Behind the Line
Twodesignerstalktheoriesbehindtheirstripes.6 7 8
9
AndHowto
CleanThem
AccordingtoCorinna
Williams,theco-founder
ofWilliamsburg
laundromatCelsious.The Past
Decade in
Stripes“Iama momofthree
boys,andI waslooking
todosomething
moreinteresting
thanmortgageloaning.
I loveddressingmy
boysinstripesandalso
noticedthattherewere
nomommy-and-me
companiesforboy
moms.SoI decided
I’dcreateone.Afew
monthsin,Tuckernuck,
whichislikea Shopbop
forpreppypeople,was
consideringbuyingmy
shirtsandrippedmeoff
instead.I wroteaboutit
onInstagram,andthe
preppyConnecticut
blogworldwentcrazy.
Tuckernucktookdown
theshirt.Withinfour
days,myshirthadsold
outcompletely,and
I hada waitlistof1,200
people.Peoplelove
them.I’mseeingtons
ofboymomssay,
‘Woo-hoo!I canfinally
matchwithmylittles.’”investigation
2009 Marimekko
collaborates with
Comme des Garçons to
createastripedshirt.2010 The striped
shirt is all over
the spring runways,
from Acne to Stella
McCartney, whose
Bretons are adorned
withappliquéflowers.2013 Popular
fashion blogger Nicole
Warne posts about
her giant collection
ofBretons.2016 Kate
Middleton poses for
British Vogue’s 100th
anniversary in her
first-ever magazine
shoot; she wears a
blue-and-red-striped
shirtbyPetitBateau.2018 A vertical-
striped men’s shirt
goes viral—it is first
seen on Antoni from
Queer Eye and
eventually gets its
own Instagram
account:
@thatstripedshirt.2019 Jean Paul
Gaultier, noted
stripes obsessive,
reissues his
famous Le Male
fragrance, whose
bottle resembles
a male torso clad
in a striped shirt, in
collaboration with
Supreme. The new
version looks similar,
except the striped
shirt has a
Supreme logo
printed across
the chest.The Real-
Estate Lawyer
Who Started
a Mommy-
and-Me
Stripes Brand
Karen Feldman
launched the Striped
Sheep out of her
New York apartment
late in 2018.“Our classic shirt has been the same since we started
in the late ’80s. It’s meant to pay homage to the seafarers and
sailors from the north of France. The merchant seamen who
wore Breton shirts along the Atlantic coast wore them so they
could be easily identified in water. Ours is nearly exactly
like theirs: Twenty-one blue stripes, one for each of Napoleon’s
victories. Our stripes are one inch apart, unlike the original
Bretons’, which are 0.8 inch apart—there’s no real reason why;
we just liked the look of a slightly more prominent stripe.”
—rachel walker, owner of the breton shirt company“they’re a tricky piece of laundry because they
tend to be a mix of white and (in most cases) a darker (red,
navy, or black) color. In order to preserve the color of the
stripes, you want to make sure to always machine-wash in
cold. If your machine allows you to add an extra rinse, do
it to get rid of any potential residue that might dull the
color stripes. To boost the rinse, add some white vinegar
to the fabric-softener compartment. It’ll keep the white
white and the colors superbright.”“Our initial striped tees were classic marinière shirts—boat neck, stripes
just over an inch apart—inspired by the mood of the one worn by Picassoin
that famous picture. Next season, we’re doing a shirt with very thin stripes;
the blue is about half a centimeter, and the white is one. The idea was to
make something that looked natural and plain, that doesn’t have anything
so special about it.”—judith touitou, artistic director of a.p.c.52 new york | september 16–29, 2019