Secret Still

Probably one of the only artistic mediums that I don’t really cover here is textile. Not only am I not even close to an authority on creating or wearing textiles, but there are about a million other sites that cover that topic better than I ever could. I wear the same pair of pants for days at a time, assuming they don’t get too dirty. I am not the person to talk about fashion. I can barely sew a button back on. I have no understanding of textiles. BUT. Sometimes there are things so amazing in their magnitude that, regardless of my lack of experience, I still have to mention them here. It’s my duty as a netizen (remember that term from back when everyone used Prodigy and Compuserve?) to inform you of things that are completely incredible. Like a cape and scarf made entirely of spider silk.

Yeah. Just give that a second to sink in.

This project took over a million spiders and 4 years to complete.

Take a second. Ok.

And the color of the textile is actually just the color of the silk.

Now. Feel free to jump up and exclaim and just kinda hold your head in your hands because you can’t believe how fucking ridiculously beautiful that is. Oh mankind, you poetic monster, you give my brain every reason to keep holding on.

Spider Cape

Very, very nice design work from NY/Barcelona design hero Mark Brooks. Why is he a hero? Because not many designers have the guts to start their own product line and keep up the design work at the same time. If ever there was a reason for meth addiction, it would be Mark Brooks’ work endeavors. I don’t understand how some people get it all done, I just like sleeping too much. And baths. I am basically a brown bear. This explains so much.

Mark Brooks

Richmond, VA’s clothing design firm Ser-vice shook my eyes and my soul this morning. Who knew that I would actually like a printed t-shirt. For years I have worn white t-shirts almost exclusively, because they’re simple, and I don’t have to spend any time thinking about my clothes when I wake up. Yet even now, I sit here thinking about rocking the Ampersand Tee, or the one with the mountains on it. I can already feel my life getting more complex. Check out their stock and see how you’d like to redesign your chest. Sometimes I write things and they sound completely different than I though they would.

Ser-vice

Oooooooo. I’m smitten.

FullBleed

In 2003 Ted Vadakan and Angie Myung decided that they wanted to create some original promo pieces for an art show they were producing. The small handful of artists involved designed wallets and each contained an info sheet about the artist. The demand that this limited run produced was enormous. And thus was Poketo born. In the present day there are now 70 artists from all over the world involved in designing a broad array of fashion and accesories for Poketo.

Of course I can’t describe their style with such a diverse list of artists, but I can tell you that hip aint hip without this shit, and everybody wants to be hip these days. Put your hotpants on over your american apparel leggings and then stick a poketo wallet in that tight spandex back pocket.

Their site
Their blog
Their Flickr

It suprises me damn near every time I see some great piece of art or design coming out of Florida. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I underestimate Florida or anything, I just mostly ignore it because I hate it. I’m allowed to hate it because I lived there, so drop it. But then I was surprised once again today when I came across Resist Today. Started by Dave Rau and Josh Bertrand in Tampa, Resist Today is an outlet for independent artists to sell art products. For the most part this means t-shirts, and fine t-shirts they are, but Resist Today also carries a line of pillows, wallets, bags, prints, and pins. That’s a lot of art.

A lot of really well done art. And it’s all hand screen printed with love for you the consumer. Fuck it, fight the establishment. Resist Today.

Their shop doesn’t seem to be working quite right, but you can get their stuff from Kazbah.

Rugged and Gritty are two words that Tank Theory would use to describe itself. So what is it and why does it sound like Mel Gibson in Road Warrior?

In short, it’s a brand, but in the much larger scope of things it’s an idea. Tank Theory was founded in New York in 2001 to produce original apparel (mostly t-shirts to start) with an artistic flair. And it’s done just that. With a special selection of artist designed clothing as well as their selection of in-house designs, and a smattering of other goodies, Tank Theory is changing the face of streetwear as we know it. Their designs are rugged and gritty and a whole lot more. They jar the mind and the eye but still rub the pleasure center of your brain vigorously with a lubed up palm. Slap down a few bucks for a t-shirt that none of your friends have and strut on down the sidewalk with ya fashionable-ass self.

Tank Theory site
Tank Theory on Myspace