Shorts thumbnail 1
Not on display

Shorts

ca. 1986 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Mambo (also known as 100% Mambo and Mambo Graphics), is an Australian casual-wear brand, primarily producing beach and streetwear clothing. The brand was established in 1984 in Sydney, and initially began as a screen-printing project featuring graphics by local artists and musicians.

Mambo is characterised by its humorous, often political, and outrageous social commentary artwork, and has since collaborated with over 250 artists. The brand is recognised for introducing artistic design and a light-hearted humour into surf-wear, which was typically logo-focused and absent of humour.

Mambo was often sold in surf and skate shops in the 1980s and continues to be up until the present day. Typically, this type of boardshort would have been worn by surfers, or skaters who commonly adopted surfer-inspired clothing. The printed cotton shorts feature a comical design of roosters and crocodiles in a landscape of rural Australia, with telephone poles, campervans, houses, cars, trees and the moon. The boardshorts also feature a large patch with a racial stereotype of a face, likely of an indigenous person of New Guinea, wearing a bone through their nose septum and featuring the words ‘100% Mambo’.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Printed cotton
Brief description
Printed cotton men's boardshorts, featuring landscape of rural Australia, Mambo, Australia, ca. 1986
Physical description
Printed cotton boardshorts featuring a cartoon design of roosters and crocodiles in a landscape of rural Australia, with telephone poles, campervans, houses, cars, trees and the moon. Also featuring a large patch with a racial stereotype of a face, likely of an indigenous person of New Guinea, wearing a bone through their septum and featuring the words ‘100% MAMBO’.
Dimensions
  • Weight: 0.56kg
Production typeReady to wear
Credit line
Given by Neil Harvery
Object history
Registered File number 1993/893, Streetstyle exhibition 1994-1995, in the exhibition it was part of an outfit called 'Ravers/Acid Rave UK 1986' (includes the trainers T.662-1995 and the T-shirt T.669-1995).
Subjects depicted
Summary
Mambo (also known as 100% Mambo and Mambo Graphics), is an Australian casual-wear brand, primarily producing beach and streetwear clothing. The brand was established in 1984 in Sydney, and initially began as a screen-printing project featuring graphics by local artists and musicians.

Mambo is characterised by its humorous, often political, and outrageous social commentary artwork, and has since collaborated with over 250 artists. The brand is recognised for introducing artistic design and a light-hearted humour into surf-wear, which was typically logo-focused and absent of humour.

Mambo was often sold in surf and skate shops in the 1980s and continues to be up until the present day. Typically, this type of boardshort would have been worn by surfers, or skaters who commonly adopted surfer-inspired clothing. The printed cotton shorts feature a comical design of roosters and crocodiles in a landscape of rural Australia, with telephone poles, campervans, houses, cars, trees and the moon. The boardshorts also feature a large patch with a racial stereotype of a face, likely of an indigenous person of New Guinea, wearing a bone through their nose septum and featuring the words ‘100% Mambo’.
Bibliographic reference
Surfers, Soulies, Skinheads & Skaters : Subcultural Style from the Forties to the Nineties Described in the exhibition publication, part of an outfit called 'Ravers/Acid Rave UK 1986'.
Collection
Accession number
T.235-1993

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Record createdMay 5, 2009
Record URL
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