Blondey McCoy

In the early 2010s, Blondey McCoy’s idiosyncratic and daring style catapulted him to fame in the streetwear and skateboarding scene. Sponsored by Supreme and adidas by the age of 14 – as well as creative directing his own brand – Blondey’s cultural reach and output have since expanded far beyond his origins in skateboarding. Forging his own path from an early age, Blondey has increasingly focused on visual art and fashion, his exhibitions providing a penetrating look at modern culture, from consumerism to pharmaceuticals.

Born in July 1997, in South London, Blondey was educated at Rokeby Preparatory School in Kingston Upon Thames, and later Westminster School in central London. Asked to leave school at the age of 15 for repeated absences, Blondey was ready to capitalise on his established skateboarding and streetwear reputations.

Beginning to skateboard aged 10, Blondey had already achieved local attention for his fearless approach, often taking on challenging urban sites. By 2012, he was sponsored by the British brand, Palace Skateboards, catapulting him to the forefront of the skateboarding world. As well as featuring in Palace’s lookbooks and magazine adverts, by age 14 he was already collaborating with the streetwear brand, Supreme.

Moving between streetwear and high fashion, Blondey has modelled for brands from Burberry to Valentino. His distinctive personal style, mixing English classics, from knitwear to loafers, with skateboarding style, has made him a face to follow in the fashion industry. Named Vogue Homme’s Stylish Icon of the Year in 2018, Blondey epitomises both the traditional and rebellious elements of English style, influences which he explores in his brand, Thames MMXX.

After conceiving of his skateboard and streetwear brand Thames during his GCSE Art project in 2012, he began collaborating with Palace on this project. Thames began producing largely stickers and T-shirts, based on the collages that Blondey made from newspaper clippings, combining diverse inspirations, from icons of British culture, like Princess Diana, to Disney cartoons. Departing from Palace in 2019, he sought creative control of his brand that same year, rebranding as Thames MMXX and infusing it with his own style influences as creative director.

As a visual artist, Blondey works across media and styles, including collage, installation art, and mural painting, each characterised by his unapologetic, often provocative, approach. His first shows grew out of his designs for Thames. In 2015 he held his first exhibition, Thames AD, a collection of 34 collages at Soho’s HENI Gallery. His exhibition, Us and Chem, at HENI Gallery, 2017, was his first showcase of artworks that were not designed to be used on clothing. A personal exhibition, which he has described as playing a therapeutic role, Us and Chem was inspired by his sobriety and the concept of chemical imbalance.

Continuing his dissection of modern life through art, Stella Populis (2019), featuring his photography, digital illustrations, and installation art, explored the fanaticism of pop culture. The installation The Loved One (2019), a crucified sculpture of Plato, was inspired by Sal Mineo’s character in Rebel Without a Cause, while his Epiphanies series presented the images of modern icons, including Drake and David Beckham, lazer-etched onto toast.

Blondey represents a new generation of creatives, dissolving traditional boundaries and redefining the intersections between street culture, art, and fashion. His distinctive, frank style and daring artworks lend new perspectives on both the popular and the personal, as he creates and dissects contemporary culture.