Introducing the Designer Pudsey Collection

‘Children in Need’ occurs every year and every year we are faced with the traditional ‘Children in Need’ mascot of a simple, yellow teddy bear named Pudsey. Not anymore! Gone are the days of soft yellow fur and a spotty bandage to cover Pudsey’s right eye. Now, Pudsey is demanding more! This year Pudsey goes couture.

The Designer Pudsey Collection, launched on 7th November, called on the most coveted designers in Britain to use their creative minds and incredible talent to re-create the traditional Pudsey bear in any way they wanted. Designers such as Giles Deacon, Erdem, Katie Hillier and Mulberry are just a handful of names from the wide range of designers that contributed to this project. The idea was to create a collection of eleven bears that can be auctioned off to raise money for the ‘Children In Need’ charity.

The collection of bears, which features a silver leather Pudsey encrusted with Swarovski crystals designed by Giles Deacon, will be displayed in Liberty until 19th November 2011.

The bears are not only beautifully designed and hand-crafted, they are also an insight into the minds of the most celebrated designers of the moment. They offer fans of both Pudsey bear and the designer’s involved the opportunity to own a unique piece of fashion history, as never before has Pudsey bear had such high sartorial demands. Maybe this is due to London becoming the fashion capital of the world resulting in people becoming more aware of fashion, or maybe it is due to the forever growing bounty of creative talent in the British fashion industry. Whatever it was that made Pudsey decide to go couture for AW11, it definitely has a positive impact on everyone involved.

Here are just some of the lovely, comments on this new project:

“We are absolutely delighted to have such prestigious designers turn Pudsey couture. And to have Liberty exhibit this one-off collection, allows everyone to view a piece of fashion history. A truly inspirational fundraising initiative.” Sarah Monteith, Director of Marketing and Fundraising, BBC Children in Need

“Pudsey was great to work with and not as much of a diva as I had thought!” Henry Holland

Here is a list of all the designers who worked on this new and exciting project for BBC’s Children In Need 2011
• Mulberry – by Emma Hill
• Katie Hillier
• Erdem
• Patrick Grant
• Jonathan Saunders
• PPQ
• Pringle of Scotland – By Alistair Carr featuring Forevermark diamonds
• Henry Holland
• Giles Deacon
• Liberty
• Louis Vuitton Bear by Kim Jones for Katie Grand

More info can be found on the official BBC website.

Grace Molan