Never ones to shy away from controversy, Mishka has gotten together with famed photographer Richard Kern for an upcoming collection of tees. Known for his provocative photography and film work, Kern explores perversion, violence, and sexuality in an incredibly up front and often times shocking manner. By that I mean, be very aware that there are naked ladies after the jump and I’m not responsible if you get in trouble with your boss, your girl, or your mom.

Appropriately titled Susan On Bed, this shirt features a famous NYC scenester that Kern loved to photograph. You may also recognize his work from other clients, which include Sonic Youth, Henry Rollins, and Lydia Lunch. It’s easy to focus on the naked girl (really!?) but there is clearly talent and quality in terms of the portrait itself.

Here’s Susan again, did you even notice the shirt this time? I honestly wonder how long it’ll be before these photographs, taken by former Kern model, Ellen Stagg, end up on shirts themselves. I guess that depends on how well this collection is received. Sure the shock value is there, but how ready will dudes be to put something like this on, or how eager will shops be to take the risk in putting these designs on their shelves? I honestly hope that my skepticism is unnecessary, as there is way more to these shirts than the surface level reaction.

Each of these shirts, including Mel above, comes in four different colors. With no distinct branding on the front of the shirt, the photographs are put into total focus and allowed to shine. This one doesn’t pull any punches. What’s the visual equivalent for earmuffs?

Alright, I give up. Writing this isn’t that different from reading porn mags for the articles. These tees should be available at Mishka and Mishka retailers soon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 10:14 pm and is filed under Clothing, collaborations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.