These were all the way down the stairwells, on both sides, and there were massive A0 versions in other parts of the station. What could it mean? The payoff came in the shape of another bunch of posters, all stating "WEAR SNEAKERS". But it didn't end there. The two messages were united on a further set of posters, along with the Converse logo. What a brilliant ad campaign. Must have cost them a fortune. I really like when a campaign has been designed for a specific location.
It didn't take more than thirty seconds from stepping off the train before I spotted my first hipster:
Within minutes I had spotted my second:
By the time I left the station they were everywhere, like an ironic-jumper-and-facial-hair zombie horde. Still, they are harmless enough. I met my friend as planned and we walked along to Hoxton Square in Shoreditch, where we grabbed a bite and a cuppa at The Breakfast Club. Everyone was painfully fashionable but pleasant enough and there was this rather brilliant He-Man wallpaper in the toilets:
After eating we headed around the corner to White Cube, where there was an exhibition by Harland Miller called "The Next Life's On Me". It's a really nice space and the paintings were like huge paperback book covers (I think Miller is also a writer).
Next, we walked across the square to check out the KK Outlet store.
I thought the place was just a shop, albeit one chock full of beautiful independent publications, but it turns out it is also a gallery. There was a rather brilliant exhibition on called "Logo R.I.P." which was basically a series of photos of gravestones featuring well-known logos that are sadly no longer with us.
After KK Outlet my friend and I went our separate ways - he headed off to work and I strolled down Brick Lane in search of the best "best curry in London". While I was looking at one of the £6.95 two-course lunch menus, I noticed a couple of dapper gentlemen walk right past me:
It was only Gilbert and fucking George! I dashed after them to get this cheeky snap. I was more than a little starstruck when I finally sat down to eat. After lunch I walked all the way down Brick Lane until I reached the Whitechapel Gallery. I was interested in seeing Mel Bochner's typographic work, as well as the general collection in the gallery.
Bochner's brightly coloured word chain images were quite nice but nothing really special and I did quite like posters made from shaving foam sculptures that were beautifully lit and photographed, something I must try at some point, but the rest of the stuff in the gallery was pretty boring and/or pretentious art wank.
That was enough art for the day, so I went and met my cousin on Oxford St and then went for a few early-evening drinks around Soho. Once we were a bit wobbly we hooked up with some other friends and walked through loads of interesting back streets until we arrived at a fantastic pop-up burger joint in Covent Garden:
We then headed back to Clapham, stopping for a last drink at a very fancy bar where they charged me £11 for two pints of ale - it was only £3.50 a pint just off Oxford Street! Still, they did have a lovely Jeff Koons print on the wall, which sort of made up for it (a bit):
More tomorrow...
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