It might send a softer message than a placard, but the slogan T-shirt has form when it comes to making statements - and not just of the fashion sort. The most famous example is Katharine Hamnett’s. It read, ‘58% Don’t Want Pershing’ in block capitals, and the designer wore it to Downing Street in 1984 to protest then-PM Margaret Thatcher’s policy on nuclear missiles.
Help Refugees is continuing her legacy for letting clothes do just as much talking as the person wearing them. The charity’s latest T-shirt capsule is a collaboration with 11 designers, all of whom have worked the phrase ‘Choose Love’ onto their tees, and will be available exclusively on ASOS from today. The choice of words was another of Katharine Hamnett’s bright ideas. She made the charity’s first slogan tee in 2015 as a play on her famous ‘Choose Life’ T-shirt worn by Wham! in the Eighties.
Rockins has configured ‘Choose Love’ into a trippy paisley design in neon orange and pink; Sadie Williams features a rocketship and Hillier Bartley’s has fashioned the slogan out of pictures of paperclips. The collaboration between the charity and the e-commerce giant started in 2017 and has since raised £550,000. Don’t hang about - mark your calendars and join the Choose Love club.
