Australians and their T-shirts

What is it with Australians and their T-shirts? Back in May Dom Rebel put the most expensive T-shirt in Australia on display ($1000, a diamond studded skull design) and now, a beaded and frilled T-shirt featuring a print by Del Kathryn Barton is going on sale at $400 as part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, starting in Melbourne tomorrow.

It’s not what you expect of the average Aussie, is it? Given the national identity with grunge clothing, sport and rough-and-ready humour, this predilection for pricey T-shirts is peculiar to say the least. However there is some method in the madness. The expensive T-shirt was commissioned by Sydney label Romance Was Born as part of a ‘Limited’ exhibition of specially commissioned T-shirts which will be sold to the public after a presentation at the GPO shopping complex in Melbourne. Other designers include Alpha 60, Ksubi, Rainer and Bassike, who all contributed custom-designed T-shirts to the Limited project. One of the organisers of the event said, ‘We wanted to celebrate the humble T-shirt, because it’s where a lot of Australian designers have their beginnings … most people wouldn’t pay that much for an average T-shirt, but this one is special, it has become a work of art.’

Alexi Freeman show, Melbourne, courtesy of fashionistar

Bookmark to:

Add comment September 2nd, 2008

Can a T-shirt save New York’s Garment District?

The area, which gave a start to many a famous name from Bernard Gant of Gant shirts through to Calvin Klein, and is home to the Fashion Walk of Fame, is shrinking fast. Fashion designer Anna Sui wants to save it, and she’s trying to do so by using fashion to save fashion – along with scores of other names in the fashion industry she’s exploiting the high profile of New York Fashion Week to get the message out. And the message itself is carried by a classic black T-shirt stating Save the Garment Center.

The problem is that new zoning laws have changed the way buildings in the district are classified and many landlords are hoping to turn what have been factories into luxury lofts and chic hotels, nice for them, with rising rents but not so nice for small fashion contractors who will have nowhere else to set up their small but essential businesses. Sui, Vera Wang, Nicole Miller and others are encouraging their fellow Council of Fashion Designers of America members to help promote the T-shirt which also bears the email addresses of New York City officials who can be petitioned to change the zoning – those rather less than stylish addresses are on the back of the fashion-statement T-shirt, by the way! And if Sui has her way, those details will be seen on the backs of many a model as she does her catwalk turn …

Anna Sui courtesy of Budjit

Bookmark to:

Add comment August 26th, 2008

Girls Aloud design charity T-shirts

Girls Aloud have probably always been as well known for their costumes as their music, and now they’ve teamed up with Kit Kat Senses (a chocolate that you can’t imagine ever actually passes their lips) and the Make-A-Wish Foundation which grants the wishes of youngsters fighting life-threatening illnesses. Girls Aloud: aka Nicole, Cheryl, Kimberly, Nadine and Sarah, and their partners will be giving away 165 T-shirts every day for six weeks in August and September.

Since it was founded in 1986, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted over 4,900 wishes to young children, from meeting their pop and sporting idols to hot air ballooning.

Girls Aloud courtesy of Wikipedia Commons 

Bookmark to:

Add comment August 22nd, 2008

Paris Hilton for President – or just for T-shirts?

The American Presidential campaign took a fascinating twist last week – John McCain published an advertisement suggesting his rival, Barack Obama, wasn’t a real contender but a lightweight celebrity like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. ‘He’s the biggest celebrity in the world,’ it said. ‘But, is he ready to lead?’

Well it seems that somebody else was prompted to ask herself the question – and came up with a surprising answer.

Paris Hilton posted a video on the internet in which she introduces herself as a celebrity: ‘Only I’m not from the olden days, and I’m not promising change like that other guy. I’m just hot,’ she says, and then thanks the ‘white-haired dude’ (McCain) for mentioning her in a campaign ad, which she suddenly realises means she’s running for president. It’s a hilarious and very professional send up of herself and then came the final proof that she’s serious – she’s launching a campaign T-shirt bearing the slogan ‘Paris for President’ of course. They will be on sale before the end of August and the mind absolutely boggles …

Paris Hilton courtesy of Alex CD

Bookmark to:

Add comment August 15th, 2008

Dirty T-shirt as art

Dirty Laundry is a gallery exhibition that says it is ‘devoted to the concept of potential’

What does that mean?

Well, it seems that the artists are using stains as an integral part of the design and fashion of their T-shirts. The show wants to move the nature of our idea that something (or someone, for that matter) can be ruined. Whether the stain is grass, grease, or ketchup, participants in the show are challenged to incorporate the stain into a custom-designed silkscreen T-shirt, converting the ruined garment to remixed fashion.

The mantra for the show is the standard environmental one of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’. It opens September 5^th and runs until September 20^th, but you might only be able to visit on line at: http://www.dirtydirtylaundry.com as it’s taking place at the Naaunu Gallery, Honolulu!

Grape-stained T-shirt courtesy of viavecchiawinery

Bookmark to:

Add comment August 12th, 2008

Biker chic and T-shirt appeal

  Karen Davidson, great-granddaughter of Harley-Davidson co-founder William A. Davidson is creative director of general merchandise for Harley-Davidson and supervises design for the company’s two decade old MotorClothes division. Since 1947, when the first Harley leather jackets appeared, the biker ‘uniform’ of black leather jacket, jeans and T-shirt has been a classic, but now things are changing – the traditional ‘leather’ has been joined by leather treated to be water resistant, and even by cottons and synthetic materials.

As bikers have aged, they have also wanted more from their clothing, like shirts that work on the bike and in the office too.  And the customer mix has changed: men purchase about 60% of the clothing and women buy 40%. This has meant creating brighter colours and new styles along the classic lines. Pink leather jackets were introduced a couple years ago and fitted Harley T-shirts are a big seller. Now the line is expanding again to include grommets and appliqués to personalise both T-shirts and jackets. 

Harley-Davidson T-shirt courtesy of jorgemejia

Bookmark to:

Add comment August 1st, 2008

When infiltrating a terrorist ring – wear a T-shirt

But not just any old T-shirt.  It was the elite troops of the Colombian Army who deceived the terrorist group ‘Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’ (FARC) into handing over hostages who’d been kept in the jungle for nearly six years. And one of their tools was a Che Guevera T-shirt. 

The left wing terror group had become expert in kidnapping during its war with the Colombian state but Colombian Army members infiltrated the very highest levels of FARC and were able to bring a helicopter to a jungle rendezvous, claiming they were taking the hostages to an international meeting to show FARC’s power.  The most senior member of the infiltration team spent nearly half an hour on the ground with the terrorists, laughing and joking, and clad in a Che Guevara T-shirt, which seems to have helped the FARC soldiers accept that he was ‘one of them’.   

Once back in the air, the amazed hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, a former candidate for President of Colombia who had been kept in isolation for over five years, were told their ‘captors’ were actually their rescuers.

Che courtesy of slavin fpo

Bookmark to: