Understanding Shepard Fairey’s Activism with OBEY T-Shirts

Shepard Fairey first made waves on the street art scene when he was a young punk at the Rhode Island School of design, wheat-pasting a fearsome image of Andre the Giant on everything from billboards to bathrooms. Since his guerilla artist days Fairey has made a killing as lead designer of OBEY clothing, which takes his visual aesthetic of subverted propaganda and applies it to hip young streetwear.

Treat your wardrobe like a picket sign. Wear activist art on your body with an OBEY T-shirt that would make even Andre the Giant proud.

Anti-Establishment

At the core of Shepard Fairey’s ethos is a commitment to ending or subjugating the oppressive systems that plague today’s zeitgeist. Whether it’s war, capitalism, racism, misogyny, or the destruction of the environment that irks you most, you can say it proudly with one of OBEY’s slogan shirts.

Faux Communist

Though OBEY isn’t a communist brand by any means, Shepard Fairey has always used imagery and inspiration from Soviet propaganda. There is something striking about the saturated primary colors and comic book-like characters of communist Russia that begs to be styled beneath a pea coat and fur-trimmed hat. The difference is, OBEY uses the images to tear down systems—not build them up.

Psychedelic

Though many of OBEY’s designs feel familiar in ways you can’t define (hint: it’s because it’s borrowed propaganda), the brand always makes sure to introduce an element of the surreal or the trippy to give it a fresh spin. Whether it’s with crazy opticals or wild colors, you’ll look not-of-this-world when you wear them with technicolor add-ons.

Simple

Just because he’s got an agenda doesn’t mean that Shepard Fairey doesn’t also know how to make solid, wearable basics. A striped tee from OBEY always looks right, whether you pair it with jeans and a leather jacket or a blazer and chinos.

Shepard Fairey has found a way to make a progressive statement using consumerism and capitalism as a weapon. Wear an OBEY T-shirt and make a statement of your own.

Activism never looked so stylish.

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