Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.07.2004, Blaðsíða 13

Mother tongue licks t-shirts into shape
by Anna Koskinen
FASHION
Then the slogans moved on. They
took over t-shirts and scarves,
shoes and shoestrings, bangles and
backpockets of jeans. The t-shirt,
which was considered underwear
until liberated by James Dean and
Marlon Brando, finally had some-
thing to say. Since those days of
simple coolness, the t-shirt has had
a bit of a downfall, having become a
target for advertisements and logos.
People have been there, done that,
and bought the t-shirt, then kept
on wearing the t-shirt for the whole
world to know of their Las Palmas
experience of 1994.
But now t-shirts are making a come-
back. In the last year, the amount
of t-shirts with slogans in Icelandic
have doubled, if not tripled. There is
a huge selection for anyone willing
to take their pick and say what they
want without actually having to utter
a word - simply by displaying their
opinions on their chests, printed on
their t-shirts. The messages range
from downright political opinions to
simple but accurate and matter-of-
factly (or in some cases deceiving)
statements such as “ég er fullur” - I
am drunk.
Icelanders have always had pride in
their language, guarded it and looked
after it by trying to avoid foreign in-
fluences and come up with their own
words instead of simply borrowing
others’. The power is in the words,
in the language, as it is inheritance
from the past generations, the
forefathers who first inhabited the
country. Words contain history, and
now they are making their appear-
ance in t-shirts, ties and tops across
the country. The major players of
this new wave of slogan-embellished
clothing are Jón Sæmundsson with
his label Dead (available at Non-
nabúð) and the Laugavegur-based
shop Ósóma, both proudly display-
ing their philosophical and more
down-to-earth wordplay for the
whole world to see.
The trick of these clothes is that
they work in many different levels,
thus making them wearable for a
wide range of people. Rock stars as
well as teenagers wear them, and the
tourists buy them for the hipness of
sporting a secret slogan that nobody
back home can understand. This, of
course, makes it easier to wear inde-
cent or shocking words on your chest
without anybody actually knowing
about it or being offended by it. For
all those who get their kicks out of
being bad without getting caught.
Armed with a diction-
ary, you can go shopping for the
perfect little tee to say the thing
that’s right on the tip of your
tongue.
First came the badges.
Slapped on caps and bags, they
made their first appearance with
simple slogans and names of
bands, then turned into po-
litical opinions in the seventies
and obscenities in the eighties.
Slogans were born to express the
unexpressable: “make love not
war,” “say yes to jesus,” “handle
with care.” You would rarely
tell a stranger that you are with
stupid, but you might very well
have a badge saying it for you on
the lapel of your jacket.
H
.S
.
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