The Art and Influence of Hip Hop
The Art and Influence of Hip Hop
Shirt King Phade
Shirt King Phade throwback warmup jacket and sweatpants
Lot Closed
March 30, 05:02 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Custom track jacket and sweatpants. Shirt King Phade, ca. 1987.
Royal blue wool track-style jacket, size unknown, zip closure, white leather collar, elastic ribbed waistbands, drawstring waist, PHADE icon stitched on left chest, "SHIRT ♛ KINGS" embroidered on back, cloth photo patch on inside shows Jay-Z next to the jacket and reads "Jan.21.87 ♛ SHIRT KING PHADE".
Royal blue track-style sweatpants, size unknown, elastic waistband with black string, elastic ankles, PHADE icon stitched on upper left leg.
Accompanied by: color print on photographic paper, 13 by 19 in. (33 x 48.3 cm.), signed "♛ SHIRT KING PHADE!", featuring Jay-Z and two people wearing royal blue "SHIRT ♛ KINGS" track-style jackets and sweatpants.
CUSTOM MATCHING SHIRT KING PHADE TRACK JACKET AND SWEATPANTS
"Used to be the shit, why they have to stop... Hit the Shirt Kings for an ill airbrush top." ("Queen's Day", Run DMC)
In the early days of Hip Hop, a graffiti artist from New York known as Shirt King Phade created a following with his custom airbrushed t-shirts. In the Eighties, Edwin “Phade” Sacasa transferred his passion for graffiti from the surface of trains to the surface of t- shirts.
Fabric became his new canvas and soon enough, Shirt King Phade, along with his partners “the Shirt Kings”, transferred street culture and street art onto clothing becoming the first to commercialize their graffiti. Some say this was the birth of the streetwear concept.
Customization was the hallmark of the Shirt Kings. For every piece and customer, the graffiti was custom-made. Always painted with airbrush, the Shirt King style is immediately recognizable. Remixing pop culture elements and icons, we see Mickey Mouse sporting a gold chain while smoking, the Pink Panther reclining on a champagne bottle, and more. Through their vision, cartoons became badass, and a part of the foundation of graffiti streetwear.
After opening a store in Queens at the Coliseum Mall, the shop became iconic in the Hip Hop scene, in the same way Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s SEX shop was to the punk scene. Some of the Hip Hop’s biggest stars began passing through their doors. From the likes of Jay Z, Jam Master Jay and RZA, Phade and the Shirt Kings’ apparel found their way into several of these artists’ visual media helping to create some of Hop Hop’s most iconic images.
Today, Shirt King Phade continues to work with the biggest names in Hip Hop, Hollywood, and beyond. His artwork has undoubtedly transcended boundaries, and influenced style movements. Phade has collaborated with the biggest names in streetwear including Supreme, Stüssy, Nike, Champion, and others.
Condition Report:
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