international news _ 17th April, 2006
Sex Pistol Artist's Fashion Fakes
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
Counter-culture icon Jamie Reid, who visually defined punk 30 years ago when he stuck a safety pin through the Queen's cheek for the Sex Pistols, has launched a high fashion range of T shirts offering a ''Rock Star come Smart Punk feel'.
The highly wearable T shirts feature slogans like 'We're all junkies now, everybody's doing it' (next a to a cut out image of Princess Di), Fuck Forever and 'I Hate French Cooking' and are being marketed on a website which declares on one page 'this store welcomes shoplifters' though are being priced according to the market, said Jamie.
"When we went into the market we studied the pricing brackets and tiers of the fashion industry," he told Skrufff, "I can't tell a retailer how much to charge for a garment and he always has the freedom to knock the price down. All customers are the driving force of everything; the customer is always right."
The T shirts are already being worn by former Sex Pistols Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Glen Matlock as well as UK DJ legend Mickey Finn and much hyped newcomer Nic Fanciulli and are aimed at 'everybody that likes art' including potentially 'rock stars' like Robbie Williams, he admitted ('With freedom of Art, how could we stop him?').
The third generation Druid and committed anti-war activist, however, also admitted he's comfortable with the idea of T shirt pirate copying him pointing out he's totally relaxed with the counterfeit Sex Pistols gear that continues to sell in street markets around the world.
"Bootlegging is a form of Independence. It will always be the case, I've never known it not to exist," he declared, "The Sex Pistols must be one of the most bootlegged bands in history and I feel its to do with the closeness of the music and art. After all, the band was managed by an artist, Malcolm McClaren."
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