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T-shirt
Fred Perry - Enlarge image
T-shirt
- Place of origin:
Great Britain, UK (made)
- Date:
1993 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Fred Perry (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Cotton
- Credit Line:
Given by the designer
- Museum number:
T.33-1995
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This t-shirt formed part of an outfit put together for the exhibition Streetstyle, From Sidewalk to Catwalk, 1940 to Tomorrow held at the V&A in 1994-5. The complete outfit consisted of a black felt porkpie hat; a customised Harrington cotton jacket; this Fred Perry cotton t-shirt; Brutus Sta Press cotton trousers; leather loafers and Ray-ban ‘Wayfarer’ sun-glasses. The outfit reflected a style of men’s dress associated with the Two Tone ska revival in Britain in the late 1970s.
The roots of Two Tone lay in Jamaican Rude Boy culture which had its origins in the ghettos of Kingston. Young, urban and frequently unemployed, Rude Boys drew inspiration for their cool and smart style – sharp suits, thin ties and pork-pie or Trilby hats – from American gangster movies. In the 1960s, increased emigration brought Rude Boy style and music, ska and rocksteady, to the UK, where it particularly influenced Skinhead culture. In the late 1970s the style was revived through the music and fans of the Two Tone ska revival. The sharp tailoring remained and was emphasised through a predominantly black and white palette.
