Bape Thursday No.6

Its been a couple of weeks since the last Bape Thursday so I thought I'd come back with a few random pieces of Bape stuff that I have.

First up is my Bape wallet. I think I've had it for about 6 years and as you can see I've worn it in well. It was a really clean natural leather, but years of use have given it a really nice worn & weathered look. The pale colour isn't very practical for keeping clean so I make sure to keep it away from raw denim (leather cleaning wipes are a must), but it will continue to develop its own unique look and the high quality leather means it should last me for years to come.

Next up is a Kaws x Bape Baby Milo keyring. As I've mentioned in previous posts I'm a big Kaws fan, and I love the Baby Milo character, so this is a great little vintage piece that makes my keys a little more interesting.

Finally I have a Busy Works coaster. This was a random pick up from the flagship store in Harajuku, and makes a nice addition to my coffee table.

Kaws Part 2

A few weeks back I blogged about the Kaws exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and how excited I was to get to see his work in person. Well the Kaws excitement continued last week with the launch of his collection for Uniqlo.

Part of the UT t-shirt range, the collection was curated by Nigo, the founder of A Bathing Ape, who has been a longtime Kaws collector and collaborator. It's made up graphic tees & tote bags featuring a range of classic Kaws designs and artwork.

The collection released last Monday, but I totally forgot about it until I got home from basketball that night. By that point everything had sold out online. I figured I'd swing by a Uniqlo store the next day, but somehow I completely forgot again until Thursday.

However this actually worked out okay as when I visited the Uniqlo flagship store on Oxford Street they'd just had a re-stock, so I was able to pick up the two designs I wanted. Like the tote bag I got from the exhibition I went for the companion graphics as they're my favourite Kaws designs, especially as I've now been able to see the sculptures of these pieces.

Its great to be able to get Kaws designs at high street prices (the shirts were £13 each!), as his work with Original Fake & Bape has always been at a much higher price points. I particularly like the embroidered cross eyes on the sleeve, a great detail that you might not normally see on a high street tee at this price point.

Kaws

Last week I was on holiday for the week in Yorkshire. We stayed in a cottage on a farm out in the country, and spent a bunch of time hiking and generally getting away from the hecticness of London life.

One of the main reasons we chose Yorkshire was that the Yorkshire Sculpture Park currently has the first UK exhibition for Kaws. I've been a big Kaws fan for a number of years so was nerding out pretty hard at getting the opportunity to see his work in person for the first time. And while the 6 giant sculptures are the pieces that seem to be attracting the most attention it was actually the gallery display of his other work that I liked the best. It was great to see some of the artwork and sculptures that have been iconic for so long. The dissected companions and the Passing Through companion being particular highlights.

There were a few bits and pieces available in the gift shop and I picked up this tote bag. There were three different designs available, but I really love the Passing Through companion so this design was an easy choice. I'd definitely recommend seeing the exhibition if you have the chance as it really is worth the effort.