Style Cynics

There is, perhaps, nothing more profound than Native art, no matter how it’s produced or depicted. The suffering of the Native peoples is amazingly heartbreaking, and every artist seems to find a different way to drive home that point. Affliction, always rising to the occasion, has created a button-down shirt with a design that not only drives home the point of Native suffering, but also reminds us of the mass death that certain tribes experienced. At a time when many Native tribes are trying to get back what was once theirs, the design is incredibly emotive.

The long-sleeved, collared shirt is a gunmetal-grey, with a distressed oil stain wash and custom metal buttons. From a distance, the shirt actually looks like it’s made from watered silk. That alone would make it amazing, but the depiction of a Native Chief in full headdress was what really drew my eyes to this piece. The feathers are picked out in black and grey and the face of the Chief is reflective white. What’s interesting is the dual way that you can look at the print – on one side, the Chief’s face is intact. On the other, it’s a skull. Any way you look at it, the effect is noble and extremely moving.

All political connotations aside, the design fails to strike anything in me but absolute admiration for the artist, because it’s hard to present something like that without failing miserably. Thankfully, in this case, the design succeeds. In fact, I have seen tattoos of this very subject, and they have not measured up to this piece of art. However, what else would you expect from Affliction?

What’s really interesting about Affliction clothing is how they present their labels. In this case, the Affliction name is outlined in red over the contour of the Chief’s headdress. The name is accented by odd red squiggles at intervals around the print’s headdress, and again on the front of the shirt, where a print of two feathers is where the left front pocket would be. Are they supposed to be blood? I have no idea. However, they serve their purpose – my eyes are immediately drawn to the design. Not that they wouldn’t have been in the first place, but the red is a nice contrasting touch.

You can find the Affliction Tribe Button-down shirt at SolisStyle.com for $84.00. Well worth it, in my opinion.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 9:00 am and is filed under Affliction Clothing.