Yeah. Those shirts on Glasses* are pretty hideous. And they’re that way for a reason. The origin of these shirts go back to the early 70’s – the golden era of ugly shirts.
When I was a kid – like 1972-1977 or so – I have memories that on almost every Sunday after church (!) my family would go to a store called Korvett’s. It was a department store along the lines of KMart or Target. I primarily remember that we went there mostly for clothes for my youngest sister, but we would walk around the whole store. I also have vivid memories of being in the music department with my dad for what seemed like hours. He was big into music and I was fascinated by the stacks and stacks of 8-tracks. This is also where I discovered KISS. I remember looking at the artwork on their 8-tracks every time I was there and being mesmerized.
Anyway, ugly shirts. Korvett’s was laid out so that the center of the store was the hub of dressing rooms. Everything else circled around it. Above the mirrored and curtained dressing areas was a large wall that went up to the ceiling. On that wall was a black and white mural of what could be best called “fashion illustration.” The only way to describe the style would be a Peter Max-ish line drawing of fashionable women. Think Breck girls and Farrah Fawcett poster poses – heads thrown back, million dollar smiles, long flowing lines hair that twisted and flowed into becoming another woman in the mural. A very trippy corporate attempt to be hip to the times.
I was utterly fascinated by the mural. I loved going to Korvett’s just to look at it. The big bold black lines on a bright white surface was like nothing I had seen before. I was introduced to india ink by my second grade teacher and between that and the Korvett’s mural, well, that’s pretty much how my drawing style was born. (So, happy 35th anniversary, drawing style!) I remember walking into the store and focusing on the central female figure – dark, curly hair; her shoulder’s sporting a wide-collared shirt (unbuttoned fashionably low) that had a weird pattern of what could be best described as ugly, graphic fried eggs. (At least that’s how I remember it. It could have been butterflies for all I know.) So I always have this image of beautiful women wearing ugly 70’s shirts. Excuse me, ugly 70’s RAYON shirts. When I think of Korvett’s I also have a sense memory of the plastic smell of polyester and rayon.
So as I was designing Glasses and gave her that wavy, Peter Max hair, I knew she had to be a connoisseur of ugly shirts.
And for the record, designing ugly shirt patterns is not at all easy.