The posterboy of skatewear invites us into his world with his new film Land of the Livid
- TextTed Stansfield
Blondey McCoy has a lot going on: he’s a pro-skater, a burgeoning artist, a fashion designer and, as the face of Palace Skateboards, the unofficial posterboy of skatewear. And if that wasn’t enough for the 20-year-old Londoner, he’s now trying his hand at film. Here, on the eve of London Fashion Week Men’s, McCoy presents his directorial debut – a short film titled Land of the Livid which showcases the latest collection of his brand, Thames London.
Shot by Mark Jackson, the film features McCoy himself and two of his mates – Jack Fussey and Robin Lambert – and brings together some of his greatest passions in life: “Knockabout funtime skateboarding on my Southbank home turf, grainy old footage of the glory days of Soho, ice cream, cups of tea, copious fags and 80s power pop hits.” McCoy wanted to use some of these hits to soundtrack the film in fact, but couldn’t secure the rights. Undeterred, he took matters into his own hands, had some piano lessons and learned how to play them himself.
“I wanted to make a charming and genuine representation of what Thames is, so, as I often do, I chose to work only with people who are personally familiar with the brand,” McCoy says of the film. “Robin and I were in New York together in 2012 where I got the first stickers made... We’ve always skated Southbank together. I love doing ‘doubles’ but we’ve never documented it and I saw the invitation to make the film as the perfect opportunity to do so in a way that wouldn’t exclusively be watched by the skateboarding community. It’s also been a life-long dream to nick George Michael’s whistling kettle bookend from his Freedom! ’90 video.”
Watch Land of Livid below:
