‘A booby trap in Pop Art’: The tits tee featured in 1972 Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogue
//Detail, Frederick’s catalogue. Photo: Johnny Deluxe//
Congratulations to our pal Johnny Deluxe for this fantastic spot; he happened upon this kitsch sketch of an original tits t-shirt while leafing through an early 70s Frederick’s Of Hollywood catalogue.
//Catalogue page. Photo: Johnny Deluxe//
//Caption detail – “In pop-eye pink or bunny beige”. Photo: Johnny Deluxe//
The trompe de l’oeil design began life as a Rhodes Island School Of Design project in 1970 before being sold by creators Janusz and Laura Gottwald through their clothing company Jizz Inc.
//Advert in Los Angeles Free Press, June 18, 1971//
//Left: Iggy Pop, LA, 1974. Right: Alice Cooper, Max’s Kansas City NYC, 1970. Photographers: Unknown//
//Dennis Hopper, early 70s. Photographer: Unknown//
In early spring 1975, Malcolm McLaren bought one in a novelty store in New Orleans. Struck by its unsettling and provocative nature, he incorporated a version of the shirt into the collection of clothing designs developed with Vivienne Westwood over the next couple of years.
As a result it was worn by many punk rockers and is regularly reissued by Westwood, most recently with Opening Ceremony (which, par for the course, erroneously claims that it was the first such t-shirt and erases McLaren’s involvement).
//Note second left. From Time, September 7, 1970. Courtesy Ben Cooney collection//
The Jizz Inc shirts were retailed by various independent outlets on the West Coast, including – as confirmed by Deluxe’s find – Frederick’s Of Hollywood, the grandaddy of sexy lingerie outlets.
Read my three-part history of the tits t-shirt here and my speculation that the artist Robert Watts was the first to conceive of the idea here.
Predictably and depressingly, the depredations of the digital age spelled the end for Frederick’s a couple of weeks ago. All stores, including the flagship outlet which had a “museum” frequented by both Deluxe and I during our separate spells in LA (this was moved to 6571 Hollywood Blvd in 2005), were closed as this story reports. It exists online now in a boring sub-Victoria’s Secret manifestation.