Beyond Shepard Fairey's Hope tees
By Gendy Alimurung
No matter what happens on November 4, Barack Obama will leave his mark — on history, yes, but also on a million T-shirts. The Obama political-merchandise machine has grown to epic proportions. And why not? Obama is the smartest, best-dressed, best-spoken, most energetic and beloved entity to come along in politics in a long time. People would not only die for him, they would wear flip-flops with tiny plastic Obama bobble heads for him.
If you missed out on Shepard Fairey's Obama HOPE and PROGRESS tees — sorry, that ship sailed a while ago — try eBay. The campaign itself has an official Runway for Change project with a squadron of top-flight designers that includes Isaac Mizrahi, Tracy Reese and Vera Wang. But while admirable, these fashion pros mostly flub the simple T-shirt design like a bad Project Runway episode. In this fight, it's the masses who are doing the exciting work in the realm of Obama style. The ones who sew the custom Obama "change" purses on eBay.
At the Democratic National Convention, 36-year-old Chicago artist Ray Noland's irreverent, retro basketball-inspired "Go Tell Mama" Obama tees sold like hotcakes. "The red, white and blue basketball references the ABA [American Basketball Association], which was known as the 'outlaw' league during the late '60s and early '70s," Noland writes in an e-mail. "What better way to humanize Obama and position him as the new 'outlaw' in American politics?" Noland has been waging a one-man street campaign for Obama since 2006, when he started designing Obama posters and anonymously plastering them around town. His inspiration came after he was in a bicycle accident, had his jaw wired shut for six weeks and obsessively read Obama's Dreams From My Father.
Noland's shirts and posters are warm, joyful and moving, infused with a hip-hop sensibility: Obama shooting hoops; Obama as a boxer; Obama as a gunslinger, but instead of drawing a gun, he outstretches his hand to his opponent ... for a handshake. The objects are so iconic, the Smithsonian has asked for samples to include in its collection.
"If Obama does not win," Noland says, "I will be an expatriot."
In a completely other direction, Inktees makes an "I Got A Crush On Obama" T-shirt perfect for sexy single gals with their own political obsessions. It's the one that Amber Lee Ettinger wore — scandalously — with short shorts and white stilettos in her Obama Girl video. For dudes at the grill, Inktees also makes an "I Heart Obama" apron.
Care for socks? Clothing buyer Erica Easley, as pretty as the campaign trail is long, has created the world's first presidential knee socks. "There are no Nixon or JFK socks. Though Urban Outfitters is probably working on something right now as we speak," she says on the night of the first presidential debate, when Obama wipes the floor with McCain's butt. She's been selling 100 pairs of her Obama knee socks every week since June. "I wear the socks every day. I get stopped at the gas station, at Trader Joe's. They look cute with whatever you're wearing — shorts, miniskirts, a vintage dress. They're very collectible if you're into fashion that surrounds unique, oddball moments in time. That's what political clothing is. It would be fun to make an inaugural sock if he wins." Easley has shipped the socks to New York and Utah, and is ever hopeful for orders from red-state Alabama (none yet). Los Angeles is hip to the socks — lots of orders here. Easley is even in talks with people in Obama's campaign to maybe get his daughters to wear the socks.
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