Stone Island released its latest 2023 spring and summer series earlier. Most of the clothes in the series are made of Mussola Gommata fabric, which continues the brand’s consistent functionality. It is worth noting that items such as coats, sweaters and T-Shirts have all used inkjet technology this time, and are hand-painted and dyed from the inside, so that they can present a unique three-dimensional effect on the outside.
Stone Island
In fact, the airbrush technology used by Stone Island on clothing is not a new and fashionable practice. It was tried as early as more than a hundred years ago when the airbrush officially became a feasible painting method. Putting the inkjet painting process into the context of streetwear, its origin can be traced back to sixty or seventy years ago.
As the ultimate form of self-expression, from cars to graffiti, hip-hop music to funerals, spray-painted clothing has had an indelible impact on the world of fashion, and even, in a way, gave birth to the concept of streetwear. born. This time, Hypebeast will follow the timeline to sort out how spray paint colors streetwear.
Streetmusclemag
Legendary automotive artist Kenny Howard (Von Dutch) is considered one of the first pioneers to apply inkjet technology to T-shirts. As one of the founders of Kustom Kulture (modification culture), in addition to its iconic modern pinstripes, comic styles such as “Flying Eyeball” created by Kenny Howard have also shaped and influenced the style and fashion of this culture.
In the 1950s, when he changed the spray-painting object from a car to a T-Shirt, the pattern that should have followed the car’s speed also appeared on the T-Shirt, allowing car owners to express their individuality as much as possible following leaving the steering wheel. After Kenny Howard’s death in 1992, his daughters sold the Von Dutch label to former drug dealer Michael Cassel, and the clothing line we know today was born.
The New York Times
Ed Roth, another prominent figure in Kustom Kulture, was deeply influenced by and inspired by Kenny Howard’s caricature, creating a series of quirky comic characters that further promoted the use of airbrushing between the two different media of automobiles and clothing. convert. The most representative of these is the anti-hero version created by Mickey Mouse-“Rat Fink”.
Similar to Kenny Howard, Ed Roth also transferred the airbrush from the car shell to the T-Shirt, and began to spray paint for customers at auto shows, and also sold his “Weirdo Shirts” in “Car Craft” magazine, “Rat Fink” through human flesh The billboard format quickly spread, and at one point was all over California, and in those days you might find the fangs, bloodshot eyes, and rodents on cars, surfboards, and the walls of every California teen hangout.
Anytime
Nearly a year following Ed Roth’s pioneering work, “Weirdo Shirts” morphed into a full-blown craze in 1959, including artist Stanley Miller, who had painted show posters for bands such as the Grateful Dead and Journey. “Craft” sells T-Shirts painted by themselves. So much so that Ed Roth’s work can still be found on the peripheral T-Shirt created by READYMADE for Billie Eilish decades later.
Edwin Sacasa Phade
It wasn’t until the 1980s that spray-painted clothing ushered in a second wave of counterculture, this time featuring a group of black graffiti artists from New York, the birthplace of hip-hop. Just as you can’t think of DJ Kool Herc without mentioning hip-hop, you can’t tell the full story of streetwear’s origins without the name Shirt Kings.
Shirt Kings was formed in 1986 by graffiti artists Edwin Sacasa Phade, Clyde A. Harewood and Raffael Avery, and their store is located in Coliseum Mall in Queens. The fabric has become the new canvas for this group of artists. The culture and art from the street are injected into jackets, jeans, sweatshirts, T-Shirt and other items through spray paint. Sampling elements from popular culture and reshaping them is Shirt Kings Its usual tricks, such as combining graffiti with cartoon characters and celebrity portraits.
Shirt Kings
At that time, clothing brands dominated by white people, whether it was luxury brands such as Gucci and LV or relatively popular brands such as Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, had not yet realized that Hip-hop music would bring mainstream culture to the next few decades. What kind of impact will come, not to mention the design of clothes specifically for the black group, and the emergence of Shirt Kings just filled this gap.
From the mid-80s to the early 90s, big names from the streets such as rappers eagerly bought jewelry and clothes to show off their success. The pair of spotless white Air Force 1s under their feet did the same, but wanted to buy a fashion There were not many choices for decent clothes at the time, and you had to patronize Dapper Dan or Shirt Kings. Dapper Dan pays more attention to designers and Logos, while Shirt Kings is more regarding street art and private customization.
Edwin Sacasa Phade
Reflecting hip-hop culture through fashion has quickly attracted Shirt Kings to a large number of fans, including Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay and many more. Run-DMC even sings on the single “Queens Day,” “On the street, N*ggas rob all the jewelry stores, then go to Shirt Kings and buy a cool spray-painted top.”
Supreme
The brand continues to expand its influence in audio-visual media such as hot single lyrics, album covers, and MVs. Even though it has been nearly forty years, Shirt Kings is still sought following by many Hip-hop superstars. Today’s customer list includes Jay-Z, Hot names like Dipset and A$AP Rocky. Even Supreme tapped Edwin Sacasa Phade to design a series of graphics for its Spring/Summer 2014 collection.
The New York Times
In addition to Hip-hop culture, spray-painted T-Shirt is also used by some African-American communities as clothing to commemorate the dead, which first appeared in the 1990s. This form is called “RIP Shirt”, and the portrait of the deceased is placed on the clothing through airbrush treatment or screen printing, usually with birth and death dates, and slogans such as “gone but not forgotten” .
It may be difficult to trace the origins of this custom, some say it was born during the jazz funeral procession in New Orleans in the southern United States, and some people rewind it to the farther back West Africa and the Caribbean, where mourners often wear headscarves or A handkerchief with a portrait of the deceased printed on it.
Today, “RIP Shirt” has become one of the traditional funeral ceremonies in many American cities, and these clothing suppliers that provide portrait painting services are thriving in areas with high homicide rates. “It’s a beautiful art, but it’s also sick, usually my T-shirts are for young victims of gun violence, I love airbrushing, I love graffiti, but I’d rather be a graduation or a wedding or whatever order, or even a T-shirt for someone’s dog,” airbrush artist Christian Ray told The New York Times.
Getty Images
Talking back to Hip-hop culture, Drake once wore a spray-painted T-Shirt with a portrait of Selena Quintanilla to express his respect, and Kim Kardashian also commissioned artist Alan Pastrana to create a T-shirt with Donda West and Robert Kardashian on the front and back for Kanye. -Shirt. In addition, 2Pac, Biggie, or the Vintage inkjet portrait T-Shirt of living Hip-hop musicians that often appear in vintage stores can also be broadly classified into the category of “RIP Shirt”.
Getty Images
Take your eyes off streetwear, and you’ll find examples of spray painting or graffiti in the fashion industry. Remember the pure white dress that was spray-painted by robotic arms in Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 1999 show? Coperni also used a similar form to show us the possibility of spray-painted clothing in the show last year-creating a “spray-painted dress” for Bella Hadid with instant spray-on fabric Fabrican.
Or the graffiti handbags in the 2016 autumn and winter series jointly created by Gucci and street artist GucciGhost, and the “I Love Bronx” charity T-Shirt jointly created by Awake NY and No Company. The influence of spray painting has already spread from the original street to the high-end Show.
With the increasing individualism, everyone is eager to have exclusive self-expression. Clothing is the most self-evident external tool for this demand. With the help of various arrangements and combinations of different brands and different items on the body, it can be regarded as An effective way, but only at the level of “effective”. Mass-produced clothing always has its established discourse system, even if you use a brand with cultural attributes, it is just using the designer’s language to piece together your discourse.
Spray painting provides the simplest and fastest feasible solution for every consumer to become a designer. Spray painting is an extension of one’s wishes and imagination, whether it is Mickey Mouse wearing a big gold chain or a portrait of a deceased family member. The image on your chest conveys your thoughts for you all the time, rather than being limited by the so-called program.