Remember when fair trade tee-shirt brand Collective teamed up with renowned British photographer Terry O’Neill to produce a range of unisex tee-shirts featuring some of his most iconic artwork? Of course you do. Well, now comes their next unique collaboration, this time paying homage to the work of one of the most influential photographers of all time: the late Bob Carlos Clarke.
The latest line of ethical rock-chick tees (which boys can wear too, obviously) are made from 100% premium organic cotton with sustainable fashion in mind, helping to drive fair trade into Africa.
Working in conjunction with the Bob Carlos Clarke Foundation and London’s top boutique photography gallery The Little Black Gallery – who have previously staged retrospectives of the photographer’s work including ‘Wall to Wall’ in 2009, ‘Full Throttle’ in 2010 and ‘Peep Show’ in 2011 – the Collective have produced 11 limited-edition tee-shirts featuring rare prints from Clarke’s archive.
Clarke, who ended his somewhat complex and troubled life dramatically by throwing himself under a train in 2006, left behind a portfolio of work which earned him accolades such as ‘Britain’s answer to Helmut Newton’, in recognition of the way he took Newton’s all-powerful dominatrix woman and added his own graphic, erotic touch. The result is bold images of the female form, with many of his subjects captured provocatively in a state of undress, or clad in fetish-inspired black latex.
Clarke’s work was diverse, challenging and beautiful, and he led such an extraordinary life that all the ingredients are in place for this tee-shirt collection to become highly covetable and collectible.
The range, which includes the iconic ‘Cry Baby’ print from 1995, will be available shortly from Harvey Nichols, Black White Denim, Cruise, Flannels, Intro and wearecollective.com, priced at £60 each.
Images © The Clear Agency
