Wil Fry is an artist based out of New York City and Sydney, Australia who makes T-shirts with T-shirts on them. Sometimes it’s a Givenchy print that he appropriates; sometimes it’s a plain black shirt. Most famously, he took the Marc Jacobs pink T that featured the designer’s vandalized store — the $689 joke based on the damage done by graffito Kidult — and put it on his own T-shirt. Pretty clever.
A few weeks later came another gem from Fry, this time called “Expensive T-Shirt,” which consisted of a lot of random tags from high-fashion brands such as Chanel, Comme des Garcons, Dior, and Jil Sander. It was sold on his Web site for $30, and like the Marc Jacobs parody, it sold out.
But Fry put a new item on sale today. “Limited T-Shirt” (only one exists) is a piece covered entirely with tiny renderings of the Air Yeezy II sneakers, Kanye West’s extremely in-demand shoe that he designed for Nike. It is a really great shirt. One drawback: it costs $90,300, the same price that a pair of Air Yeezy II kicks went for on eBay.
We called Fry at his office, where he works at his day job as a graphic designer, to talk briefly about his new shirt. He has an Australian accent.
Anyone go for the $90,000 price tag yet?
Not yet. The last time I looked on eBay there were two offers, but they were both under $100. I’m not really expecting anyone to pay the full price.
And are you going to make any more of the Air Yeezy shirts?
No, this will be the only one.
I read online that you’ve gotten in trouble for your previous shirt-on-shirts, like the Marc Jacobs and the Givenchy. Have you had any cease and desist notices?
Nope! I didn’t actually make very many of them so I haven’t had any negative experiences yet. Crossing my fingers.
If you made more, do you think they would shut you down?
I’m sure that would happen. At the moment I think people appreciate that it’s tongue in cheek. I’m not trying to make a profit, I’m not trying to mass produce the shirts. It’s a response to high fashion and I’m just trying to have a bit of fun.
What’s next — more meta-shirts?
Yeah, I’ve got some more designs coming. At the moment I’m having fun with the fashion theme and the fashion world. There’s so much material!