On reflecting about the introduction to this ‘generic garment’ investigation, I wondered what makes a garment ‘generic’? And in this case specifically the T-shirt. An item of clothing that is safe to say is worn by every single living human being at some stage in their life, generally throughout ones entire span of life. Even though I myself wear t-shirts regularly I have never really thought in depth about what makes this item of clothing so popular and how it originated, until now- as this first introduction to stretch wear compels me to. Used so widely due to its simmplicity, comfort factors, and very highly as a basis of product promotion(through graphics or slogans). A t-shirt can (apparently) be defined as a shirt which is PULLED over the head to COVER most of a person’s torso. And is simply named due to the shape of the garment.
Thus in trying to think of ways of altering the t-shirt whilst trying to maintain an essence of its purpose and in doing so keeping it a t-shirt, regardless or not whether it still looks like one, I kept the idea of the item being ‘pulled’ and thought of how much and what it ‘cover(s)’ in mind in my design process. In order to assist my design progression I got an old t-shirt, cut it up and fiddled around with how it would look if I changed certain construction steps of it. The outcome: a dismantled, twisted, cropped item of clothing fondly enough still considered a‘t-shirt’.
Thus in trying to think of ways of altering the t-shirt whilst trying to maintain an essence of its purpose and in doing so keeping it a t-shirt, regardless or not whether it still looks like one, I kept the idea of the item being ‘pulled’ and thought of how much and what it ‘cover(s)’ in mind in my design process. In order to assist my design progression I got an old t-shirt, cut it up and fiddled around with how it would look if I changed certain construction steps of it. The outcome: a dismantled, twisted, cropped item of clothing fondly enough still considered a‘t-shirt’.
Good first post. To take this further, include images of your toiles or technical illustrations to show these exercises potentially change the generic nature of the t shirt. RB
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