Offered for purchase:
Ultra-rare early-70s
Jizz/Amperzand Design "tit t-shirt"
Price: $1,000 USD
I've researched this shirt for several years, and I'm sharing what I've found
with you here.
It has a fascinating history -- several histories, actually...
What you might think...
The most well-known
version of the so-called "tit tee" was first made around
1975 by
Malcolm McLaren (co-instigator of the Sex Pistols) and his partner Vivienne
Westwood, owners
of the mid-70s London punk fashion boutique SEX. Westwood is usually credited
with the design.
Their shirt looked like this:
The
Westwood shirt, later marketed under the name "Seditionaries," was
very popular, and
became (in)famous after the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones wore
it during the
notorious "Grundy interview":
What it really is...
But this wasn't the
first tit shirt -- Westwood appropriated (some might say "stole")
it
from an earlier design.
On the cover
of the Rolling Stones' live album, "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out," released
in
1970, Charlie Watts is shown wearing the original tit shirt design:
This design predates Westwood's version by at least 5 years.
How can you tell the two designs apart? There are several tell-tale signs:
- The Westwood version has a black border.. the earlier "ya-ya" design
has no border.
- The Westwood photo is much darker in the upper corners (esp. the upper right)
- The Westwood version has a "rougher" image - the "ya-ya" image screen is
smoother.
The story
behind the shirt...
OK.. this much I figured out on my own: my shirt predates the Westwood
shirt.. the
Stones cover
alone confirms that. But I couldn't find out anything more about
it, until I recently
received an email
from "VG," whose parents designed the original
shirt. Here's the scoop:
The original "tit shirt" was
designed in 1970 by husband-and-wife team of Janusz and
Laura Gottwald
(VG's parents),
students at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The shirt was
originally
designed
as
part of a
RISD yearbook
gift package for the '70 graduating class. Janusz
took the photograph,
which
was of a neighbor of theirs. After graduating,
VG's parents started Amperzand
Design in Providence,
R.I., and
marketed their shirt under the imprint Jizz, selling through
hip fashion boutiques.
The Gottwalds
were Rolling Stones fans and were flattered about the "Ya-Ya's" cover,
so they
hung a framed copy by the stereo. VG also reported that, at that time (c. 1970),
Alice Cooper
often wore the shirt at his concerts. I went looking online, and
sure enough,
I found this live shot
of Alice wearing the shirt onstage in 1970 (again, notice the lack of an image
border):
VG said his parents admired the Sex Pistols, and loved the whole evolution
of their design
into punk fashion. But the fact that Westwood was credited with the design was
a disappointment.
VG closed with: "Take care of that shirt, it's a piece of art history!"
So, here you have it... The original, pre-Vivienne Westwood,
early-70s,
this-side-of-the-pond, cutting-edge-design-student,
no-black-border,
high-quality-screen,
Alice Cooper/Get-Yer-Ya-Ya's Out,
Amperzand/Jizz tit t-shirt!
Just compare to the Alice picture above -- you can clearly see it's the same design.
About
this particular shirt, and how it came to me...
My name is Richard Middleton, and I'm a musician based in Seattle, USA.
I
got the shirt
from
a
Dutch friend in 1979, and
have stored it ever since.
It's in the same
condition now as it was when I got it:
obviously washed and
well-worn,
but no frays,
no tears,
no holes. The
silkscreen image is in good condition.
There are a
few very
small, very
faint stains
on the back,
almost unnoticeable, and they don't affect the
appearance
or value.
Color is very
light gray.
Size is small: pit-to-pit is 18", neck width is 5.5", shoulder-to-waist
is 22"
I am offering this shirt for $1,000 USD.
If you are a collector or institution interested
in acquiring the shirt,
and we can make arrangements.
I base my price on several factors...
-
First, Westwood's derivative
shirts from the mid-70s go for between
$1,100 and
$1,500
in lots of 2-3
(check out these past auction
listings at Christie's).
-
Second, this shirt is
the original upon which Westwood based her imitation, earning it a special
place
in the pop/fashion design history of both the UK and the US.
- Third, before Westwood's appropriation of the design, this shirt played
its own unique role in that
period of pop fashion and culture that followed the psychedelic era and
preceded the punk era, and
it was appreciated and adopted by influential celebrities, including the
Rolling Stones.
- Fourth, considering its age, this shirt is in surprisingly good condition.
-
Fifth, this shirt is
far more rare than any of the Westwood shirts. As far as I've been able
to determine
so far, this is the only Jizz tit shirt available for purchase
anywhere. If you know otherwise, please let
me know!
_ _ _ _ _ _
5-12-08 -- UPDATE: New info just
found...
After VG contacted me and provided the family/company name behind the shirt,
I was able to find
this recent article in The Look about
the design. Some of the info is suspect (e.g. the circumstances/reasons
for
the shirt's originally being designed), but the rest is all there... including
an image of a great 1971 ad
for the original "no-bra look" shirt in the LA Free Press:
5-14-08 -- UPDATE: One of the original designers speaks out...
One of the shirt's original designers,
Laura Gottwald (VG's
mother), has left a comment at the end of
the
article
cited above, in which she sheds light on
some of the article's inaccuracies as to dates and
circumstances,
and provides more
details
about the shirt's creation.
Her info jibes with the information
VG gave me.
The article's author is
following up with Ms. Gottwald, and will be revising the article.
Feel free
to contact me with any questions (or information), or if you have suggestions
as to a suitable buyer.
This is a rare opportunity to own a unique piece of pop art history.