I’m browsing H&M and these choices look so random…
We’ve got Claude Monet and Van Gogh - sure, i love their paintings as much as the next person, but a T-shirt usually celebrates people or groups who are still alive, right?
And then “university of michigan” - why is faux university paraphenilia considered stylish?? Hell this is a bigger question than my original one. I’m shopping in Britain and the brand is European, what significance does University of Michigan have on our lives?
The various band name t shirts make the most sense, but for a while now there’s bee. The whole “oh you like Band Name? Name 3 of their songs.” attitude, so i see it dying off
Not intended as advertising btw.
Back in the day, I worked in the corporate office for a retail clothing chain (IT department, so not down in the weeds), and I can’t speak for H&M like you gave as an example, but for the one I worked for we didn’t design anything.
We had a department of people called “buyers” who would work with various clothing vendors directly and wholesale bulk-purchase items for the stores. Their job was to basically figure out what was in style, what would sell, in which of our markets it would sell, and order them to stock in the stores. Not all stores carried the same styles/designs/whatever. e.g. We stocked college sports apparel only in markets near those colleges, our stores in warmer regions rarely carried winter apparel that we normally stocked in colder regions, etc.
Yep there are only a few “brands” I buy, because I liked them when I was younger, basically - but if you pay attention to the tags, you might see “vendor ID numbers” or something like that, showing where the brand itself bought the item from, commissioned with their brand or tags added. Sometimes I’ve looked for specific numbers if I’m trying to find a shirt that fit really well, or was really well made, and I want others like it.
I’m talking brands like GAP, Vans, Aero, American Eagle, etc.
The shirts do seem pretty random, but H&M is fast fashion. There’s a ton of things that can only be described as “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks”
As for dead vs alive, we celebrate tons of dead celebrities. Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of Nirvana shirts, featuring Kurt Cobain’s face, and he’s been dead for 30 years. Similar stories for many bands from the 60s/70s.
Even if we limit it to painters, most people can name (or at least recognize) a bunch of dead painters. How many living painters do you know of? Would people recognize their most famous works?
Would you prefer the ironic veneration of tyrants instead?
What are you referring to
Peep Show. It’s a quote from peep show
Haha
Sometimes I wonder about this too, since many of their pics look as random as your second hand store inventory. Many of them either look like random parts of past collections or designer’s portfolio, or a copyrightable copy of something they see as trendy today. E.g. the Michigan one doesn’t convey any message whatsoever but replicates the aestetics of said paraphernalia being popular on Insta, just like the slop engine would.
You are thinking too much.
There no significance. Fashion isn’t really about ‘meaning’ it’s about feeling different/superior than the unfashionable around you.
Often ‘being fashionable’ is just standing out from the crowd. As such, UMichigan gear in Europe would make you stand out.
