On my "fake fake prada" shoulder bag tees for Fake Clothing

pt/ 1
​Trompe L’oeil / ,trômp ‘loi/ (n): visual illusion in art, especially as used to trick the eye into perceiving a painted detail as a three-dimensional object.
​
I am not the first one to use tromp l’oeil in fashion. Far from it. There have even been many examples of t-shirts printed with objects in a trompe l’oeil style, many from some of my favorite brands. Still, this is one of my favorite tees I have made since I have been playing with streetwear. Because they tell a personal story.

Over the summer, I purchased this bag, thinking it was going to be a proper backpack. However, it turned out to be a mini backpack, that is made to be worn over the shoulder. At first I was disappointed. But I decided to own up to my error and tried it on for size. It turned out to be the perfect size to keep my sunglasses and a few other random items, but most importantly, the mini pockets on the outside were the perfect size for not only my AirPods, but much more importantly my car fob. Since “I don’t drive nothin’ that I gotta stick the keys in”, this is a perfect set up. I just grab my little Prada bag and go.

So when I was thinking about what kind of graphic streetwear I could make that felt authentic to myself and my brand, printing my bag was among the first ideas to come to mind. At this point, and until they were almost through being made, I didn’t even know about the examples from Margiela that also featured accessories strung around the neck printed almost exactly the same. I knew they had done work with trompe l’oeil, but not that we were on exactly the same level.

However, I don’t see it as copying Margiela in any way, though my idea was clearly not as original as I might have originally thought. More so I like to think that means me and Martin were on the same wavelength and to me that’s pretty cool.

Among the Fake Clothing Shoulder Bag Tees, here are a few more examples of Trompe L’oeil t-shirts made over the years by some big FAshun names.

pt/ 2
​In February of this year, it was announced that one of my favorite designers - and one of the most lauded menswear designers of recent times - Raf Simons, was going to be joining Prada, in some sort of mysterious collaborative role in creative direction. It wasn’t until September that we finally got an idea of what that was going to look like. What resulted was a womenswear collection - no menswear, at least not yet - that somehow felt exactly one part Miuccia and one part Raf, combining the casual elegance of Miuccia’s personal style (most specifically her penchant for wearing a coat with a slip dress underneath, clutching the lapels), with Raf’s industrial tailoring and genius graphic use.
How fitting then, that my shoulder bag tees also came from a joining of minds very much similar to Simons and Prada. These tees are strictly biographical, painting a literal picture of myself wearing the bag I carry every day. The tees are also the epitome of Fake Clothing. I jokingly call them the fake, fake Prada bag tees, as the trompe l’oeil is literally a “fake” representation of my “fake” bootleg bag. However, similar to how Miuccia could never have painted such a fine picture of herself as SS21 did, I likely would not have come up with this idea without my Raf (@sseattlesarah), and a wonderfully fruitful brainstorming session over drinks at Lucille, Madison.

I wanted to pay a bit of tribute to two of my favorite designers, and the inspiration for the OG color way of my shoulder bag tees, so I superimposed a copy of my own artwork onto a few of the looks from that Prada show. I thought it kinda fit right at home amongst Raf’s graphic play.