By Olivia Watson
The revolution of the slogan tee, with some of the elite designers like Balmain, Celine and Saint Laurent favouring these tees in their recent catwalk collections to the slogan tee movement of Katherine Hamnet meeting then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a tee that sported the slogan ‘58% don’t want Pershing’.
Emma Sibbles writes in an article for The Guardian, that slogan tees date back to the 1960s where the first were sold from Mr Freedom, a shop on London’s King Road set up by Tommy Roberts and Trevor Myles. The Disney-inspired slogan tees really kicked up a storm, that led to Vivienne Westwood taking the trend a step further with politically motivated t-shirts.
But it really was Katherine Hamnet at the 1984 London fashion week designers reception at 10 Downing Street, that made a stand with the slogan tee. Her infamous hand shaking with the Prime Minister caused a stir in society, Hamnet says of the slogan tee, “I wanted to put a really large message on t-shirts that could be read from 20 or 30ft away.” Since the 80s the slogan tee craze has become more and more popular within designers collections today, in 2006 Henry Holland designed a collection of tees with a little less seriousness to them. With slogans like ‘I’m yours for a tenner Kendall Jenner’ and ‘Give Us a Toss Karlie Kloss’, he created these witty slogans referring to some of the big name models in the industry, which followed with almost every high street brand, including Topshop and Zara, showcasing their own slogan tees in their collections.
It is true, you can never have enough slogan tee because the possibility of what can be thrown onto them ins endless. Especially for the small brand of Sister Siete, founded in 2014 by sisters Victoria Watson and Racheal Young. Their collection of slogan tees and sweatshirts have been inspired by the likes of Balmain, Dior and other big name designers that have put slogan tees on the catwalk. The brand’s collection is made up a mixture of t-shirts, sweatshirt and most recently hoodies with slogans like ‘SUNKISSED’, ‘WONDERWOMAN’ and ‘INSAIN’. When speaking to the two sisters they explained how their love for fashion and their history in the business inspired them to create this quirky and unique label for women of all ages to have a cool and affordable tee or sweatshirt that can be dressed up or down. It is very clear that the slogan tee is here to stay.
spoiled-nation.com 