Cool Hunting
Despite calling itself the UK's casualwear trade show, To Be Confirmed has 300 brands from across the world. Showing next year's collections to buyers and journalists in East London right now, I went for a look over the weekend and have narrowed things down to a handful of names (mostly) from the UK that caught my eye. I'll post every day this week on at least one of those brands, and first up, it's...
Worn By
As the name suggests, the t-shirts from Worn By have been seen before. People as varied as Muhammad Ali, Led Zeppelin and Debbie Harry have provided inspiration in the past, and from their fourth collection, "Fuck Art Lets Dance" was my favorite. It was originally pictured on the chest of keyboardist Desmond Brown from 2-Tone band The Selecter. Fairly obscure if you're not into the music, although the motto was coined by Madness which the band toured with in the late 1970s. Elsewhere, another example sported by Rolling Stone Keith Richards was plundered, while Worn By has also decided to branch out from tees and sweats to design a high-collared shirt just like one Jimi Hendrix would have had. Hopefully, it's fireproof.


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Award-winning London based illustrator Von has long been a CH favorite so when he decided to launch a range of tees and totes we grabbed the chance to find out more. Why did you decide to brand into fashion now? As much as t-shirts have been done a million times before I still get excited when I come across a really nice design printed...
We were fortunate enough to get a sneak preview of the latest edition of AnOther Magazine, which as per usual is chock full of the stunning photography and clever editorial that always makes the book our go-to resource to find out what's happening across the pond. From the stunning cover featuring Uma Thurman bedecked with a dramatic butterfly wing to an interview with cheeky YBAs...
Out of East London, the-affair is not just another t-shirt label interested in fashion. They do a good job blending social commentary and design to create a statement that goes deeper than the typical tee. Exploring themes like the futility of religious intolerance, Muslim Jesus (above left) just looks like another image of Jesus, but take a closer look and you'll notice that Islamic...
Even before Hot Topic pretty much ruined any kind of legit fandom, wearing a concert tee (unless is was a homemade "This is Not a Fugazi T-shirt" or Mr. Bungle's rare sort-of subtle masturbation celebration) was a sell out move. That's why we particularly appreciate U.K. t-shirt maker Worn By's AKA line of tees that pay homage to bands by referencing names they had...
On CH's recent London trip, we visited the studios of artist Dodi Wexler, design collective Troika and Social Suicide, the very forward men's fashion label. From Troika's tech-enabled activism to Dodi's "little worlds" and Social Suicide's pairing of irreverence with traditional English tailoring, we found that London, and each specific neighborhood, has everything to do with what these artists and designers do and their...
For our last dispatch this week from British casualwear show To Be Confirmed, we're focusing on label T-Book. The designs are the work of London-based Karen Leung, and are called T-Book because she started off using several t-shirts to tell a tale. Issue 7 comes out in time for Spring next year, and Karen's taking inspiration from an unusual source—onions—for the line. It's obvious...
