable food in London
Out and about recently we came across The Jellied Eel, a quarterly magazine for sustainable food in London, well worth a butchers. It’s produced by London Food Link and Hand Up Media, and is available to pickup at over 80 locations around the city.
London Food Link runs a network of organisations and individuals who care about sustainable food.
Both London Food Link and its members work towards:
- increasing the availability of sustainable food in London
- tackling the barriers preventing access to healthy and sustainable food for all Londoners
- protecting and celebrating London’s diverse food culture
Bravo we say; we’ll eat and drink to that!
Check out their website for more info here
New stockist: Red Mutha in Brighton!
Colder Shoulder is now stocked in Red Mutha, a destination store in Brighton in a league of it’s own! The store specialises in creative clothes for people who want to be different and unique. It sells exciting independent labels, and customises and recycles clothing, often for bespoke orders. This way of working and being ecologically sound is their passion. The result is unique, fun and quirky- think ‘Super Super’ Mag- a beacon for club kids to celebrities. They are also active locally, running their own events and raves.
The store is a 2 minute walk from Brighton Station and open 7 days a week.
Red Mutha, 92 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER
Tel: 01273 603976
To visit their website click here
From the Nottinghill Carnival with love
Rhythm corn colour-full audio jerk motion style smokey vibration and Stephanie’s ghetto red bridge…
West London streets were a sea of colour and people, with waves of sound and smokey wafts as the annual Nottinghill Carnival took place over the bank holiday weekend Sunday 29 and Monday 30th August 2010.
We couldn’t miss Carnival(!) and made our way down to join in the fun, soaking up good vibes, dancing to a wide variety of music, noshing tasty tucker and checking out the crowd in their finery; London and the world strutting like peacocks celebrating life and West Indian culture!
The energy was great all round. We found the sound systems and floats often dictated the atmosphere around them, each carrying their own unique vibes.
As usual we randomly bumped into people we knew, including a friend who was on his way to a party, with directions that made us chuckle to ‘pass a ghetto red bridge and turn right’!
We also love seeing all the entrepreneurs out and about. From West Indian stalls dishing out jerk chicken, plaintain and curry as fast as they could, to local shops trying a ting (like the butchers shop turned hotdog seller below), to street sellers with flags and whistles.
From a fashion perspective, the outfits on display were a sight for sore eyes! The parade costumes shimmered and shone, others wore matching outfits, and the general level of creative styling and playful customisation was hearty. True to London’s reputation for style leaders, not afraid to shine and express themselves!
How did you find it? Feel free to share by dropping a comment or email, with pics if you fancy. Here’s a few of ours..
Grab em while you can
We are starting to sell out of a few sizes now across different designs, so to avoid disappointment, please place your orders in the online shop pronto!
Colder Shoulder in India
Thanks to Dom who sent us this pic of him rocking a Colder Shoulder high-top t-shirt in squirrel grey in India! Simply styled with a towel
Keep em coming people, we’ll be posting more on the blog…
From London With Summer Love
We have been clocking up some serious mileage around the capital this summer, and have a few random shots to share…
PRESS: Brand Spotlight from The Cool Crew!
We are pleased as punch to get a Brand Spotlight feature from The Cool Crew, here’s a few quotes:
We bumped into fresh brand Colder Shoulder at The Clothes Show in June and were very impressed by their determination, fresh approach to streetwear and also their professionalism…
Energy is one thing Londoner’s have and so when we came across Colder Shoulder and saw their designs, we instantly fell in love with the concept!
Not only are they original in their thinking, but sustainability is at the heart of Colder Shoulder.
The sheer quality of the shirts is at a level that one may be more inclined to think, and they show originality, innovation and a freshness that can be seen in their latest pieces. Their clothing embraces true diversity and that’s what makes them stand out to us!!
Check the COLDER SHOULDER site and get to know these guys, they’ll be a brand you CANNOT AFFORD TO IGNORE!! (Remember we said that!)
Top London Market: Broadway, Hackney E8
Broadway Market runs from London Fields to Regent’s Canal in Hackney E8 and is open from 9am-5pm on Saturdays.
It’s an impressive spot for the high quality products on offer, from foodie stalls offering tasty and varied fare, to craft / handmade products, with a dash of clothing, records, the inevitable bits and bobs, and a peppering of local characters and tre trendies.
Tip: go early but skip breakfast so you can dive straight into the foodie action!
A top London market we think, enjoy!
For more info www.broadwaymarket.co.uk
Ah August
With the July promo over and summer sales winding down, we welcome August, the final summer month of festivals, barbeques, a couple of birthdays at Colder Shoulder HQ, and of course the Nottinghill Carnival! So far it’s been an amazing summer.
Don’t forget to join the mailing list by emailing us or using the form on the ‘Contact & Mailing List’ page to receive the latest news and promo offers, we’ve got one coming along very soon to keep you looking fresh and nice for all the August fun..
For more info about this year’s Nottinghill Carnival from Sun 29th – Mon 30th Aug check out: www.thenottinghillcarnival.com
Held each August Bank Holiday since 1966, the Notting Hill Carnival is the largest festival celebration of its kind in Europe. Every year the streets of West London come alive, with the sounds and smells of Europe’s biggest street festival. Twenty miles of vibrant colourful costumes surround over 40 static sound systems, hundreds of Caribbean food stalls, over 40,000 volunteers and over 1 million Notting Hill carnival revellers.
PRESS: theCool Crew @ The Clothes Show . . . The Exhibition
Press >> Blog Alert!
theCool Crew @ The Clothes Show . . . The Exhibition… « theCool.
Another exciting brand we came across was Colder Shoulder whom were debuting at the Clothes Show this year, with very interesting and eye-catching tees!!
We are loving their blog, which highlights UK design talent… Check ‘em out!
Showcasing UK labels & designers at their best!
Ever wonder why we seem to promote overseas fashion and trends, when we have a whole platform right here in the UK? The UK has its own trendsetters right at it doorstep, we are the generation of individuality… shouldn’t we embrace this?
That’s the type of people we are, and we created this blog as a way for us to share all ‘the cool’ stuff we come across, both mainstream and underground, but most importantly ALL UK!!
Our goal is to be as consistent and free-flowing as possible, showing the world our amazing trendsetting talent. We’ve noticed that there is a widespread of talent across the UK, which needs to be shared with the world, and given the platform for everyone to feel important, and a unique player in this industry.
If you are one of those type of people, and are looking for a place to share your work send us an email, thecool411@hotmail.com
Feedback
We love a bit of feedback, so keep it coming!
“The shirt arrived today, thanks a lot. I love this shirt, it’s really great and the colour is sooo nice… really cool…
Keep in touch! x”
July promo nearly over!
Hi all!
Please remember the special July promo is nearly over, so you have until Sat 31st July to grab more special t-shirts at special prices!
Catch you soon…
Competition Winner!
Brick Lane we love you, and all the Spanish & Dutch fans on Sunday!
Well done to the Competition winner Mounia!
She chose a prize of the Tick the box Mens t-shirt in Green FYI
Sun 11th July find us at UpMarket, Brick Lane
Find us UpMarket on Sunday 11th July!
This well-loved East London market has been going since Sept 2004, and is one of the area’s favourite places to shop.
Every Sunday, 10am-5pm:
Ely’s Yard (entrances on Brick Lane & Hanbury Street)
The Old Truman Brewery
London E1.
Tube – Aldgate East / Liverpool Street
As it will be the day of the World Cup Final we have arranged a special competition to win a free t-shirt! Come and enter the competition by guessing which team will win. Those who guess correctly will be entered into a draw from a big hat or such.. and contacted with the good news! Well how about that then!
Vs 
So what’ll it be?
Fiestas, flamenco & beaches OR flowers, windmills & canals?
We could go on.. but we’ll leave it right there
http://www.sundayupmarket.co.uk/index.html
Sunday UpMarket first opened its doors in September 2004. With over 140 stalls selling fashion, accessories, crafts, interiors and music, it is undoubtedly one of London’s most exciting and imaginative markets.
The Old Truman Brewery has a history of supporting artists and designers, and with this in mind UpMarket aims to be a platform for designer-makers to sell direct to their customers. Many things you find on Upmarket are one-off bespoke items, produced by the stallholders themselves. You can find everything from edgy women’s wear, customised men’s clothing, high fashion, and beautifully tailored children’s clothes to handmade jewellery.
UpMarket’s famous food area, with cottage-industry style passionate caterers creating home-to-market food has already found a huge fan base. Ethiopian hand roasted coffee, Turkish specialties, lovely Moroccan dishes, Spanish Paellas and Empanadas, hand-rolled Sushi (done in front of you), Japanese sweets and savoury pancakes, Carrom Cafe’s Lassi, Chai and Indian Street Snacks, Thai food and Caribbean sea bass and fried plantain sandwiches’ It’s a long list.
Giving you everything you possibly want; good grub and unique styles, UpMarket is the perfect place to wile away your Sundays.
