“Birds of Paradise” Graphic T-Shirt

Year: Spring/Summer 2012

After five years at the helm of Givenchy, and plenty of predominantly black gothic-inspired designs, Riccardo Tisci hit his stride with the Spring/Summer 2012 collection. A meditation on his childhood obsession with surfing and surf-culture, Tisci transformed the most typical of surf-wear motifs—floral prints on Hawaiian shirts—and blew them up to comical proportions. The most prominent was the “Birds of Paradise” print, which was plastered across tailoring, bombers, jeans—and most notably—this graphic T-shirt. A smash success, the shirt was a celebrity must-have and hit the mainstream, inspiring numerous look alikes and helping solidify Givenchy as the preeminent luxury menswear-meets-streetwear brand of the early 2010s.