John Lennon T-Shirt of the week. You Are Here T-Shirt as worn by The Beatles legend.

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Now back in circulation this classic Hollywood T-Shirt a favorite of Blondie, The Ramones and Rodney Bingenheimer.

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Peaches Records and Tapes T-Shirt worn by Joan Jett is our featured T-Shirt of the week!

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Sam Staples | The Netherlands  

Interview by Alejandra Barreto Cortés

"I chose this shirt because I’m a big fan of Frank Zappa. It's story is quite interesting. Apparently, he was walking shirtless in Hollywood and wanted go to a club but they wouldn’t allow shirtless hippies into the club so they gave him a rental shirt and it became his favorite and he wore it all the time.

I’ve been listening to his music for approximately 15 years. I discovered him when I was working in a record store. I read his autobiography and I like it very much. He’s a fascinating guy. He experiments a lot with different genres of music like rock, jazz, pop, classical and avant-garde music.

I’m a sculptor and installation builder and I like to use diverse materials to transform a space into a different kind of space and I would like very much that it touched people and made them feel the space in a different way. I hope I can experiment with my art in the same innovative way that Zappa experimented with his music. With a lot of freedom and not limiting myself to specific styles or topics."

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Rental t-shirt worn by Frank Zappa.

Frank Zappa was an American musician, record and film producer, songwriter and composer. In his career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, jazz and orchestral works.  He began writing classical music in high school and at the same time played drums in rhythm and blues bands; later changing to electric guitar. Frank Zappa is seen here wearing the original Rental shirt in 1968.

 

Sam's artwork

Find out more about Sam on Instagram and his website.

 

BigBSTRD | The Netherlands  

BigBSTRD likes to put on a show, that's why he chose this Uncle Floyd shirt. Besides being an art student at Minerva, he's a showman in the underground music scene. He likes to stay anonymous, so you won't find any selfies of BigBSTRD online.  

He's is into organizing underground parties and loves all kinds of electronic music. "Basically if it makes you move, it's good." When he's not busy putting on raves, he produces electronic music and dreams of starting his own festival in the Netherlands. Just like Uncle Floyd he loves bringing people together and showcasing new talent, integrating art and music. And most importantly getting people to dance all night long.   

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Vintage Uncle Floyd Tee Shirt worn by Johnny Ramone and BigBSTRD.

More BigBSTRD

Find out more about BigBSTRD on Instagram and Soundcloud.

Kevin Rooi | The Netherlands | Age: 27 

He was born and raised on the Caribbean island Curaçao and moved to the Netherlands to study Graphic Design. Kevin, also known as the "Tropical Freelance Typographer", is the founder of Typomento. This project aims to make the local language Papiamento visually understandable by using the art of typography. 

Kevin is wearing the Flying Burrito Brothers shirt, which he likes because of the font. As a student, he experiments with creating his own fonts and making all kinds of illustrations, including film posters and  album covers. 

He describes his skill as "dancing with letters". An ugly word can be made beautiful depending on how you draw it or the font you choose. To inspire youngsters, he recently organized a workshop in Curaçao and used the work 'Fuck' as an example that there are no bad words, just bad intentions. "You can make the work Fuck look like Love, if you want to. I choose that word to start with and get catch their attention. The real reason is that I hope to have initiated their interest for design and promoting their local culture." 

Kevin's style

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Chris Hillman's The Flying Burrito Bros

Kevin's artwork

www.kevinrooi.nl
https://www.instagram.com/kevipj
https://www.instagram.com/typomento

 

 

 

 

Sanne Boekel | The Netherlands | Age: 23 

Portrait by Jelle De Groot 

Sanne's Story

Sanne is in her final year of studying illustration at Minerva Art Academy. She wants to trigger people to think about sexuality, gender, identity and stereotypes. One of her projects is about a female pope called Joan. In this graphic novel she collects a bunch of quotes of female thinkers and artists, who were all actively engaged in women's emancipation movements.

Identity is something Sanne was struggling with, being gay and growing up in a small religious town in the Netherlands. Being a true rebel, she uses art as a way to communicate about various social issues. Choosing unexpected and sometimes uncomfortable perspectives, she wants to shake things up. She feels that discomfort is a motivation for people to start (re)thinking.

Sanne picked our Pink Floyd Animals t-shirt because she grew up listening to them with her dad, along with other bands like The Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Rolling Stones. When she turned 16, she wanted to rebel musically and listened to a lot of different genres. Her search lead her back to her rock roots. She realized that she has a lot more in common with bands like Pink Floyd and the way they question society. Likewise, it’s her personal challenge to provoke people to challenge the norm. 

Sanne's style

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Pink Floyd's t-shirt Animals 

Sanne's Artwork

Want to see more of Sanne's artwork? Check out her website and Instagram. 

 

 

 

Jaap Ploeger | The Netherlands 

Portrait by Jelle De Groot 

Jaap's Story

I live in the local area and found out about the Photoshoot from a friend of mine that works at WornFree, so I came down to check it out and meet some of the students at Minerva.

I really like it when creative things happen out of the blue and have started to listen closer to the things happening around me to help with my own creative path. I co-owed a film production company for the past 14 years, in which time I really achieved everything that I wanted and was feeling like time for a change. I met a couple of dudes at the Oerol Festival 2 years ago and was telling them how I felt stuck. They helped me see a new beginning. Since then I have moved on from the film company and I am truly following my creative heart.

I am writing a blog with my daily observations and I am excited to see what the future will bring. That is why I picked this Zoltar t-shirt to see what he had to say about my future, on the back of the tag is a message from Zoltar. Mine read:

 

Jaap's Style

About Zoltar

Zoltar is a fortune telling machine that came to fame through a role in the movie Big in 1988. Big starred Tom Hanks. Hanks played a young boy who went to a carnival where he put a coin in a fortune teller machine, and made a wish that he was "big". The fortune teller, Zoltar, then gave him a fortune on a card which said "Your wish has been granted". The next day he had become a man instead of a boy!

Zoltar Speaks T-shirt 

 

Zoltar Logo T-shirt 

 

Kamilė's Story

"I was born in Lithuania and after high school, I moved to the Netherlands to study Fine Arts. I always knew I want to come here, because the culture and education is very open. Here I can express myself freely. In my artwork, I reflect on today's society. I draw and paint people on a big scale and focus on their relations. 

It was a big thing for me to move abroad. Even though it felt risky, I knew I had to do it. This has become a big theme in my life: to do what you love. Otherwise: what's the point of living? At the moment I enjoy my life in the Netherlands and I am looking forward to explore other places too." 

Kamilė's Style

Shop the look

Chatterbox T-shirt, worn by Johnny Ramone and Kamilé

Kamilė's Artwork

Website: www.kamilecesna.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kamile.cesna

 
 

  

Every Wednesday a new artist will be featured on our blog and social media in their Worn Free Tee, sharing short personal stories and new artwork they have created. Second student up: Alejandra, who is also our guest blogger for this series.

Alejandra's story

I’ve always cared about the environment and tried to do helpful things, like saving water, turning off the lights when nobody was using them and so on. I wrongly thought that what I could do was limited. That the changes had to be done by politicians, enterprises, and celebrities with a strong voice that people would hear.

I deeply admired Yoko Ono and her environmental activism. The Artists Against Fracking and Meat-free Mondays are initiatives that have a big positive impact and reach millions of people.

Zero Waste Movement

I always wanted to do more, but I didn’t know how. Until I discovered the Zero Waste Movement. It’s a lifestyle that aims to reduce waste as much as possible. One of the problems with the trash we generate on a daily basis is that it ends up in landfills -or into water bodies- and this plays a big role in the production of methane gases, they absorb the sun’s heat warming the atmosphere.

My Zero Waste journey started almost one year ago. I’ve reduced the trash I generate in approximately 60-70%. Some of the changes I’ve made are buying my food package-free in the farmer’s market and the bulk store in my own cloth bags and reusable containers, making my own toothpaste, using a bamboo toothbrush, showering with bar soap and bar shampoo made of natural ingredients, carrying a reusable bottle with tap water, avoiding plastics as much as possible -very important- and more.

Drop in the ocean

I’ve come to the realization that we, as individuals, can do much more for our planet than we think. We just need to do some adjustments in our lifestyle that fit our budget and the options available in the place we live.

Some people have told me that I am just one person and that I cannot help the planet on my own but, with my way of living, I’ve made some people curious and I’ve been beyond happy when friends or family have told me about changes they’ve done because I’ve inspired them to do so. It’s a very gratifying feeling. And as Yoko once said: “A drop in the ocean becomes a tsunami when there's enough. I am a drop in an ocean and very glad that I am.”

Shop Yono Ono T-shirt, worn by John Lennon and Alejandra

Artwork by Alejandra
www.instagram.com/la.nomada