Is this some trend I have somehow missed? For it seems like in every clothing store I visit, there will be at least one item of clothing available that has a human skull motif. And yet, I haven't noticed anyone wearing them in the street Today, I have seen (in different shops) t-shirts for sale that feature skulls with naked women coming out of the eye sockets, skulls wearing top hats and skulls in a field of flowers. Not to mention skulls in harnesses, cartoon-style skulls and patterned skulls. The other theme I see a lot of is meerkats. I mean, meerkats are really cute and all, but I don't really want a model of one dressed as a policeman. Or a poster of one. Or a book about a fictional one. Almost makes me wonder how well a t-shirt of a meerkat skull would sell. Anyway, who is it out there that creates the demand for this stuff?
I think a lot of it has to do with the popularity of Ed Hardy - a lot of his stuff deals with skulls. At the same time Tapout and other MMA inspired clothing is popular, which also feature a lot of skulls.
I remember back during the Pogs craze during the '90s, the local Shop 'N' Save cleared out one of its claw machines to fill it up with the things. And every single one had either a skull, an 8-ball, or I think a spider. And yes, there were a variety of skull images there, too. It stayed that way for a looong time. Either no one wanted them -- in which case, you'd think TPTB would put some different motifs in to attract attention -- or a lot of people wanted them.
Mexican Day of the Dead perhaps? When we threw a party for our 10th wedding anniversary (22 years ago!??!?! ), my wife's maid of honor showed up dressed in S&M gear, brought along her brother, and he brought along two drinking buddies, all of them dressed in black with skulls all over their t-shirts. They took up station in my living room and swigged from flasks and looked threateningly at my actual invited guests while getting rowdy drunk. It was an atmosphere so conducive to a happy anniversary party that I took my shooting buddy Tony aside and briefed him on where I had loaded guns hidden. Happily, my wife was as thrilled as I was by her one-time best friend's decision to populate our party with the dark underbelly of Bergen County, and when the boys went outside to shoot some heroine, she told her friend to get the fuck out of our house, take her flying monkeys with her, and grow the fuck up you're 32 years old for chrissake. Never heard from her again. Good times, good times.
