![]() ![]() Should Fergie be castigated for wearing a Black Flag t-shirt? The sheer number of Nirvana t-shirts at Reading 1991 were the first signs that this writer saw to indicate their upcoming success, although this number was dwarfed the following year when they closed the festival as Sunday night headliners. Reading festival in these times must surely have featured shirts for every band who have ever existed as they became de rigeur amongst music fans. Cool, colourful and easy to wash, ravers kept the t in pole position. The Acid House explosion did little to dislodge the t-shirt as an essential item of clothing. So dominant were they for a while that a Frankie t-shirt has become a kind of visual shorthand for the 80s. The slick marketing campaign that accompanied the band created plain white shirts with slogans such as “ Frankie say arm the unemployed!” were as everywhere in the 80s and were bought as fashion items in their own right, not just by fans of the band. A sobering thought then that, for a time, they were selling more t-shirts than they were records. Only the second band in history to reach the number one spot with their first three releases, their debut single Relax has become the 6 th best selling single of all time after spending 5 weeks at the top, before the follow up, Two Tribes, stayed there for 9 weeks. The designs matched the often extreme images of the wearer, with Malcolm McLaren’s Seditionaries t-shirt featuring shocking images such as the Cambridge Rapist, a pair of cowboys naked from the waist down, penises almost touching or slogans such as “ One day your gonna wake-up and know which side of the bed you’ve been lying on!” A heavy metal t-shirt likewise identified its owner as belonging to a subculture and it was not uncommon, once so identified, for the different groups to stay in their own camps and even react violently with others.įrankie Goes to Hollywood were an 80s phenomenon. Many shirts from this era have become eminently collectable and command prices well into four figures. The t-shirt was reborn as a counter culture icon. Along with band logos and company adverts came anti-war slogans and tie-dye. A new type of ink was invented that meant that printed t-shirts could withstand day to day wear and washing, so designs flourished. The 60s saw t-shirts become a form of expressions, as logos, slogans and cartoons were added. The history of Western culture from the 60s onwards can be mapped out in t-shirts – think of such classic designs as the Rolling Stones lips shirts, the Ramones’ logo shirts and Frankie’s Relax line, the zeitgeist has been captured and displayed over the hearts of generations.Īsking people what their favourite underwear is, or which socks they remember most would undoubtedly elicit more than a few strange looks, but change the question to t-shirts and not only will there be answers, but also tales of when/where it was bought, what the wearer was doing at the time and very probably a misty eyed, nostalgic story caught up in the shirt’s very fabric. Soon the t-shirt had been adopted the world over and images, slogans and messages had been added to the basic design. Within a year, t-shirt sales had reached $180m in America alone and a fashion phenomenon was born. Originally designed to be worn under military uniforms, the t-shirt stepped out and entered the mainstream as outerwear following Marlon Brando’s performance in A Streetcar Named Desire, smouldering in a white tee. The t-shirt has become our personal billboard, a means of expression we can slip on and an essential part of our wardrobes. With a new shop dedicated to band t-shirts opening in Liverpool, Getintothis’ Paul Evangelista takes a look at the history of the t-shirt and interviews the new owner.įor something so unassuming, the humble t-shirt, more than any other item of clothing, has become a cultural signifier, a chance to announce to the world which tribe you belong to, what you are into and even something of your life history and personal views.
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