Why They Rock: The Furlesque t-shirts aren’t quite your average nu rave colored, rhyming phrase sporting tees, but they definitely have panache. Though Furlesque was the brainchild of designer Maggie Maki, all of the cotton and burnout tees have original ‘Pop Culture Victims’ drawings from Dion Marcellari printed in them, and each t-shirt is made unique with hand-painted accents and textures. With names like “Distressed Goth Girl” and Reflective Girl”, its obvious the girls on the tees aren’t quite so average either. They are more like your deepest, darkest fears made beautiful.
The Stand Out Tees:
- Reflective Girl Burnout Tee - It’s pink, it has roses, and its a super-soft burnout tee. What more can a girl ask for? An eerily, beautiful hand-painted girl on the front whose eyes would be mesmerize peeking out from under your favorite hoodie/jacket/blazer.
- Distressed Goth Girl Burnout Tee - Its another burnout tee, which I love because they are probably the softest t-shirts around. I also love the tree design on the back,— it reminds me of the tree of life in the Lion King.
- Smile Pin-Up Girl Tee - The brown, orange and turquoise work so well together in this shirt, and the sexy pin-up/giant ’smile’ command combo on the front are bound to make you smile or at least give a little smirk.
Where To Find Them: For more information on Furlesque, visit Furlesque.com. Furlesque tees can be purchased on their online boutique or at any retailers listed here. You can get interactive with the people of Furlesque by adding them on their myspace, at myspace.com/furlesque.
Why They Rock: The first time I saw these t-shirts Smashing Pumpkins “That’s the Way (My Love Is)” was playing. I burst into hysterical laughter because of my iTunes seemingly precognitive skills. That complimentary song choice wasn’t the only thing that seemed to bring a smile to my face though, the child-like simplicity and wit of the shirt’s designs were amusing to me. Another thing that makes the Love Is t-shirts so boss is $1 from each shirt sold is donated to Invisible Children. Though the tees you get from Love Is aren’t quite $70 Primp t-shirts, they are made of quality material, and with loads of love and diligence by designer and founder, Andrew Casanova (with the help of a bunch of his rad friends)— plus, they’re about a fifth of the price!
The Stand Out Tees:
- Love Is Guitar T-shirt - For tons of people music has gotten them through more than they could even begin to say, that alone makes this t-shirt so true for so many.
- Love Is Cookies T-shirt - This tee reminds me of the Cookie Monster, except now “cookies are sometimes foods”, darn!
- Love Is Bananas T-Shirt - Just saying “love is bananas” out loud makes you realize the truth behind it. Love is supposed to be crazy— plus, who doesn’t love that yummy yellow fruit?
Where To Find Them: You can get your Love Is gear on their webstore, or add them as a friend on MySpace to stay up to date on all the Love Is activity.
Why They Rock: The t-shirt is one of the most reflective parts of ones wardrobe. Most people have many different t-shirts of different shapes, sizes, colors, and sometimes even decades. With many tee-based companies, the wow factor is all or nothing. The shirt is either very basic, or outrageously perfect. Not to say either option is right or that we should limit ourselves to just one style of t-shirt, but what if you could have a little bit of each? The awesome people at 410 BC have managed to create tees that take classic objects, and make them fresh and fun.
The Stand Out Tees:
- The ROID RAGE shirt - Polaroid cams are making a comeback, and the 410 BC team revamped this one with pink and purple to take us back to our princess and Barbie filled childhood.
- The QWERTY shirt - The typewriter is another oldie but goodie. The memories of not being able to edit after the fact and typing so fast you didn’t realize the “T” was sticking is eclipsed by this gems funky neon colors.
- The TAPES shirt - One of the only cassettes I owned was the Pocahontas soundtrack, and the brightly colored cassettes on the shirt take me just around the river bend!
Where To Find Them: For more info on 410 BC, visit their website at www.410bc.com. To get your hands on these tees visit the 410 BC webstore. You can also add them as friends on MySpace and LiveJournal to get the latest 410 BC updates.
