Fashion Victim: Cloud Shirt

Click both for bigger

Above is a superb long-sleeved shirt, probably from the early to mid 1970s. It has a lot to offer: a weird, hand-drawn design; a totally counter-intuitive color scheme; grace notes such as the pleated pocket (not shown) and squared buttons; blue clouds, etc. Here's more or less the entire design:

The label is "By Martini" and it proudly proclaims the obvious: 100% Polyester. This garment will eventually be rediscovered, in perfect condition, in a landfill in 2275. And it will be heralded as a great work of art.

Do I actually wear weird shirts from my collection like this? Heck yeah, I'll wear it to work tomorrow.

Grandpa

Oh, look, it's Richard Douglas Huestis, my father's father, and it's 1924, the year before my father was born. This portrait by an unknown photographer (I colored it) was taken when my grandfather was a young executive at the Bell Telephone Company of Canada.

Speaking Of Crime, Fashion, Madness...

You know you've lost perspective when, upon browsing a photo essay about historical insane asylums, you find yourself saying I want one of those fabulous straightjackets.

Chic Charlie

That's Charles Manson, above, in an uncredited recent photo used by CNN in yet another pointless article about everybody's fave messianic sociopath.

I don't know about you, but at my first glimpse of the above (before noticing the swastika), I totally thought I was seeing some expensive ad for new menswear. Something like this: