The Tee Revolution - It Just Keeps on Giving.
Yep, It's a literal 'revolution'; coming around again and again and again.
Right now, I’m particularly taken with T-Post. With their latest tee being this brilliant graphical interpretation of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, (designed by Craig & Karl), which I think is really cool; topical and yet somehow very retro, I am seriously tempted to join their fab subscription service. Yes... I said subscription. You see, a subscription to T-post is like having a subscription to a magazine, but instead of receiving a print magazine in the mail every month you receive a T-shirt. With the news story printed on the inside (eh...for your own benefit I guess?, you have a brilliant drawn interpretation of that very news story on the front – basically making it an all-around conversation piece. Cool right?
NOW.... before we get ahead of ourselves, yes, I accept that of course the concept of making verbal or pictorial statements via your tee-shirt is most certainly not a novel idea; in fact, it is one of the greatest pop culture mediums ever invented and very much came into its own back in the late seventies and early eighties with everything from ‘Peace not War’ tees to branded icon tee shirts, movie catchphrase tee shirts, TV show tee shirts and of course, the all important concert tee shirts. Even in the mid nineties, when I would have started going to concerts, one of the most important aspects to any gig – especially if it was a global star such as Prince, Michael Jackson, REM or Oasis etc – would have been to ‘pick up a tee-shirt’ to mark the moment. It was so important to have these tees, not just because they were potential collectibles, but because you simply had to ‘wear them around the place’ that summer, just to prove you’d been – it was a kind of unwritten rule. It was also a much more acceptable fashion statement in the mid nineties, when grunge, rock music, doc-martins and greasy hair were pretty much the order of the day. But the point is - long winded as I now realise it was - that slogan tees were around a lot back then, then they disappeared (not completely of course, but in a ‘popular fashion’ sense) for a decade or so – and now they are very much back.... with a bang! Here are some more of my favourites.
A true icon of eighties fashion – and famous for her slogan tees - was the kooky and gorgeous Katherine Hamnett. An ethical fashion innovator, Katherine was one of the first designers to really bring ethical fashion to the forefront and now creates her clothing ranges to the highest ethical and environmental standards. Her slogan tees are a definite celebrity choice, having been seen on everyone from KT Tunstall and Lily Cole to Bob Geldof. Loving the eighties styling below and am on the hunt for a pink lippie just like this.
EDUN, the ethical clothing range created by Bono’s missus Ali Hewson, is another really popular tee shirt haunt for many. Again in this case combining popular culture with ethical fashion and this particular tee below, was designed for EDUN by Morcheeba’s lead singer SKYE.
A few years ago, an Irish, Cork based, Company called Hairy Baby initiated a sort of Tee revival here, with their quirky slogan tee shirts. With slogans such as ‘Tóg go bog é’, ‘Grand Soft Day’ and ‘What’s Your Quota’ appearing across chests all around the country, they quickly became one of the most popular tee company’s in Ireland. Although their tees don’t make any real political statements or particularly emotive pleas, they are hilarious and - well - typically Irish! Also though, they are ethically produced, of good quality and are a really good fit; indeed a far cry from the oversized, boxy shaped tees of the eighties and nineties. Below, Des Bishop sports one of their creations.
Finally to one of my faves of the moment. Faaabulous Irish fashion bloggers ‘What will I Wear Today’ recently created their own range of cheeky tees called ‘Plain White T Shite’ – gotta love that name! Their quirky fashion background and brilliantly random slogans make for some hilarious tees such as ‘Ah Jaysus ’ & ‘Blaydin Deadly’ - LOVE IT!
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