On Saturday morning I always used to watch the Wide Awake Club on TV. The presenter, Timmy Mallett, used to play a word association game with two contestants called Mallett’s Mallet. He’d start with a word and the children would say one in turn until “the one with the most bruises, loses”.
Timmy might start with the word ‘bike’ and the first contestant would say ‘wheel’ and their opponent might say ‘tyre’. You get the idea, I’m sure.
“You mustn’t pause, you mustn’t hesitate otherwise you get a bash on the head like this or like this.” The day-glo presenter would bop the children on the head with his foam mallet. It was the ’80s...
This game is similar to how I come up with ideas for Desire shoots (minus the mallet). For the issue that came out last September, when the UK hosted the World Championships, I opted for a British theme. Britain? Spitfire! Then all I had to do was find a Spitfire.
The shoot for 20.3 was inspired by the heavy metal band, Motlëy Crüe, after I’d received a pair of leopard print cycling shorts from Lumiere. When I got them, I called in kit to fit the rock’n’roll aesthetic, such as a pink zebra print kit from Paria and Pit Viper shades and then went about sourcing an appropriate location to shoot it all in. We used SS2 Recording in Southend, which is owned by an old friend of mine called, Sam Duckworth, aka Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly.
For this one, POC sent over an Octal helmet for us to set fire to. This was an homage to the famous shot of Jimi Hendrix at Monterey. You know the photo of him setting fire to his guitar on stage? It’s iconic. Benedict’s photography in this shoot is outstanding.
I love this shoot, for me it’s definitely one of our finest, largely for the amount of fun we had doing it. I think the fun element is very apparent when you see the feature in the magazine. Good times.
Miles dressed head to toe in Lumiere | Lumiere Cycling
Di Luca Killer, Killer by name, killer by nature
Paria on fire - guyliner, model's own
Ultimate disco Italiano - Passoni Vinci, too hot to handle
All that glitters by HEXR
Melon Optics Alleycat, beat crazy
Mavic Comete Ultimate too, no socks required
Isadore get funky with their recycled Alternative line, matching lid from HJC
The masters of Merino, Stu in ashmei, inspired by the Croix de Fer
CHPT3 rhythm section. Love/ hate?
Fizik Vento Aeroweave R2 Powerstrap - a bit of a mouthful
Coveted and colourful, shades from Pit Viper
Hmm this looks familiar...kit from Lumiere, helmet, formally known as a POC Octal
Miles got a brand new fuzzbox. And Albion kit. And POC Aspire shades
