Here’s what happened when Dazed launched a t-shirt with YMC

On Sunday evening (September 20), in the thick of London Fashion Week’s SS27 season, Dazed hosted an intimate event, toasting a very special project. Last week, we announced a new partnership with London brand YMC (You Must Create), creating an exclusive run of limited-edition T-shirts, inspired by the Dazed archive. Sunday’s event marked the launch of the T-shirts, hosted by YMC’s creative director Sage Toda-Nation, alongside Dazed editor-in-chief Ted Stansfield, art director Ester Mejibovski and artist Ollie Dove.

Held at YMC’s east London store, the space had been stripped of its usual merchandise and filled with the exclusive new designs. Naturally, there were plenty of beverages on offer – courtesy of Ghost Labs. The collection marks Dazed’s 35th and YMC’s 30th anniversaries, celebrating two brands that have rubbed shoulders since the 90s. “YMC and Dazed have always been closely connected, especially in the early days of the brand,” says Toda-Nation. “I’ve always been inspired by the Dazed editorials from that time.”

The T-shirt’s design was taken from the magazine’s July 1996 issue, and one specific advert that featured a series of specially commissioned T-shirts, created by designers including Richard Voinnet, Christophe Lemaire and YMC. Notably, the ad included the slogan: “Dazed & Confused Stripper”, which you’ll spot printed across the collection. 

The project’s title, the 1996 Orgy T-shirt Reissue, takes its name from a photograph by Ollie Dove (shown on the T-shirt), in which the artist has captured a group of friends in a compromising position. “I photographed this image 10 years ago,” says Dove. “I was making loose drawings of humans living all over each other, but the drawings weren’t working, so I asked my friends to reinterpret one of them for me so I could photograph it. Everyone thinks it’s an orgy! But in my head, it wasn’t sexual at all. It was about feeling completely overwhelmed by humans and the complications of being human.” 

The campaign sees our Dazed colleagues become models: Alice, Luis, Maya, Rae, Percy, Precious and Sam, alongside Riley, son of Dazed’s COO, photographed by Wynston Shannon and styled by Bella Kavanagh. “We loved the collection’s play on words and felt it perfectly captured the punky, irreverent, put-your-fingers-up attitude that has defined the magazine for the past three and a half decades,” says Dazed art director Ester Mejibovski. “It felt right to bring it back.”

If you missed the launch event, don’t panic! The t-shirts are available to purchase online from youmustcreate.com. 100 per cent of Dazed’s profits will be donated to a young designer to help fund their next collection, while YMC’s profits will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Care, in honour of the brand’s co-founder and original creative director Fraser Moss.