A thirty dollar bandana. A $3,000 leather jacket. A punk rock bass legend and a sharpie. Paul Simonon has designed four pieces for the Sailor Jerrys swag line. Jesus weeps and me I am beyond tears and fully propped in disgust.
Sailor Jerry started as a Tattoo shop- with a strong American Traditional base. Beautiful stuff but when tatt artist Sailor Jerry passed away in ’73, well then it was cash cow time. Clothing, rum, swag… on and on keeping his kin well funded forever. I love the art- the rest is lame and the celeb clothing designer bit is pure hell.
Why is there such a rebirth of Clash-dom? Why am I hearing “All Lost in The Supermarket” on the mall PA and why is Hot Topic selling London Calling t-shirts? It’s cuz of my tattoo right? The world got wind of my sweet ink and now everyone is a Clash fanatic…
Im waiting for Topper to show up on Celebrity Chef or something- it’s like a bad dream when your idols are aged and decayed and hawking their wares based upon their accomplishments of over 30 years ago. C’mon guys..just stop.
Flash art is the premade stencil work of tattoo artists. It’s the tramp stamp butterfly, the red rose, the anchor, the iconic and over used often weak tatts for amatuers. It requires nothing more than transfering it to skin before the needle roars. Its pre made mass produced ink for the undecided. The artists need not be artful. He just has to color it in.
Fitting is the clothing lines designation of “Flash”- using Sailor Jerrys original flash art and adding some squiggles Simonon is a clothing designer and once again- Im repulsed.
“The Flash Collection is a series of annual collaborations between Sailor Jerry and like minded creatives, inspired by the legendary tattoo flash of Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins.
We’ve started off with one of our heroes: international artist, style icon and musician Paul Simonon.
Simonon combined Norman Collins’ iconic flash artwork with his own signature design style to create four limited edition pieces – a leather jacket, two t-shirts and a bandana.”