Diane von Furstenberg | Little London Observationist

Another round of ellies for you. Here’s numbers 81-90.

81. Marjorie by Clare Bassett; More London

82. Grey Elephant by Corneille; New Bond Street

83. Midnight Indigo by Cornelia O’Donovan; Bow Churchyard

84. Matilda by Craig Ritchie & Maribel Castro; Museum of London Docklands

85. Sans Merci by Cynthia Bernheim; St. James’s Park

86. Polyphant by Daniel Chadwick; Green Park

87. The Happy End of Nature by Deniz Balabaner; Paddington Station

88. Ddj by Devon Alfaro; Covent Garden Piazza

89. Brambles by Diana Ralston; Queens Walk, Royal Festival Hall

90. Twiggie by Diane von Furstenberg; originally at 37 Davies Street

For more photos, interviews and other info, visit my Elephant Parade page. Stay tuned for the rest!

In a few days, central London will be transformed into an urban jungle with 250 life-size baby elephants standing on street corners, parks and buildings around the capital. Each elephant is a unique creation by an artist, fashion designer, organisation or celebrity, including painter Mythili Thevendrampillai who was featured for London Art Spot at the end of February.

Mythili and Elephant I took this shot of Mythili with her painted baby elephant at her show in March.

Some other artists to look out for include Alice Temperley, Baroness Carrie von Reichardt (who I just mentioned here the other day), Diane von Furstenberg, Lulu Guinness, Matthew Williamson, Tommy Hilfiger and lots more.

The Elephant Parade has been called London’s biggest outdoor art event on record with an estimated audience of an impressive 25 million. Not only is it creative, but it’s for a good cause: conservation of the Asian elephant. In the last 100 years, the population of these wild guys has shrunk by over 90%. Where there were once 250,000 elephants roaming about, now there’s only 25,000 which means they could be extinct by in about 40 years. The Elephant Parade was founded by father and son Mike and Marc Spits in Holland. The parade supports a charity called The Elephant Family founded by trustee Mark Shand after travelling around India on his elephant, Tara.

The jungle beasts are in the city until the end of July when they will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s. The campaign is aiming to raise £2 million for the Asian elephant and benefit 20 UK conservation charities.

There’s a map here. If you find an elephant, snap a photo, stick it in the Flickr pool if you like and I’ll put ’em up on the blog.

More info on everything here!