It is important to note that while I own several dressier t-shirts designed by the likes of Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci and Comes Des Garcons amongst others, I decided to use this particular post to highlight some of the more creative shirts that I own that highlight lesser known designers that are able to offer detailed, quality,  shirts at a more affordable price point.

#1 Crooks & Castles X Kanye West Baby Angel Robber – I was feeling the Crooks (pause) before I saw Kanye rocking this shirt in Complex but once I saw this I shirt it became one of those things that I had to have even if it meant getting robbed on Ebay. Luckily enough Memes in Noho used to have a nice collection of Crooks pieces (they also used to also update their inventory more than once a month) and they actually had this shirt in black like I wanted and in a large size for a crazy reasonable $36. I haven’t seen it since and every time I rock it the stares and compliments are plenty abound.

#2 Acapulco Gold Gucci Killer – Acapulco’s “spit” line in which the spit graffiti tag from the iconic hip-hop film Beat Street is placed over iconic fashion logos such as Louis Vuitton’s LV, Chanel’s double C’s and MCM as well as Wall Street firms that went bust on t-shirts and sweatshirts might be my favorite street wear collection of all time and I cherish the six pieces that I own from the series. I love what AC did with this shirt even more. The shirt has both a used and tattered look and feel and it’s easy to mistake it for a vintage Gucci tee doctored by a good graph artist. I would have prefered the shirt to be black instead of brown but when I saw the last one at the Reed Space I knew I had to make it part of my collection

# 3 Premium Label X Kanye West “Kate Moss Tonight” - Premium Label has dropped an abundance of shirts in which they make their own “Vogue” magazine cover with the Chanel logo and a topless Kate Moss. The first shirt was in plain black and white and featured a couple fucking doggie style on the back (I own this one as well). Under the sex scene there was a caption that read “See what really happens behind the scenes at fashion week.” All together I have four of the “Vogue” shirts and two of their latest which both use the Chanel logo in world play with cocaine themes. One of the shirts has The Simpsons and Karl Lagerfeld dipping into some nose candy on the front and Bart bleeding from his nose passed out on the back. The other has Chanel’s female Bearbrick bleeding from the nose with powder dripping behind her. Premium Label is defintely out there and this shirt uses the Gucci colors and logo in place of Chanel and dips Kate out with Kanye Glasses and a Louis tie. The final dope touch is the Louis Vuitton Don printed in Louis font on the lower left back of the shirt.

# 4 Dsquared Dinamyte Joe - I got this t-shirt as a gift and as you can probably see the Dsquared XL is a wee bit small for me (as the size is other Italian sport lines like D&G, Prada, Gucci etc) so I’m going to lose 20 pounds and rock it then. I actually love this shirt and after feeling it and looking at the graphic up close it’s easy to see why these shirts usually go for $200 and up. The shirt is soft as hell, the art is gorgeous and theme is actually really funny. “A story of greed and violence….” This shirt by itself is a good reason enough reason for me to lose weight alone.

5 Crooks & Castles “Ain’t No Such Thing….” Yeah I know that it’s dumb winkled but If I have to explain why this shirt is here, then I don’t like you. Seriously though, I hope Hav and P are getting some kickback from The Crooks or at least a lifetime supply of fresh gear.

Filed under: gearhead, Simply The Best Tagged: | Acapulco Gold, Ain't No Such Things As Halfway Crooks, Bearbrick, Beat Street, Chanel, Cocaine, Complex, Crooks & Castles, Dquared, Dsquared Dinamite Joe, Ebay, Fashion Week, Gucci Killers, Kanye West, Kanye West Glasses, Karl Lagerfeld, Kate Moss, Louis Vuitton, Louis Vuitton Don, MCM, Memes, Mob Deep, Noho, Nose Bleed, Prada, Reed Space, Shook Ones, Simpsons, Spit, The Simpsons, Vogue