Fluorescent Fruit

NAME: Kelly
LOCATION: Farragut's, Andersonville

I'm not usually interested in these kind of patterned shirts for the blog, but you seem really excited about this.

Yeah. Yeah! I'm so excited about this shirt. So many reasons. And the first reason is that, well, first of all, the fruit is fluorescent. And basically food that is artificially colored is my favorite food.

To eat, or to have on your shirt?

To eat. Especially Cheetos. And I was a Cheeto for Halloween, and so, um, fluorescent lemons are probably what I'm gonna eat when I get home and I'm hoping to acquire some more artifically-colored food clothing slash costumes slash food for dinner.

Do you have other items of clothing that display your favorite food like this?

My Cheeto costume for Halloween!

How did you pull that off?

Um, I had orange fishnets that were nice and textured like a Cheeto. I had this tarry cloth skirt which also had a nice Cheeto-like texture. I had an orange cardigan and orange hairspray and orange facepaint and yellow rainboots with anchors on them.

I [steve frost] SF

NAME: Amy
LOCATION: Chipotle, Belmont & Kenmore

My shirt, which says "I [heart] SF" was made at the going away party for my friend Steve Frost - you can see his face in the heart - Steve is an artist who lived in DC and he just moved to Chicago in ... August? Sometime in the summer. To start art school. So he lives here now. Um, and at the party, this DC artist who makes t-shirts had everyone at the party silkscreen the design onto the t-shirts.

Did people silkscreen them themselves?

Um, well, the artist who does it had, like, you know, had the design and we just - I did my own. Like, I picked my t-shirt color and I picked the color - because it was a red ink and I knew that the red color would come out kind of purply and pretty. So I picked it for that but there were all different colors.

And this was done at the party?

This was done at the party.

That's cool.

Yeah.

So "SF" stands for "Steve Frost".

Yes.

And it's a picture of Steve Frost.

Yes.

So the shirt says: "I [steve] Steve Frost".

More or less.

That doesn't really make any sense.

But it's cute, isn't it?

Miss Independent

NAME: Katie
LOCATION: The Ark, Lakeview

What's this shirt all about?

This shirt ... believe it or not, I got it a thrift store. And I thought it was darn fun because I had bariatric surgery, and I finally got to be thrift shopping and I found 'Miss Independent' and it just suited me. It was perfect for me. And it was cheap! And I liked it.

What kind of surgery did you have?

Bariatric surgery? Weight loss surgery.

Oh, okay.

So, there you go. And I was so excited I could shop at thrift stores and I found something that was very me. So there it is.

So now you're a woman about town, Miss Independent. Do you wear this to bars?

I don't. I'm not much of a bar-hopper. I'm just independent.

The Gong Show

NAME: Bryan
LOCATION: The Rocking Chair, Logan Square

Oh, my friend Patrick got it for me at a thrift store, apparently. Um, well, it's just something that we say. Actually our friend Brittany I guess started it. It's just something - if something's "gong show" it's kind of ridiculous, fucked up. Stupid. It's like, "That's totally gong show."

And then what's-his-name, in Pineapple Express? The cute guy, with the long hair?

James Franco.

Yeah, James Franco used it in that. And we were surprised. We didn't know anybody else used it.

Then I had a teacher who, uh - he's probably, I guess he's about forty, and he goes, "Do you even remember the Gong Show?" And I was like, "No, man. It's just a fuckin' shirt." That's true. That's a true story.

Anything else?

Also I like the color yellow. It keeps me safe at night.