Rihanna is searching Britain for the next generation of raw, undiscovered designer talent and has hand-picked Girls Aloud star Nicola Roberts to head up the challenge for her.

Over eight weeks twelve unknown designers will be challenged by Rihanna and Nicola to create outfits for a string of musicians and celebrities. The show will celebrate the extraordinary talent and creativity in the British fashion scene. With Rihanna, a fashion icon herself, and Nicola, who created her own Dainty Doll make-up range, at the helm, the show will recognise the increasing influence popstars have on mainstream trends.

The final challenge and ultimate task for the winner will be to design a unique stage outfit for Rihanna’s Wireless performance in Hyde Park in July 2012. The chance to dress one of the world’s most famous women for an event that will attract worldwide coverage is the perfect springboard for the aspiring designer’s future fashion career.

Executive producer, Rihanna said:

“I’ve always had a great love of fashion. It’s a constant source of inspiration in my life, and is a big reason why I’ve grown into the person and artist I am today. I have been very fortunate to work with some truly amazing designers and stylists throughout my career, and they have been instrumental in making sure my creative vision reaches the stage. I am excited to follow the journey of our aspiring contestants and see how their individuality influences their efforts during the course of the show.”

Nicola added: “I’m so excited for us to get started on finding a new up and coming British designer who just needs a chance, a little bit of help in getting their skills noticed. There are talented people, undiscovered because they don’t have the means, or their circumstances are too far away from the fashion world. This show is here to discover those people and give them a shot. I’m looking for someone who can think outside the box, and who isn’t going to give up at the first hurdle”

To take part visit www.skyliving.com or e-mail applications@twentytwenty.tv

Applications must be received by Sunday 5th February. Filming takes place over 8 weeks in the UK from April 2012.

Our good friend Victoria Topping is a visual artist and Illustrator currently based in London and from time to time Berlin. Her work is heavily influenced by music, and she uses everything from 70′s disco to hip hop in her visual works, and creates her themes with an enchanting and magical edge whilst maintaining a yet refreshing look. Makes her different to a lot of other stuff out there! She is a Illustration, painting and fashion wizard and is also a brilliant DJ!

If you are Bristol based you will probably recognise her artwork from recent promotional material for Motion skatepark and nightclub. She has also recently entered a prominent piece of artwork in to the Saatchi collage showdown! We say go girl and hope you will all spare her a vote!

  Go and check her blog out, or go see her website for lots more of that good stuff! www.victoriatopping.com

Here at Shop Dutty it is no secret that one half of us is originally from Denmark. Therefore we see no shame in plugging something danish now and again! Last year saw an exciting new year in danish music, with the excitement of bass laden music hitting those shores and ‘Lucy Love’ is one that particularly caught our ears. She released her album Kilo in 2011 and took denmark by storm. We’ve been playing the album here at the shop and think it is time to spread the goodness!

Lucy Love is of Zambian background and although she grew up in Denmark she has spent a great part of her youth in Croydon, UK. The London influence on her album is huge, and it brings a quirky edge to her lyrics that sets her apart from a lot of other danish urban acts. Also a former art student she has always had a great interest in fashion and her unique style mixing rave/tachno inspired garms with urban and old-school nods means that she comes as a complete package, having designed all her stage outfits herself.

She runs her own record label Superbillion Records. Check out signature tunes ‘Thunder‘ and ‘Poison‘ now! Follow her on Twitter for more info and news!

A massive thank you to all of you who made it to our fabulous birthday party last saturday! It was a real pleasure to see so many people help celebrate us, and we thank all of you for your continued support over the last 3 years! You all rock!

Come and join in the Shop Dutty birthday celebrations!

We now have most colours and sizes in stock again! -We also had a fat delivery of paint delivered to the shop today so make sure you call in soon!

Here at Shop Dutty we proudly serve the night owls of our good city by selling tickets to some of the best club nights around! We currently have tickets for Subloaded – 1st of May at Lakota, Hospitality – 29th April at Motion, Boomtown Ball – 28th April at Lakota, The next installment of Crazylegs is on thursday 21st April at Bluemountain, The Bustle – 15th April also at Blue Mountain. On the 8th April it’s time for Soul:ution at Blue Mountain and before that we have  Clearskyz vs Gutterfunk on Sat 2nd April at Blue Mountain! Wowee we will be busy partying!

We are also really looking forward to the next instalment of Alfresco Disco – taking place in a secret location in Bristol on the 29th of April – both a daytime and an evening event has been sceduled! RSVP and check out all the details here http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=202548866439366 and don’t forget to invite all your friends – they’ll love you forever!

If you would like us to sell tickets to your night please get in touch with us on 0117 924 9990 or pop in for a chat! We support the local scene -much love!

(Extract from Stone and Spear Blog -all credit to Simon Cook!)

Welcome to the enchanted world of Stone and Spear created by London, UK based illustrator and designer Simon Cook. Producing work from club flyers, stickers and editorial illustration to identities, logos and t-shirts, Cook has since gained international recognition for his playful combination of striking photographic imagery and bold graphics.

Established in 2008 Stone and Spear’s client list features the likes of Design Week, The Big Issue, Wired Magazine, Computer Arts Magazine, Anorak and Poolga. In addition Cook is also Artistic Director of the club nights Lost Boy’s Club and Your Mum’s House, which has recently been named as the best mid-week party in London. Cook is continually devoted to developing self initiated work including his exclusive range of Stone and Spear merchandise currently stocked in London based boutiques Lik+Neon and Concrete Hermit. Cook has featured in a number of international publications and exhibitions including Creative Review, Dazed Digital, Elephant, Digital Arts andViewpoint.

In 2010, Cook was shortlisted for New Designer of the Year and featured as part of the ‘Class of 2010’ graduates issue of Creative Review, named as ‘one of this years most promising graduates in visual communication’. Most recently he was highlighted by i-D Online as one of the Top 10 illustrators to keep one eye open for.