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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Now you can carry high fashion in your pocket every day

The travelcard wallet is set to become the must-have fashion item of the summer. A host of artists, designers, writers and dancers have been commissioned to rework the ubiquitous blue and black wallets including Tracey Emin and Sadie Frost.
Emin is redesigning the blue Oyster cardholders to mark the 60th anniversary of Arts Council England. She has drawn her cat, Docket, with the caption " We've got fur and lots of ears. Love Tracey Emin".
She said: "I actually have an Oyster card, but I really don't like the wallet, so I thought it would be good fun to make something I like. Travel can be cute. And it's good to celebrate 60 years of the Arts Council."
Meanwhile, Frost has designed a special edition travel wallet for Oxfam. She is joined by six other artists and designers including Turner Prize nominee Ian Davenport, Radiohead's album cover artist Stanley Donwood and one of Madonna's favourite fashion designers, Maharishi.
The limited edition Oxfam wallets will be given out free to people who sign up to the "I'm In" campaign via the charity's street teams in London. A selection will also be available to buy from Oxfam stores in West London's Notting Hill and Westbourne Grove.
The designs on the cards, which will hit the streets on 26 March, are said to be "unique to the artist's individual style".
The "I'm In" campaign is part of the Make Poverty History campaign and offers people a range of ways to show their support, from volunteering in an Oxfam shop to making a donation.
Julia McKechnie, a marketing deputy director at Oxfam, said: "We're thrilled that some of the most talented and exciting British designers and artists have said they're "in" to help ending poverty and delighted to have their support.
"These unique designs, which range from bright colourful patterns to bold statements, have totally transformed the travel wallet, which has become an iconic symbol for modern city dwellers."
Others commissioned by Oxfam include ready-to-wear fashion designer Gharani Strok, Katharine Hamnett, the designer famed for mixing haute couture with political slogans, the Bristol artist 45rpm, Turner Prize nominee Yinka Shonibare and oki-ni, a collective of London-based designers.
Emin's cat design for the Arts Council will be available from today across the UK. The Turner Prize nominee is most famous for her installation works, especially My Bed - her unmade bed.
The Arts Council has also commissioned a design from the novelist Jeanette Winterson, author of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and Sexing the Cherry. She has created a wallet featuring a romantic short story set in a railway station.
Other artists contributing to the project include Adam Sutherland, Jyll Bradley, Tim Etchells and contemporary dancer Michael Clark.
All of the Arts Council wallets are designed around the theme of travel. A spokesman said: "The project aims to bring art into daily life by customising everyday objects."
The Arts in Your Hand project follows a recent Arts Council collaboration with Sainsbury's in which artists redesigned re-usable carrier bags.
The Arts Council wallets will be handed out from today at various railway stations, including London's Paddington, Manchester's Piccadilly, Birmingham's New Street and Leeds Station.
They will also be distributed in the street in Cambridge, Brighton and Bristol.

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