If you have come across Blondey McCoy before in any capacity you will know that he is a man of many talents and an intriguing character. Blondey (real name Thomas Eblen) is a professional skateboarder, artist, fashion designer and model currently representing Kate Moss Agency.
The 22 year old from London regularly skipped school to spend most of his time skating London's iconic South Bank and has since naturally found himself deeply involved in the skateboarding and fashion industry. For someone so young he has already accomplished so much and when listening to Blondey speak you will immediately realise his passion and obsession for everything that he does. Usually speaking in an exaggerated nature, it is evident he has acquired an impressive knowledge of literature, history and all things fashion. Blondey has a sureness and confidence about him without the arrogance. Throw in his achievements and experiences at such a young age and you have this unique personality with no shortage of good stories to tell.
He has already participated in many lucrative high fashion collaborations (Fred Perry and Burberry to name a few) and is often recognisable by sporting a wide variety of jewellery, dress shoes, his signature cropped hair cut, knee high socks and a front gold tooth. Blondey has also featured in numerous fashion and skateboarding magazines usually facilitated by a large catalogue of photos shot by good friend, skateboarder and photographer Lucien Clarke. It is obvious his creative and addictive personality has transferred through into his skateboarding style as well. Blondey has a fast, fearless and inventive style of street skateboarding and had an epic part in the Palace video ‘Palasonic’ in 2017, starting off the part by being hit by a taxi however surprisingly coming off somehow unfazed.
Blondey can also be considered a big factor in the rise of Palace, of which was a close knit skateboard family of homegrown London talent. This was initially the infamous PWBC (Palace Wayward Boys Choir) group of skateboarders. Palace Skateboards have been flying the flag for British Skateboarding for the past decade, however after 7 years Blondey decided to call time on Palace in 2019. During his time at Palace, Blondey also started working on his own brand 'Thames' in 2012. This was the perfect way for Blondey to begin to express himself and his own ideas in the skateboarding community. As well as still currently being sponsored by Supreme and Adidas, the Thames brand which is a brand largely inspired by various aspects of British fashion began to expand and grow it’s reputation. Blondey took full ownership of Thames in 2015 and has since been solely pushing this forward to create his own personal stamp in the Skateboarding/Fashion industry. He believes it is important to have more British based Skateboarding brands and encourage young British Skateboarders to support home industry in a market which is otherwise dominated by their american counterparts.
In December last year Adidas also released Blondey's signature shoe the 'Superstar' which is made up of a translucent upper section of the shoe and equipped with a River Thames graphic of course.
Blondey has previously talked about his struggle with alcohol and drugs and whilst the road to sobriety can be a tough one, he seems to be more than just on the right track. Blondey has been sober for a few years now and it is clear he has found happiness and a peaceful existence with the things he is passionate about. His addiction has now been transferred elsewhere and he talks about how he has become this obsessive character whilst also satisfied with the simple things in life .
In today's generation, within the skateboarding culture we are seeing more and more how skateboarding can be a gateway into other industries. For Blondey it was a natural progression, all stemming from his passion, vision and submersing himself in it all the way and not looking back.
Check out Part I and II of 'Out There: Blondey' shot by Thrasher's Waylon Bone.
