The second of tee to fall out of the envelope from Your Eyes Lie this week was Skull Bow. Well, I presume its called Skull Bow, YEL don’t really name their tees, but thats what the product ID says so I’m going to roll with it. In my review earlier this week I spoke a bit about the passion that YEL have for their product and what they’ve been through to get where they are, and I’m not going to repeat myself about that, so check out the first review if you’re after some background on the company.

It seems like I’ve spent a lot of this week talking about how it isn’t necessarily that important to ‘get’ a design or understand the meaning behind a t-shirt, and when I’m presented with an image of a skull with a bow-tie wrapped around its non-existent neck, with three rings in the skull where the ear should be, I’m inclined to suggest that not understanding the meaning of the shirt is okay here too, rather than attempting some ill-informed pop-psychology. I really like the image itself, the black on white print in the photocopy style gives it a washed-out grittiness, whilst it also has a few lines around the top of the skull that make it look like an illustration that you’d find in an old school textbook. I do have to take issue with the three ear rings though, they give it an almost cartoon-ish quality that doesn’t sit too well with what I regard as a fairly macabre image, even if the bow-tie is probably there to provide some comic relief.

The quality is impressive, I know YEL spent a long time creating a stock tee to print on and I think all the effort was worth it, they really have produced a beautifully soft, high-quality t-shirt that I know lasts well with washing and doesn’t lose its shape. The print quality is decent too, and doesn’t fade too much with repeated washings, although I think that tees of this style are well suited to a vintage look, so fading probably wouldn’t be as bigger deal as usual if it were to occur, I guess.

Costiness=£15.50 Link

• 0 Comments
Tags » Mens • monochrome • review • Reviews • skull • white • Womens • YEL • youreyeslie

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

• 0 Comments
Tags » • bird • monochrome • review • Reviews • Thailand • UK • white • YEL • youreyeslie