Review: Hand of Prey by Your Eyes Lie

29 Apr

Posted by Andy as Mens, Reviews, T-shirts, Womens

It’s always fun to get mail from unexpected places, and Thailand is one of those places. I’m pretty used to receiving mail from America by now, but the far East is still something of a novelty for me in terms of mail, and even though I know that Your Eyes Lie are a UK/Thai operation, I was expecting a package with stamps bearing the Queens face rather than a serious looking Thai guy. I’m sure the very mention of Thailand and clothes has immediately got some of you worrying about the conditions that these clothes were made in, but have no fear, these tees have nothing to do with little kids that have excellent sewing skills and a lot to do with a creative partnership between British graphic designer Ben Yarwood and Thai fashion designer Alisa Longsuwan.

I met Ben at Margin and we had a good chat about all things YEL and HYA, he told me all about the stresses of creating a tee to print on (no stock AAs here!), the significance of being picked up by Urban Outfitters, and gave me a better overall understanding for a brand that I knew I liked, but didn’t quite get.This tee is also something that I don’t quite get. The phrase ‘Hand of Prey’ is actually a Googlewhack, with the link going to a PDF about the History of Veterinary Medicine in the late Islamic Period… so I don’t think that’s where they got their inspiration from for this piece. But I think not knowing what it means is pretty cool too, t-shirts don’t necessarily have to mean something, and you don’t necessarily have to understand it if they do. The important thing is that they look cool, and undoubtedly this does, black and white tees always give you a lot of options when you’re pairing up your tee with something, which is why I like that combo so much.

Considering how much time YEL put into creating a quality t-shirt (I think they spent about six months testing and retesting different styles, cuts and material blends) its hardly a surprise that they’ve produced something impressive. The first tee of theirs that I reviewed is still going strong four months on, although you should bear in mind that since I own so many tees I don’t wear the same tee as often as most people do. It is quite a fitted shirt, and not particularly long in the body either, definitely a quality product, and the custom tags are a nice touch as well.

Costiness=£15.50 Link