Me&Yu Pop-Up Shop with a difference......Me&FYC

You may know that we have a store in Manchester but did you know we actually live in Blackpool. We're kind of crazy to commute every day but we love living by the seaside and can often be found walking along the sand on our rare days off.

Blackpool is a place which has been a bit neglected but the last few years have seen things moving in a positive direction with Art Galleries, Vintage Markets, Craft Fairs and lots more cropping up to provide an outlet for local creative types.

"That's all good", thought us at Me&Yu but "What about FASHION??"
Fashion is often a forgotten ART, not quite fitting in with art or craft and handmade products appeal to a different audience than a thrifty vintage shopper. So we thought it was about time that something was on offer for people that are mad about fashion.

One of the things that we at Me&Yu have managed to achieve after a scary 8 years in business is we actually make enough money to live on from our quirky little fashion label and when we chat to people they always seem to be filled with questions about how we actually make it work.

After chatting with FYCreatives about all things Blackpool we put our heads together and devised this great project which gives young designers the opportunity to make and sell their creations direct to the public. And what's more we get to pass on some our knowlege and expertise, sharing what we've learnt along the way about making, selling, retailling, promoting, photography, funding and administration and all the other areas that make up a successful small business.

So if you make CLOTHES, FASHION ACCESSORIES or any ART & DESIGN product that would happily sit in a little Pop-Up Shop, then this is a project that you can get involved it - at a level which suits you and your other commitments.

Make a little, make a lot but if you can make it ............We can Sell it!!!!

Email angie@meandyu.com for an infomation pack

Stage 1 - Complete a Simple Application Form by 13th May

Stage 2 - Submit 1 product for review by 30th May

Stage 3 - Supply Finished products for sale by 22nd July

The Me&FYC Pop up will take place for 2 weeks from the end of July and could be showcasing your products, selling goods for profit and learning more about making, selling and business along the way!

Super Duper Blackpool!

Yesterday we had our annual chance of trading in our home town. The Super Duper Fair was a lovely event held this year in the rather splendid newly redecorated Grand Vestibule of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Here's some pictures:

Covering 2 rooms there was over 50 stalls of handmade products from fashion, vintage and accessories to cards, gifts, artworks and cake!

Our little stall had a selection of our current best-selling handprinted tees, and a rail of our new overdyed slouch tees and dresses with a few cosy sweatshirts too!

 

Just in time for Christmas we've hand-printed some new cards - and this year we've introduced quality sketchbooks with hand-printed covers - a perfect present for anyone that loves a doodle!

Above all it was a lovely social event - Angie's friend Lisa Wigham had a stall next door selling her original prints and etchings - here's a selection of pictures of her stall and some examples of her work:

We were amazed by the quality and variety of products throughout the fair - here's some of our other favourites:

Muffin Ceramics

Lovely hand-made ceramic things from floral rings to porcelain tea-light holders.

Lots of ceramic detail cards, christmas tree decorations and jewellery that stood out as being just a bit different with a nice quality.

Maus Haus

Hand-made handbags and printed fabric badges with lots of detailling - cute retro styling!

Loula Belle at Home made the cutest pinny's, baking and making sets.

Scissors

Now this may seem extremely dull but it's a post about scissors!!!! Yeah I got a new pair of scissors. Now this wouldn't normally warrant a blog post but these scissors are special - they were handmade in Sheffield (last week) by Ernest Wright & Co, a family owned scissor manufacturer. 

I'm left handed and my current pair were not up to the increased amount of cutting I've been doing recently, and as the new year will see an increase in the amount of handmade product we sell, I thought it was time to invest in a new pair. I had a look on google and found this amazing small company that handmake all their products - that was it I had to get these, here's some nice shots of them - 

Contradictions

During my usual Sunday blog browse I find it astonishing how many blogs seem to exist simply to re-hash posts from Slamxhype and Hypebeast.
Anyway here's an interesting post I found on slamxhype about ByKenyan and a film made about their wonderful collection of 'things'. I find it interesting and inspiring to see how people live/work closely so these type of documentary short films are always good to watch, and this one especially as it is so beautifully shot - watch it!!!!!


Kenyan & Grace by Gary Nadeau from gary nadeau on Vimeo.

Grayson Perry

I've just watched the Imagine feature on Grayson Perry - The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman. Perry is an artist I've always been aware off but hadnt paid much attention to his work, in fact I only watched this because I'd found him vaguely amusing on Have I Got News For You. Anyway, seeing the work he has created for his exhibition at the British Museum I was deeply impressed by the ideas and the execution of those ideas - anyone who has a custom made pink motorcyle built containing a shrine for his childhood teddy bear - then driving it to Germany and back deserves much praise.  I remember a quote by Keith Allen about Damian Hirst - 'it's one thing to have the idea of dissecting and displaying a shark, it's a whole different thing to actually do it', I guess thats was separates us from 'the artists'. I liked the images it showed of Perrys sketchbook and definitely felt there was some similarities with what we are trying to do (in a very far removed way - we do only make t-shirts!!!), and definitely got some inspiration from this.

Y'OH/Streetwear

It's nice to find someone designing & making interesting streetwear in the UK. A lot of streetwear seems based around heavily branded t-shirts (that all look pretty similar), chinos/workwear pants and brown utility jackets, so it's very refreshing to see someone taking a bold yet considered step to create a range that takes the basics of current streetwear trends and twists them in an innovative way. Checkout Y'OH.

Noise in my Head

Every so often we decide that we need to blog more about things we like, rather than just blog posts about Me&Yu, we do it for a bit then forget again. So here's me remembering!!!!

I found Noise in my head via Perks and Mini (our favourite Australian clothing label).
Noise in my head is - (in their words) -
Noise in My Head is a two hour freeform sonic excursion that broadcasts every Sunday 10pm-midnight on Melbourne community radio station 3RRR 102.7FM. The show is a commitment to potent baked goods that you’d otherwise never hear on the airwaves. Hosted by Michael Kucyk, NIMH regularly features mixes and interviews from various Australian and international artists, producers, DJs, label heads, compilation selectors and record collectors of unknown and well-respected renown.


You can download all the shows and dj mixes from their site, I downloaded 3 and spent the whole of the day in our studio listening to weird/obscure/good music - definately worth a download.

Yuksek

YUKSEK (LIVE) + Guest DJ at the Deaf Institute -Manchester
* November 14th - 11.00pm/3.00am *

If you've seen our website or ASOS boutique recently you will have seen the lovely Marine who modelled some of our new and old range for us. As well as been a great model she's also organising a night at the Deaf Institute featuring the amazing Yuksek (see below). We hammered Yukseks first album - Away from the Sea on the Me&Yu stereo and his new one will get just as much play. Anyway here's Marine to tell you why you should go!!!!

'If you think about it -there is NO reason why you shouldnt come to the gig. It's all about music, partying, and raising money for Cancer Research UK. It is new AND it is happening in Manchester. I would call that -winning the jackpot. Get yourself a ticket!!'

For more info see here

For tickets click here

Me&Yu Stockists.....

You might have discovered our brand in Afflecks or online at www.meandyu.com but you may not be aware that Me&Yu is also available at a few select stores and websites.

Cuckoo Folk in Congleton
A cute little shop which is also a hairdressers has a select range of the latest Me&Yu designs alongside other upcoming designers and choice vintage finds.

Utopia in Wakefield
Selling mens and womenswear, specialising in limited edition and one-off pieces from a variety of designers. A new batch of Me&Yu tees are heading their way.....

Unbox Shop, Lancaster
Unbox sells cards, gifts, clothing and art, with an emphasis on the quirky and unique. We created an exclusive design especially for Unbox which isn't available anywhere else!!!

ASOS Marketplace
We also manage a boutique on ASOS. It has most of the same stock as our main website but if you use ASOS Marketplace please follow us and give us some love / hearts so we can reach a bigger audience with our designs.

Support independent retail - little shops like us and those we sell in rely on visitors, customers and word of mouth so get shopping and spread the word......

Mystreetchic

The lovely people over at mystreetchic have posted a few of our 'looks' in their style gallery, pop on over and have a look.

Swiss Lips

Ten Bears are no more, Swiss Lips are here

SWISS LIPS HAVE FORMED. THIS IS THE BEGINNING. SWISS LIPS HAVE FORMED. THIS IS THE BEGINNING. SWISS LIPS HAVE FORMED. THIS IS THE BEGINNING. SWISS LIPS HAVE FORMED. THIS IS THE BEGINNING. SWISS LIPS HAVE FORMED. THIS IS THE BEGINNING. SWISS LIPS HAVE FORMED. THIS IS THE BEGINNING. SWISS LIPS HAVE FORMED. THIS IS THE BEGINNING


here's all the links
blogger 
facebook 
soundcloud

International Firework Championships

Fireworks Displays aren't really something that you think of when you think about fashion.
But every year Blackpool plays host to the International Fireworks Championships and this year Angie from Me&Yu was chosen to be on the panel of judges at this fabulous event. The judges were selected from professionals in the tourism industry and the arts council so it was a real honour for us to be asked to take part.

The event ran for 4 consecutive Fridays throughout September, with 3 competing teams from different countries, finishing last Friday with a closing display from a UK Team.

The First Week we saw a great display from Canada:

Secondly was Germany,

And last was Australia...

Angie was asked to offer her professional opinion about the quality of the displays, choice of music, syncronization, colours and overall technical performance. It's been a great opportunity to learn a little bit about all that goes into preparing these great co-ordinated shows. The Australian team just had the edge over some of the other performances with a jaw dropping display that was just perfectly timed throughout.

For more information about this and other great events see the Visit Blackpool website.

Sue & The Unicorn

You may know that here at Me&Yu we are big fans of Robots in Disguise (they quite like us too!!!) anyway today we got a lovely email and photo off Sue Denim who is busy recording her solo album in Wales (and wearing Me&Yu).

Street Style Blog

Our (previously rather sporadic) street style blog is back up and running, a massive thanks to sassyhorse who has kick started us again!!!!!