Say it with a shirt

Summer is the time of year when my favorite wardrobe piece is a cool T-shirt. I am an absolute vintage T-shirt junkie. Anything from a band print to a cool logo looks good to me. I love anything with a bit of art and pop culture blended together. Finding T-shirts like that here can be difficult sometimes. And when I get the design I want, it’s a hundred times too big for me. I never thought it was indie music that would lead to my discovery of cool T-shirts. One of the elusive T-shirt makers is a man already mentioned in past articles as the lead singer of the Smith’s cover band, The Dead Pop Stars.

A girl can’t help but be flattered by any piece of clothing given to her and this includes a T-shirt. I always moaned that there was never enough merchandise from my favorite bands here. I want to sport something with a cool logo and a local name on it, like The Sleepyheads, The Dead Pop Stars and more mainstream bands like Sandwich and The Eraserheads. As far as our pop culture goes, these names and more make up the sphere of Filipino pop-culture. So to end my moaning, Pogz and Erick gave me band T-shirts (one with Elvis and the band logo, another with an imprint of the Velvet Underground’s Nico), both of which I thought were fashionable and cool – plus they fit like a glove.

So if you can try and find more shirts like these, you not only support Manila’s musicians but also the optimistic artists of the nation. The creative movement on our shores is small yet superb and if you’re looking for a way to show your patriotism – and want a shirt with bit more punch – you can order from independent T-shirt printers like Pogz (the price is reasonable, depending on the design).

Or you can check out the galleries of artists like Erick. Erick is with Future Prospects, a group of young visual artists who put up their studio space for any kind of exhibit and gallery store for (indie) designer merchandise at the Marikina Shoe Expo in Cubao. Take a summer day to admire some art and perhaps tickle your craving for both shoes and T-shirts. From Elvis to Morrissey, you can’t go wrong with images that have stood the test of time. Even that banana image from Velvet Underground’s Andy Warhol cover looks cool and familiar at the same time – even if you don’t know what it’s all about.

* * *

To order from these designers, e-mail atrazy2@yahoo.co.uk.

* * *

Future Prospects is located at 62-63 Marikina Shoe Expo, Cubao, Quezon City. It’s open Tuesdays to Sundays, 2 p.m.—9 p.m.