Wearable T-Shirt Magazine

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Jeremyville, t-post, t-post.se, t-shirt art, t-shirt editorial, t-shirt magazine

It was bound to happen, if you took a straw poll of all the people in the world who wear t-shirts and read magazines, tens of millions at the very least would fall into that particular category. That’s why T-Post.se have been doing so well, they’ve seen a niche, a formerly and utterly ignored niche, and conquered it. Of course they’re not selling t-shirts printed with a t-shirt magazine, that would be mad (wouldn’t it? lol). Their stories feature everything from the medical condition sexsomnia to negotiating a war to a nostalgia for cassette tapes, exploration, super drugs, privacy and voyeurism, my all-time favourite author Charles Bukowski and even a pet subject of mine human devolution. Devolution is a term that economists and bankers often bandy about, but it’s rare to see anyone else (other than yours truly) bring up the term in this context.

I only came across T-Post the other day, my partner Christina stumbled upon an article about the label at Annie Spandex, (one of our favourite indie fashion blogs out there), and I have to admit the concept is startlingly impressive. What’s more their challenging magazine topics and editorial finesse are backed up by a fantastic selection of top of the line illustrations and designs. Rest assured when it comes to style T-Post don’t take their eye off the ball for a minute. This is one of those rare occasions where I’m tempted to pry an interview out of this brand, at least one person running the show has to have a rather, how can I put this, ‘left field’ mind to conjure up this supremely logical yet surreal idea for a t-shirt company.

The natural extension to the idea of themed tees and themed collections is here, T-Post is a logical progression on the thinking behind all the themed contests and competitions available at so many t-shirt sites and communities these days. They have some great artists under their wing including Patrik Soderstam,Andy Rementer, John Nordqvist, Steven Burke and the absolutely crazy Jeremyville. I can assure you I know ‘big’ when I see it, sometimes I wish I was rich (amongst other reasons) just so I could invest in companies like this. On paper their business plan may seem insane, I’m sure they’ve had their run of doubting Thomas bank managers in their time, but I for one can see T-Post taking off in a big big way.

Let’s browse this veritable library of challenging art shirts, a feast for both the eyes and the mind!
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New Lost Tee By Ian Leino

admin    T-Shirt News     Ian Leino, Lost, Lost TV t-shirt, Polar Bear, Polar Beer, Tee Fury, ianleino.com, teefury.com

Sure the plot of Lost is as confusing as hell, sure it may have been stretched out a tad too far although the final series is just around the corner, but when it’s gone I can bet you that if you’ve watched it you’ll miss this ground-breaking TV series. To commemorate the final run of the TV behemoth that is Lost Ian Leino, a highly talented designer we’ve featured before at Buy Tees, has created a Lost / Beer Label Mash-up shirt for TeeFury, and for anyone familiar with TeeFury.com you know you won’t have long to buy one!

What’s more Ian is single-handedly reviving the art of scratchboard! If you’re not familiar with this technique take a look at this video from another artist just to see the amount of work it takes to create a design, also known as ‘scraperboard’ it involves a thin piece of white China plaster coated black with India ink. It’d be nice to see Ian at work on his scratchboard in a video, maybe next time?

Anyway the concept of his Polar Beer tee has a few references to Lost, one of course being the polar bear! Another might be a reference to all the ‘stations’ on the island, in this case Ian features a so far hidden one, the Beer Station. About time really, the poor time travelling motley crew could do with a few brewskies. Other references are the octagon which is a symbol for Dharma, an evil corporation that features greatly the show’s plot, plus of course the sightings of polar bears on this tropical island and ‘hatches’ leading to bunkers where former Dharma employees researched temporal events (amongst other all out weirdness).

Check it out but hurry there’s just 15 hours left on this one…

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CottonMouth – Tastier Than Ever!

admin    T-Shirt News     Cotton Mouth, Dutch fashion, catwalk, chic t-shirts, cottonmouth, cottonmouth.nl, couture, t-shirt dress, t-shirt dresses

There are some fashion brands that are just a cut above the rest when it comes to making sexy apparel. I’m not talking dodgy peep-hole bras and nylon garters here, I mean t-shirts of course, and they don’t come much hotter than Cotton Mouth’s new collection simply entitled ‘Bad Girl Candy’. I’ve featured this Dutch label a few times now and I am always impressed from the outset whenever I visit their site, it’s as slick as a t-shirt store can get. Something akin to reading a copy of Cosmo whilst striding along a Parisian catwalk and obscuring the glare of the paparazzi camera flashes with a long black gloved hand.

If you’re female, love high fashion and high concept, if you want to look and feel like a star but without the strain of burning through your credit cards, then this is the label for you. They experiment with everything from inspiration to design to the cuts of their tees, pullovers and t-shirt dresses, and all of it successfully mind you. It’s all very well trying to out do the market but if you’re too far ahead or behind the fashion curve you can forget it. CottonMouth.nl always seem to be ‘bang on’ when it comes to the ever changing face of mainstream couture, it’s a tricky balance working to accessible budgets whilst squeezing out every little detail possible to create a ‘must have’ item. They do it every time.

Pin-ups, soul and sexuality are the inspiration for this limited collection. The shirts are designed in cooperation with artist Thijs Bierlaagh. Bierlaagh’s Sexual Healing tee mixes the latest graphic and fashion styles with a flashback to the 80′s accompanied by the lyrics of the late soul legend Marvin Gaye‘s classic anthem for lovers ‘Sexual Healing‘.

I’ll give you a glimpse of their latest t-shirt and t-shirt dress just to get you in the mood:- read more

History Through A Purple Haze

admin    T-Shirt News     Ivory Skies, ancient history, esoteric tees, historical t-shirts, ivoryskies.net, mythology

Ivory Skies are back with their latest collection of tees entitled ‘Purple Haze’. Take a trip through time and explore yet more ancient myths, lost talismans, and spiritual iconography from across the ages. Over the next few weeks IvorySkies.net will be revealing the stories behind the designs in all their glory. The new series of t-shirts include a Sacred Beetle, an absolutely beautiful Zodiac, Angel Horns, Good Vs. Evil, a Snake Dragon and the Wisdom of ancient Eastern spirituality.

No matter if you’re a history buff, a spiritual sort, a lover of the obscure, or none of the above I’m sure you’ll find their latest tees very tantalising. I have to admit I am all of the above and so I supposed I am biased. As an artist much of the process of conjuring new and original images to inspire debate and reflection come from a knowledge of art history, ancient cultures, and a fascination with anthropological research and esoteric texts. It’s useful learning about Man’s past, on the most basic level it provides a greater relative context for our present society. It seems rather ironic to me that here we are at possibly the end of yet another empire, whilst most of the population show little interest or indeed understanding of the rise and fall of those civilisations that have proceeded us. The human race lives by cycles of progression and regression, expansion and contraction, belief systems, fashions, governments, celebrities and icons all finally disappear into the past as new ones arise.

Much of this same thinking emanates from Ivory Skies’ collection, opening up a whole new and simultaneously ancient area of art and design, for a generation of t-shirt fans who know or or are intrigued to find out exactly where we stand in the history of mankind. Take a look at these top picks from the new Purple Haze series for a 101 in ancient mythological history:- read more

The T-Shirt Playground

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Dalek, Faile, Fifty24SF Gallery, Sam Flores, Upper Playground, graffiti tees, street art fashion, urban art t-shirts

This review focuses on two of my creative mediums, urban/street art and of course t-shirt design. I’m featuring Upper Playground tees today, having been run independently for over a decade by the highly respected Fifty24SF Gallery, it’s the place where some of the big boys and girls of the street movement sell their works in all kinds of forms, including t-shirts at their store. Some of the super fine artists on their books including: Jeremy Fish, who has exhibited his work in esteemed galleries such as White Walls in San Francisco – Rinzen an Australian arts collective who have made waves in everything from fashion to illustration to design, read more about them at Format Magazine – David Ellis who’s woodcut-style intricate prints are highly respected within the urban arts scene and Hera, a German based illustrator who has designed a capsule t-shirt collection for UP based upon her own infamous and darkly comic illustrated characters.

Upper Playground also runs nine retail stores, mostly in the U.S as well as one in the UK and one in Mexico, see all the locales here. Asides the stores, their site, their blog and gallery, they also offer two other t-shirt labels which are 12 Grain by Sam Flores and Fifty24SF. These t-shirt companies feature work from some of the legends of the design and graffiti world such as Mark Bode, Iz the Wiz, Cope 2, Dave Choe, Daze, Faile, Dalek and Sam Flores. There really are too many great tees to feature in one review, but I’ll do my best to give you a brief idea of the exuberance and energetic art tees of Upper Playground… read more