T-shirt Cult Culture Subversion

At the weekend I actually removed myself from Bristol's comfy sofa and went along to an exhibition in London, that I would usually wish I had attended!  

It was all about T-shirts and I love T-shirts! Punk t-shirts, band t-shirts, slogan t-shirts, customised t-shirts. T-shirts are great aren't they?

The T-shirt Cult Culture Subversion exhibition was held at the Fashion and Textiles Museum, which was founded by the fabulous Zandra Rhodes, a new fact that I quite liked.

As soon as we (I had been joined by my childhood friends 'The Rach(a)el's') walked in the building there were display cabinets of Katherine Hamnett's famous political slogan t-shirts and a massive wall hanging of a Johnny Rotten t-shirt, which I kinda wanted to take home but it was so big I'd have to use it as a duvet cover. 

The exhibition was full of Vivenne Westwood's back catalogue of t-shirts from the punk t-shirts from Sex, Let it Rock and Seditionaires to the pirate inspired Worlds End to the contemporary political Westwood t-shirts, let's face it Vivienne loves a t-shirt! It was exciting to get to see all the original punk t-shirts too, all displayed on urban scaffolding style arrangements, just waiting to be explored.

There were a few examples of printing techniques from screen printing and digital printing to tacky glittered transfer t-shirts from the 1970's and early 80's, reminding me of some t-shirt gems that I was very upset to grow out of as a little kid.

The section of band t-shirts had iconic album cover prints from The Velvet Underground 'Banana' album with it's pop-art Warhol print and the legendary Joy Division 'Unknown Pleasures' T-shirt, that has been recreated and ripped off by other brands more times than I can remember, to the t-shirt that is the epitome of the 1980's Frankie Say Relax. If that t-shirt hadn't of been at the exhibition I would have walked out!

The Rach(a)el's and I also chuckled at the Hyper Global Colour T-shirt, as it reminded us of our raving days. I had been jealous of Rachael, when she had returned from the Clothes Show Live with her amazing new tech t-shirt, that she then proceeded to wear to a rave my Dad had driven us to. But that's another story.

The other Rachel loved the glittery graphic on the vintage Biba t-shirts, they were much more her style. At this point I discovered another interesting fact that Biba (who started off as a mail order catalogue) had a multi levelled shop where each floor had its own name, logo and it's own t-shirt design! Love this!

Vintage Biba - The four logos of the Biba shop

More t-shirts could be found upstairs with a collection of designer t-shirts, all couture customised up or logo obsessive. I did quite like the punked up Chanel No.5 t-shirt though. It was also nice to see a Banksy 'Dismaland' t-shirt pop up in this section too, just to remind me of Bristol and how great it is!

The final room was full of portraits taken by photographer Susan Barnett named Typology of T-shirts that featured the backs of people's t-shirts. Barnett would street shoot individuals wearing slogans/ prints on the back of their t-shirts to show their personalities and political views, explaining that it was easier to photograph a persons back as they do not have to show their face and they feel less intimidated.

'I look for individuals who stand out in a crowd by the choice of the message on their back'.
 Susan Barnett, Photographer.

I took this opportunity to have my photo taken with the T-shirt portraits as I was coincidentally wearing my 'waste of time' cardigan by Lazy Oaf. 

People often question that particular slogan and I reply, 'it's ironic', (as are all of the Lazy Oaf slogans) I am always cramming so much stuff into my life, I never see anything as a 'waste of time', except when I'm queueing, I hate queueing! You would be amazed at how many people actually take that cardigan slogan literally! I did have to remove the cardigan once when I realised I was wearing it at my oldest son's parents evening. I'm not sure they'd see the funny side,  although I did think it was hilarious to be wearing it. The power of the slogan, eh? 

Debutante

Overall, I did enjoy the T-shirt exhibition but I did feel they were missing skate t-shirts. Maybe it's because my husband skates, so I know more about skate t-shirts, than your average fashionista/ t-shirt lover; but there really are so many iconic skate t-shirts that could have been featured. Including the late 1980s/early 90s Vision Streetwear t-shirts, to the infamous Santa Cruz Screaming Hand print by artist Jim Phillips. Yeah, I probably do care a little more about these t-shirts but I think just one skate t-shirt could have been included somewhere? Especially since skate fashion is a big thing from the catwalks, to label lovers to every kid in the street!

The T-shirt Cult Culture Subversion exhibit has inspired me to share the vast t-shirt collection, that my husband and myself have managed to hoard over the years, with you lovely lot; this may take a bit of time to compile but watch this space for the No Debutante T-shirt Obsession blog post, inspired by this Fashion and Textiles museum visit.

Thanks for having me London, I will be back again soon for more fashion fun xx

All photography by No Debutante

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Emma Gorton-Ellicott

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ND xx