a few years ago i was assigned the task of making or in some way putting my signature on a secret santa exchange gift for my friend josh. in desperation i searched for insight into what i was capable of creating or in some way embellishing. i came up with a shirt that had the letter "j" on it. this was before gap started monogramming everything. anyway. this past weekend i was a part of a craft fair called acknowledge-me which was the latest project of ilovemikelitt.
i wondered if i could bank on a "fact" i heard in a fictional film. in lars and the real girl, lars claims that it's been proven that people enjoy hearing the sound of their own name over any other sound. extending that logic, could i assume that people enjoy wearing the first letter of their own name over any other icon, symbol, or image? and so i set about creating various shirts each with a single letter on them.
was lars's fictional "fact" true?
in my experience on saturday: amy bought an "A". mitchell was interested in "M". maggie was also interested in "M".
narcissism, solipsism, call it what you will, as far as sartorial self-adornment goes, self-reference sells. (but not as well as daniela's crocheted animal beer bottle cozies. but that's another story.)
in some ways i think that my product fit perfectly into the theme of acknowledge-me which i think derived its name as sort of explanation. (are our generation's efforts at DIY dovetailing efforts at acknowledgment?) my shirts perform that work of self-acknowledgment. eh?
