T-Shirt Reviews Blog

Posted: 21 Mar 2010 06:56 AM PDT

Take a look at this star studded roll-call of famous clients of the NY based fashion designer Wendy Mullin of Built by Wendy fame:-

Sofia Coppola, Zooey Deschanel, Jack Black, Parker Posey, Andy Samberg, Kirsten Dunst, Michelle Williams, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Amber Tamblyn, Rashida Jones, James Franco, Zoe Cassavetes, Claire Danes, Jason Schwartzmann.

Yes this girl is popular and then some, and no wonder why! Her flair for designing all kinds of clothing and her undoubtedly fine talent for illustration has resulted in a cult fashion label that’s influence has spread far and wide around the world. Asides a vast range of original pieces like her beaded Native American belts, cabled fisherman sweaters, canvas tote-bag inspired dresses and much more, there are links to a wide range of men’s and women’s t-shirts that evoke a longing for the past, a great taste in old movies, and a hankering for a simpler more traditional view on the world.

If you love classic movies such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Ordinary People and Mean Streets, and would love to see their iconic imagery and mood deftly illustrated and supplanted to high quality t-shirts, then www.builtbywendy.com should be your first port of call. BBW (an unfortunate abbreviation perhaps) offer a glimpse into the past, into simpler times when fashion was more friendly, when the majority of fashion lovers would buy their clothes locally, or even create them themselves from professional patterns.

By no coincidence Mullin sells her designs as patterns at her store, reigniting the past practices of millions of home seamstresses across the world. Even I remember my mother and my sister for a while busying themselves at a pair of sewing machines, busily beefing up their wardrobes with all the latest styles of the time, created from materials of their own choice, they really did become rather good at it. Of course there was the occasional mistake, and after a moment of parodied parading they’d unpick the offending item and begin a new blouse, dress, pair of slacks or when they were feeling more daring perhaps a coat or jacket. If you’re not too confident at the sewing machine then you might want to try her SEW U series of books, which include plenty of patterns and tips to get you started.

Take a look at these fine examples of her work…

Mean Streets T-Shirt

Beautifully drawn and with a great sense of humour, love the moody style and sentiment. Wendy’s flagship store is based in Little Italy so she should know just how bad Little Italy’s Feast of San Gennaro really is. A quote from Wikipedia explains the situation… ‘Some residents of Little Italy dislike the noise, garbage, and crowds generated by the festival. Although it is portrayed as a neighbourhood event, most of the organizers, vendors, or attendees do not live in the area. For more than a decade, moreover, federal prosecutors have raised concerns that organized crime is involved in running the festival‘. Available for men and women. The featured tee is for the ladies and comes in sizes S to L and S to XL for men. Each are available for a rather high price at $45 however there are design differences in the embroidered details. The women’s feature an embroidered Italian flag and the men’s has an embroidered line in the colours of the flag at the bottom of the design.

Exploding Mouse T-Shirt

I love this design, I am with Bart Simpson when he states that Mickey is the mascot of an evil corporation, but this design clearly harks back to the very beginnings of the Disney empire. At a time when a rather badly drawn mouse did little more than jump about, squeak and occasionally laugh at very little. If only this particular rodent had met with a fateful accident we might not need to endure the likes of Euro Disney and awful awful remakes of classic literature aka Tim Burton’s pathetic reinterpretation of the classic novel Alice in Wonderland (even the cheap cartoon version fairs better). Still don’t get me started on Disney, back to the t-shirt, a classic in the making. Confusingly enough Wendy has decided to supply the same product photo modelled by a slightly ginger geek for both the men’s and women’s versions of this tee, so don’t worry if you think you’ve arrived at the wrong page, you haven’t. Again this one is pricey, I suppose you could argue that you get what you pay for, and when you want a quality t-shirt by a top NYC fashion designer $45 doesn’t sound so exuberant. Available in ‘athletic grey’ in sizes XS to XL for both sexes.

Dudes Gone Wild T-Shirt

Another fantastically well drawn design, love the play on words, subverting the whole College Break / Girls Gone Wild idiom, ever so subtly to the point that even mentioning it seems somewhat obtrusive, the Dudes Gone Wild tee features Warren Oats from Hired Hand & Cockfighter; Stacy Keach from Fat City; Harry Dean Stanton from Cockfighter & Cisco Pike; and Kris Kristofferson from Cisco Pike & Pat Garrett. Only large sizes left for women and sizes S to XL for the guys at $45 each.

Bloody Boys T-Shirt

Following on the rough and tumble theme The Bloody Boys Tee comes in heather blue and features Noah Taylor from “Flirting”, Malcolm McDowell from “If”, Bud Cort from “Harold & Maude”, Adam Baldwin from “My Bodyguard”. I love Lindsay Anderson’s “If…“, and anything that promotes this superb film and director is alright by me! (If you love If then check out O Lucky Man!) Once again superb illustrations make up this unique design, available in heather blue in all sizes for both men and women.

Wendy’s t-shirts are like a breath of fresh air to the market, simple high quality tees printed with a beautiful selection of traditional illustrations featuring a blend of nostalgic and obscure imagery, reinterpreted for the 21st century with a gentle sense of humour and a highly delicate touch.

1998 saw the opening of Wendy’s first flagship retail store on Centre Market Place in the Little Italy neighbourhood in NYC. Her successful online shop launched soon after that, and in 2005 she opened her second retail store in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn. Her line is carried in boutiques and indie stores throughout the USA and around the world. Wendy has further built up the brand by venturing into publishing and numerous high profile collaborations. In 2003, Wendy was hired as Creative Director of Wrangler47, a limited premium denim line for Wrangler Jeans. The collaboration was highly successful and the line completely sold out across the USA.

There’s only one real criticism of Wendy’s store, either she should get some new models in (especially for the women’s tees, using a man is just confusing), or failing that get a better looking BF. Only joking lol.

See more of her work at www.builtbywendy.com.

Lifestyle World

Sunday, 21 March 2010