UNIQLO Celebrates 20 Years Of T-Shirt Designs With ‘Forever Timeless’ Pieces
Image via UNIQLO
Thanks to UNIQLO’s UT collection, you likely have a piece of art hanging in your wardrobe. The Japanese everyday fashion brand often partners up with renowned artists and their estates to make museum-worthy works wearable and accessible to all via graphic tees.
The UNIQLO T-shirt brand debuted in 2003, but it was not until 2007 that creative director Kashiwa Sato smushed the two words together and officially called it UT, as well as designed its logo.
The series is now closing in on its 20th anniversary, and to honor its cultural influence, UNIQLO has revived 18 legendary, “forever timeless” pieces from past collections to form the UT Archive Project.
The array also commemorates some mainstay collaborators of the UT label, whose artworks are still being printed on new tees. The estates of the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Keith Haring are among them.
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Other pieces showcase the work of photographers DaidÅ Moriyama and Stephen Shore, visual artist Julian Opie, conceptual artist Sol LeWitt, textile artist Anni Albers, letterpress artist Matthew Brannon, graphic designer Kashiwa Sato, and horror manga author Kazuo Umezo.
And it wouldn’t be UT without the ubiquity of pop-culture icons, so Pac-Man, Godzilla, Street Fighter, Sonic the Hedgehog, Black Jack, Mega Man, and The Genius Bakabon are making a reappearance too.
The UT Archive Project will debut in the US on July 25, with each arty tee affordably priced at US$19.90.
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[via UT Magazine and Hypebeast, images via UNIQLO]
