All About Andy - tagged with black

Gifts from Beautiful/Decay

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:00:00 -0800

I’m fairly used to receiving tees from people, but a magazine is a bit more unusual, and it was really nice to be sent a copy of Beautiful/Decay, as the only way I can usually get a copy is to spend a couple of hours driving to my favourite shop in Manchester. I really like the collage look on this tee, and the ‘eat more’ theme certainly lends itself.to the festive season. One thing I’d note, as this isn’t a real review, is that this tee is an XXL but fits like a fairly slim XL, so you’re going to need to carefully check out the size chart if you’ve never made a purchase from B/D before.

Black Pinstripe hoodie by Dubwise at hoodiepeople.com

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:00:00 -0800

I guess that with Christmas coming up that I should be posting more festive clothing, but the problem with seasonal clothing, and especially Christmas specific clothing, is that it can only be worn for a month or so a year, unless you’re the kind of person that wears clothes ‘ironically.’ I really like the juxtaposition of the pinstripes, something I tend to associate with a touch of class, with the little embellishments like the lion print on the lower hem, the arm patch, rasta coloured piping, and the lion pattern print on the inside of the hoodie (and hood). Costiness=$80 Buy it at hoodiepeople.com

Bling Buffet by Gama Go [Rumplo Rocks]

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:00:00 -0800

Sorry about having to use a close-up as the main image, but all the other ones that Gama-Go have for this tee are a tad too small. You can (just about) see how it looks on a tee if you check out the gallery. It’s a little unfortunately that there is repitition on the tee, but I guess that a lot of buffet’s are like that, you go up to a buffet thinking there’s going to be lots of different stuff, but then you notice that everything ends up looking and tasting kinda the same… tee still looks nice though. Costiness=$28 Buy Bling Buffet at Gama Go / Rumplo Link

a.mar.illo & siXsiXsiX are making A Better Tomorrow

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:00:00 -0800

Andre from A Better Tomorrow got in touch to let me know about a couple of new tees that won their design competition. The one in the top picture of this post is called ‘Night of the Dead’ (way to keep it festive ABT!) and is firmly planted in the burgeoning niche of ’80s puke horror’, a genre that I must thank Alex from Dance Party Massacre for coining, though he’ll get pretty pissed if you lump his tees in with them. The tee marks the first time that ABT have used waterbased ink on their tees, so this will probably be one of their softest tees yet. The lower tee is by that most excellent stalwart of tee design competitions, Sven Palmowski, or a.mar.illo if you want to get all ‘aka’ about this. The tee is a pretty clever take on 50s B-Movies, except for instead of thinly-guised metaphors about Communists invading the US, he’s tackling the much more dangerous, and surely much more real, threat of giant fruits laying waste to the Earth. Close ups in the gallery.

“Supremebeing Skewbert Black & Sketchbook Reversible Zip Hoodie” at Urban Retro

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:59:00 -0800

Now that’s a long title! I know that I’m showing you this hoodie with the ’sketch’ side showing, but I actually prefer it with the black side showing and the sketch providing a nice bit of contrast on the hood lining, but I figured that it would look a bit boring in the picture, and the allover sketch print is really cool. It is a bit of a pity that the print is a pattern, I think this piece might have benefitted from being different all over and not having any repeating characters, it certainly would have been more interesting. Details and inside-out in the gallery. Costiness=£51.99 Buy the hoodie at Urban Retro

Facial Hair Shirt by Wire & Twine

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:00:00 -0800

You know what has been an unusual design meme this year? Mustaches, what’s the deal with them? They’re everywhere at the moment. We all know that I look stupid with a mustache (although I don’t think I’ve smiled so much at my own appearance in a long time), but I think that more people can get away with a beard, especially at a time of the year when you’d rather look like a hobo than be cold. This tee has lots of famous beards from history on it, though has the notable absence of Renate Blauel (ahhh, a reference so obscure that Seth MacFarlane would be proud). It’s a fun tee, and the addition of a beard names key near the hem is pretty cool, but I can’t help but feel that the print should be bigger. Costiness=$20 Buy Facial Hair at Wire & Twine

Lost Dimension by cuypi for LaFraise

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:00:00 -0800

I seriously have no clue what’s going on with this tee from LaFraise, but I really like it. The character is cute, and it sits really well on the tee, a good case of a tee design, rather than an illustration that has been put on a tee as an afterthought. Costiness=€19 Buy it at LaFraise

Wrongwroks Winter Collection

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:00:00 -0800

Just when I think I’ve run out of Wrongwroks news, Tony drops another slew of releases, does this man ever sleep? There’s a nice and healthy amount of hoodies available this time around, as well as more tees and caps, riffing on the usual “hey, is that copyright infringement or fair use?” themes. One of the special this releases is called ‘Nat In the Box’ and features most of the tees Wrongwroks sold (and a couple of new ones) with super-cute model Nat on them, and comes in a limited edition box. There’s a bunch of pics in the gallery, so check them out. Wrongwroks

Say Hello to DeKay Clothing

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:00:00 -0800

Just in case you still have room for another big-print skull/zombie tee in your wardrobe, DeKay Clothing may well be the people to fill that gap. There’s only three designs up in their Big Cartel store at the moment, but all three are great images, and the print quality looks impressive too. DeKay Clothing

a.mar.illo and FreshFauxx hit Ink Hound

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:00:00 -0800

Ink Hound are now into the 4th week of their beta phase and things are still going swimmingly. This weeks hat is by a.mar.illo (Sven Palmowski) and the tee is by FreshFauxx. Tees $12, hats $16, hoodies $30, and as usual you have until Sunday night to place an order. Check out the hat and a close up of the tee in the gallery.

Cupcake Heart Hoodie by Lipstick Prophets

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:00:00 -0800

I think I might have neglected to write about a hoodie for a few days what with the madness of the Black Friday deals, Hide Your Arms deciding it didn’t want to upload any photos or save posts, and me not going to Philly (it’s looking like I’ll be there in the New Year now), so I’m sorry about that, you guys must be getting cold. It has been even longer since I posted a hoodie with any kind of a skeleton look to it. This one sets itself.apart not just because the model is wearing ridiculously tight trousers, but because the heart print isn’t actually a heart at all, its a cupcake! Costiness=$70 Buy it at Lipstick Prophets

Akumu Ink aren’t letting up for Christmas

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:00:00 -0800

Christmas usually makes a lot of people rather more mellow, but not Akumu Ink, the holidays haven’t softened them at all, because their latest release doesn’t involve the kind of things you’d see in a Tim Allen movie, its a dude budgeoning someone to death with a hammer. Pass the mince pies! Guys get it on olive, girls on raspberry, and there’s a black hoodie too.

Brit Biker by Harajuku Lovers at Hoodie People

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0800

Ever want to look a bit like a biker without having to actually look like a biker? Well then, this is the perfect hoodie for you! I’ve been on a bit of an asymmetric kick recently haven’t I? Costiness=$79 Buy it at Hoodie People

New tees at Wrongwroks

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:00:00 -0800

You know what surprised me about Hong Kong? Charlie Brown is huge over there, to the point at which I simply had to check it out and go in one of the Charlie Brown coffee shops and try some of the cheesecake (and good grief it was tasty). The place was totally surreal, everything was CB branded and styled, it felt like I was sat in a cartoon. I guess that the fascination with Charlie Brown might be why Wrongwroks were inspired to create this simple but instantly recognisable design. There’s also a couple of other designs/colourways in the gallery.

HomeRoom’s Fall/Winter Collection looks hot

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0800

You see, the clever thing about that title is that in Fall and Winter its generally quite cold, whereas I’ve described the clothing collection from HomeRoom as being hot, in the blogging biz we call that “writing things which are contradictory because you think they’re funny even though they’re actually kinda lame.” Asymmetric? Thumbholes? I’m intrigued! I’m sure you’ll be looking at these and thinking that they’ll be crazy expensive, but the most expensive item in the range is $132, which I don’t think is bad at all. Homeroom Store [via HypeBeast]

Self Harm by Chateau Roux [Reviews]

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:59:00 -0800

Here is the last of the three tees that Chateau Roux sent me a month or so ago. If you’re wondering why I haven’t yet mentioned their packaging, its because I have deemed it nice enough to have a post dedicated purely to the packaging, which will be coming up sometime in the near future, unless I forget, in which case it just probably won’t turn up.

As you can probably tell from the text on the te, this design is from the ’self harm’ range that has been getting the Chateau Roux crew into a little trouble lately. The name of the range does not refer to people that unfortunately decide that cutting themselves is the only way to get some control in their life, instead, it just means that the buyer can take the DIY approach to giving these tees a bit of roughed up action with a piece of sand paper (also known as ‘glass paper’, as I learned in France) that is supplied with each tee. I still haven’t dared attack the tee, but that’s because I’ve got no balls and even less talent, so I’m afraid of ruining a very nice shirt, but its still a very cool concept, and they’ve clearly created each design with destroying them in mind.

As always, the quality level is exceptional, I know that they spent a long time in their early days sourcing and creating a tee that they felt was just right, and I think they can be justifiably proud of their quality level. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to do it considerable damage with some sandpaper and whatever other implement you can find in your house to truly make your tee unique. Costiness=£35 Buy it at Chateau Roux

Gaston Caba x Outer Space

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:00:00 -0800

I got an e-mail from a guy called Gaston Caba, an Argentinian artist who seems to specialise exclusively in ‘good’ art, to tell me about the designs that he’s made for a hitherto unkown (to me) brand called Outer Space, who hail from Taiwan. I guess that you could say that almost all the designs are logo tees, but since Outer Space is a fairly generic term I think that you could easily wear it and people wouldn’t have a clue that you were promoting a brand. I really like Gaston’s style, there’s something really fun, cute and retro about it. There’s a big gallery after the cut, with some great images, so you might want to check that out. Outer Space Gaston’s blog post about the designs (including how to order the tees if you aren’t Taiwanese)

Down Coat by Original Fake

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:00:00 -0800

I’ve got no idea where you’d actually buy it (as is often the case with high-end limited edition streetwear), but I must admit that this coat looks pretty cool with those bright contrasts going down the zip line. Down Coat by Original Fake [via High Snobiety]

An asymmetric hoodie by Shades of Greige

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:00:00 -0800

I know that this is a fairly simple looking hoodie, but I quite like the whole idea of asymmetric clothing. Costiness=$135 Buy it at Matthew Izzo [via Notcouture]

It’s a black parka with a big hood!

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:00:00 -0800

Okay, this parka is in no way cheap, but hot damn it looks good. I really like the way that when the hood is down (shown in the gallery) it kind of looks like a scarf, with those little tassles at each edge, and yes, I know that’s a really odd thing to pick out. Costiness=$432 Buy it at Oak NYC (argh, I’ve just noticed that its out of stock, sorry) [via NotCouture]