Morphine Generation
Los Angeles rock musician Erick Hart and photographer/music video director Elliot Hans joined forces to make the ultimate punkrock T-shirt collection. The result is Morphine Generation, a 30-piece tops-driven collection for men and women that takes its cue from the likes of Sid Vicious with razor cuts and distressed fabric.
Both designers, in their mid-20s, bring their personalities to the 7-month-old line. Hans lends his keen eye for a modern aesthetic to the collection’s youthful and stylish silhouettes, while Hart takes out his aggression by roughing up the line’s hems, seams and stitches.
The duo converted the modest living room space of their rented Hollywood Hills home into a showroom. The two give the garments finishing touches— hand sanding and deconstruction—in the bedrooms.
Morphine Generation’s offerings for women include a boat-neck sweater with 6-inch cuffs ($48 wholesale) that comes in French terry and thermal fabrics and features flat-lock stitching. T-shirts are made with combed ring spun jersey cotton. The line also features fitted garment-dyed cotton shirts with silk-screen prints and frayed edges ($36 wholesale). Styles come in a soft palette of pastel pink, pale yellow, white, black and denim blue.
The line uses hand-grinding and distressed novelty treatments. Men’s styles include distressed T-shirts featuring screen prints and metallic foil prints ($38 wholesale) and a crew-neck thermal top with 6-inch cuffs and flat-lock stitching ($58 wholesale). Silk-screened phrases such as “Protect Yourself From Hollywood,” “Live Fast Die Young,” and “I Am the New Avant-Garde” give the line a rebellious feel. Hans said the best-selling T-shirt in the men’s category features a screen print of a view down a gun barrel. The shirt is named after the Beatles tune “Happiness Is a Warm Gun.”
Men’s and women’s polo shirts with logo screen prints on the chest and collar ($48) and men’s and women’s limitededition fine-wale corduroy blazers with leather elbow patches, dead-stock button detail and screen-printed charmeuse lining ($175 wholesale) give the line a preppy feel.
Currently, Morphine Generation is sold at Fred Segal Fun in Santa Monica, Calif.; H. Lorenzo, Lisa Kline and Theodore in Los Angeles; Atrium in New York; and Bloomingdale’s in New York and at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. Fall 2004 delivery dates run from Sept. 30 through Oct. 30. The line is carried by Select Showrooms in New York and Los Angeles. For more information, call (323) 882-6600 or (212) 768- 9777. —Claudia Figueroa
