Designers make over Pudsey Bear

Instead of yellow fur and a polka-dotted eye patch, the high-fashion bears come clad in all the latest fashions, from Erdem’s florals to Saunders’ geometric prints.

Deacon took cues from his Silver Swan-inspired spring 2012 collection. He turned Pudsey into ‘a silver leather dream machine,’ he said, adding a hand-stitched Swarovski Elements crystal eye patch and plaited fringing.

‘I think anything I can do to make a difference to help the lives of children in the UK can only be a good thing,’ Deacon said.

And how was the client?

‘Pudsey was great to work with,’ Deacon said, ‘and not as much of a diva as I had thought.’

BBC Children in Need supports vulnerable children in the UK through grants to more than 2,000 voluntary projects. In 2010, the televised charity special raised more than £18m for the organisation.

The high-fashion bears will be exhibited in Liberty from today through 19 November before being auctioned to raise money for BBC Children in Need. Find out more here.