Generation T: Adding Color to T-Shirts and Your Wardrobe
Transform that shirt you got from a Dave Matthews Band concert into a tank top, dress, or even a bikini, says Nicolay. Go punk by using safety pins instead of a needle and thread, she writes. That’s just a taste of the ideas offered, according to the article. You can do cutting edges (do-it-yourself t-shirt surgery) by going through old bins at consignment shops.
“If you’ve been living in this country at least 15 years odds are that you have a t-shirt collection,” says writer Lisa Hix. “The wonderful thing is that an ugly old t-shirt can be transformed into something much much better with a little ingenuity and a good pair of scissors.”
Hix says stores likes Needles and Pens in San Francisco, CA, Oakland’s Rock Paper Scissors Collective, and Cyzuki Industries sell handmade wares and reconstructed T’s. The Stitch Lounge in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley sprang out of the notion of reconstructing clothes, writes Hix.
“People’s personal style and their own customization of their own clothes to whatever they personally like is definitely a big, big thing right now,” says Laura Brody, a clothing and costume designer living in Hollywood who has taught classes in t-shirt reconstruction in San Francisco.
For Compai t-shirt surgery has a very important environmental component, according to a recent interview. Also there’s a component of taking manufactured items that don’t quite fit your body or style and making them into something that suits you, reports a San Francisco newspaper.
“We had so many clothes in our wardrobe that were like hand-me-downs or what-have-you that we were like,’ Gosh if this had a different length or waistline this would be so cute,'” said Faith Blakeney. For more information and design ideas visit Generation-T.com
