if you've ever seen an official katseye group photo and thought 'oh they look good' i guarantee its bc Katie Qian sourced and dressed them so ofc she HAD to be involved somehow leading up to the grammys. she's so scrappy, knows when and how to be risky, has such a good, good, GOOD eye. she knows how to get a viewer's attention and keep it (days, weeks, months, later, you'll see something innocuous and a little thing in the back of your head will nudge). she killed it for the katz Spotify event. i just love it so much. it's most blatantly telling us that katseye is to be adored, giving an invitation to look, or actually, gawk. which is THE distinction:
what stands out to me is this article describes them as 'ethereal' which is. so spot on, too spot on. extremely intentional. YES. glimmery, shiny, beautiful, coveted, new, MYTHICAL. it's perfect, bc Georges/Jad Hobeika use very weighty, abstract themes for their collections. in the ones the katz wore: SS23 (relationship/connection) FW25 (power)(specifically feminine power) SS25 (death) SS26 (love).
im very, very interested in Qian's vision. Hobeika most enjoys exploring the expanse of life. like, OUR life. its personal (!!!)(very important pillar of katz branding), tangibility of the abstract. what we touch and affect, dream and desire. im pretty sure that's it: katseye and that feeling when we have something fresh n new, and we don't want to ruin it -- a little sacred and divine. quite literally, dressed as treasure.
i expect we're going to see a lot more of this, meaning, the encouragement to ogle. tldr: WATCH THIS SPACE
Disclaimer that this is only my observation, i don't KNOW any of planning that truly went into the design of the merch. But i love doing this and ... okay, sorry. I must echo parts of Miranda Priestly's ever famous monologue:
"It's sort of comical you think you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry."
Megan's top is listed as "Barcode" on the WeVerse shop. It says "EYEKONS ONLY" stretched thin on an otherwise blank tank.
It's minimalist, it's y2k, and it might be easy to look past and write off. But it's not. Not really.
It's inspired by the VETEMENTS, Balanciaga, Rick Owens, Yeezy, OFFWHITE – techwear, streetwear, antidesigner/anticapitalist collection many houses did in their foray into marketing a "low effort/high quality" aesthetic that took everyone, and i mean EVERYONE by storm. Like, we're STILL weening off of these effects, guys.
These ironic consumerism designs can be seen in the 2020 VETEMENTS collection, and their offshoot brand: VTMNTS whose entire branding IS the barcode.
(To get even more nitpicky about this, this entire type of branding's grandfather is really Maison Margiela's 'four stitch' tag. Which, in the beginnings of the MM house, was the TURN OFF for so many. They thought drawing attention to the tag made something look cheap. MM did not give a fuck. He said, ok don't buy it. Then everybody bought it. And logos run the world.)
So um. My evidence is simply:
Megan loves VETEMENTS.
Here she is wearing said house:
I get it. I really, really do. She fits the branding.
But the 'EYEKONS ONLY' top isn't just inspired by VETEMENTS. If it was i think it'd be an oversized tshirt with a clear "skater" lean.
Megan combined VETEMENTS with her personal preference and flavor of kitsch and y2k. (And what do you know? That's kind of KATSEYE's entire image, too.)
Specifically, I think there's inspiration from Omighty, which she also loves to wear. (You know the shirts. The ones with busy backgrounds, and divaesque sentences ironed over the top. Anything vaguely 2010 Spencers/Hot Topic reminiscent.)
My point here: this is a good first design. It's very Megan.
I think she put thought into this. I think she really fucking likes the top she made. I think she made something SHE would wear. And I would too. There's history and intention behind it, even if it doesn't initially seem that way. I like it. I love it. I'll get it on my tour date.
You know what. I'm gonna end this with that clip anyway. It's all trickledown. :]
ry, do you have a take on the holiday chaos torso t-shirts that megan helped design? your breakdown of the potential influences of the barcode top was a delight to read :]
HIII I'm so happy you liked the other post!! :]
My short(ish) answer is the torso shirt falls into the contrasting theme of the Beautiful Chaos era, is 90s inspired, and leans into commentary surrounding the Katz’ image, and celebrity, and women. As in: body. And: Katseye = body tea?
It’s channeling some of Jean Paul Gaultier’s eclectic, courageous, satirical spirit – that is, the wearer must exude these things for the clothes to work.
Yes, really. Humberto’s a fan.
(I don’t believe the Katseye Torso Shirt™ is expecting as much of the wearer as JPG, or trying to be very experimental in color and graphic. It’s likely a humorous shirt (badly executed. sorry), that has a chromatic 3rd cousin from the 90s, which resurged in early 2020s. This makes it ripe for Katseye’s current vibe.)
On Megan’s end: a bit of omighty kitschiness again?
my much, much longer answer:
Megan DID say she “helped come up with the idea” of the shirts, but didn’t promote it as her own like with the barcode tank. ‘Idea’ is so broad, it could be anything. It makes me think she and Humberto sat in a room, and he gave her a couple keywords to work off of.
I say that because Humberto is a fashion history buff, and he’s teaching the girls about their looks as they go. I don’t know how deep Megan’s fashion knowledge goes, but I imagine when she and Humberto work together it’s a lot of learning about the origins of her tastes.
There’s A LOT of care. This reporter’s interpretation of Megan and Humberto’s relationship:
So I don’t think Megan had as big of a part in this design beyond words and a vibe and an ‘ok.’ I’m saying, I think the shirt is more of Humberto’s interpretation than Megan's.
Unless Megan has mentioned Gaultier or Martens somewhere, PLEASE let me know.
So this is an excuse to take a closer look at Humberto + his approach to the Katz + this shirt:
Before Humberto became their Creative Director, he owned his own fashion brand 'Opening Ceremony;' before THAT he was the director of VISUAL MERCHANDISING (!!) at Burberry, and, at the very start, had a knack for putting together window advertisements at Gap. (Among many other things.)
Euphoria’s also sourced several of their looks from Opening Ceremony … and we remember, right, when people were using “euphoria” as an adjective for a Look.
This guy is a crazy, crazy visionary. More importantly he knows how to get consumers to pay attention by being visually interesting.
The goal: get Katseye to stick in people’s heads.
If I said somebody “looks like they’re in Katseye” there’s a good chance a gen-z girl or gay (and younger) would get the image of what I mean.
Casual and sexy. Low-waisted and baggy. Mini shorts and skirts. Anywhere else: skin. Like, hot. Like, confident.
Humberto’s vision for Katseye is vintage, experimental, risqué. It’s flexible and ready to change.
Megan’s also known to be playful in her own fashion, too.
(These aren't the best 'fashion' examples, but u get the idea.)
The torso shirt is unserious, but, kind of hot. Bc it’s her body. On YOUR body.
Nobody knows what it means but it’s provocative etc etc.
It’s all meant to evoke emotion from the viewer.
I think this is what the torso shirt is: feeling and culture. It’s funny, it’s ironic, it’s ugly, with an argument to be made for ‘beautiful,’ bc it’s the body. An idol’s body, yes, but also, the wearer. There’s a discord between the internal (you) and external (the print. the Kat), which makes it interesting.
The shirt also falls in line with Gnarly’s MO: jarring, uncomfortable, silly and aware.
Lara voice: ‘It’s camp. If you get it, you get it.’
My first instinct is this shirt comes from the realm of the 6-Pack tee (like, 6 pack abs vs 6 pack beer), and the Bikini Body tee. Both of which are seen at like, beach gift-shop from the 2000s – mid-2010s.
Meme shirts coincide with the rise of the internet -> meme culture -> fashion-FOR-the-internet / fashion-for-the-camera. In some aspects: Unwearable Fashion.
(Celebrities wear/sell this type of clothing, for engagement.)
These clothes are meant to be an expression of personality. People could think: you are funny, you are random, you are kind of fug …… but it’s on purpose so that’s cool!
Then around 2020ish, body print started coming back into style. Like, “real” style – people were wearing these prints outside of cover-ups and gag gifts.
Fashion Nova is still selling these:
Hailey Bieber was getting glammed in these:
It’s not all jokes though. Around the same time there was a surge in optical-illusion prints (trompe l’oeil) due to Jean Paul Gaultier classics making their way onto the Kardashians, Cardi B, and Charli XCX.
Wisdom got his hands on a JPG classic:
Followed by homages from Glenn Marten’s Y/Project.
(Humberto has also been in Martens’ archives:
)
EDIT: I SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED one of the most famous trompe l’oeil examples, Margiela's '96 collection. Thrifted items were screen-printed onto other garments to give them the appearance of something upscale (like a cotton maxi skirt screen printed with a lace or silk skirt). This was Margiela's commentary on the fashion industry's extreme excess.
Humberto's also said sustainable fashion is important to the Katz, and the Torso Tee adheres to their preferences of reuse and recycle.
Anyway, this came with a boom of thermal/heat-map shirts and dresses in fast fashion shops.
Fashion is form, is silhouette, is body, is YOU. It’s visually relatable.
Katseye have a visual focus (I know. They want to SING!). Their facials, outfits, performances. They look good. They HAVE to. It’s working, people agree: they are hot.
So, capitalize. The Kardashians (again) have done similar. Kylie sold her bikini body on tshirts and Kim sold phone cases of her buttcheeks (I would put photos but I think they’ll get flagged, if this post hasn’t been already. You can look this up. Btw, Skims is just an evolution of this type of merchandise.)
It’s supposed to be subversive. Like, ‘thats inappropriate.’ You should have better things in your closet, so you are CHOOSING to wear that.
So on the business end, the torso tee is a conversation: if you put it on your Christmas list, or have it in your closet, or wear it – someone will look, and someone will wonder, and someone will ask: who, what, where, why? These are designer principles. And in this case, the answer is Katseye. Goal achieved.
I’m also considering here that this shirt is available as a bundle in the Holiday Set ($135. oof), so it’s essentially competing with everything else in the world for the customer’s eye.
As expected, really, when the shirts were revealed there was a lot of (negative) conversation about it. Sexualization, tackiness, effort. Like: Gnarly.
They’re all sold out btw.
So, the torso tee is distantly 90s-JPG, campy, satirical, subversive, fashion-for-the-internet shirt. And Katseye = Internet Girls.
i consider the katz tocaboca live one of the more interesting ot6 lives for the pure fact they struggle to stay engaged & are so, so tired. it feels like their little -isms come out during this live a lot. there's less polish on any auto-pilot answers, or things that the Brand want them to focus on (culture and diversity. always. and they poke fun at it a lil bit in this!)
every so often i bring out the microscope slide to look at it again. like:
Sophia’s segues are … well there are none! she doesn’t bother in this one, only says the script lines as they come. 10 seconds in she goes: “why are you laughing at me!!” which reminds me, she interrupts herself to ask why the katz are laughing at her or not paying attention across other lives/interviews. i love this. it’s interesting. like aw. do ur members tease u sophia? how often? its often, isnt it? it's noted.
manon attempts to ask “which is your favorite song?” three times, with 40% intent to actually be heard, & it results in a prolonged silence, dani going “:)……..ummm….” and M&M break out into laughter (M&M laugh at each other A LOT in this one ♥️)
fun easter egg: the girls promote their favorite gabriella dance moves & manon does gameboy instead.
dani is the most on track all live. there’s really cute danchae moments here (shoutout to star 🌟) where yoonch asks if dani will bring the food she likes (y: ‘for me? 🥺’ d: ‘hmm? OH, for you. <3 Yoonchae really likes ….’). dani rolls her r’s & yoonchae hoots & hollers about it ❤️
this is my favorite, and I mean FAVORITE thing yoonchae’s said. when asked what they’d name their tocaboca district, she goes
“katseye lovers group” which changes into "katseye lovers club"
lara’s gagged. no one fucks with it. at all. yoonchae gets SO embarrassed.
this made me realize, when she gets embarrassed she commands the topic to change. “NEXT!” (she does similarly in the solarz live, & in the who said it interview).
also, yeah, meichae crumbs:
yoonchae says “sorry. sorry”, megan responds “why are you apologizing?”
megan also says “wait, you have to show me 🥺” when yoonchae talks about the new song she’s been listening to. MEICHAE PILLARS! to me! #ToMe
lara is so, so good at moving the live forward. she makes the answers and conversation feel more natural. she makes sure to bring in the other katz, responds to every little thing said off-hand or in the background. she makes everything feel lighthearted and funny. it’s just masterful. shes such a glue. i really, really love this. absolutely noted.
megan's fav emoji is the smiling devil bc it’s mischievous 😈 she identifies as Type A. she types furiously on her phone, shows lara, who tries not to laugh, & proceeds to hide meg's phone from the live. megan says she’s a wolf. THE LEADER OF THE PACK. THE ALPHA! (she concedes that the wolf is sophia, but sophia is a fluffy white cat.)
meg also says Grant/Sohey say she looks like a lemur <- ive never, ever gotten this out of my head. ive tried to shoehorn this into my fics but it's never worked. so just know: theyre RIGHT.
they spend several minutes talking about how much they LOVE spending EVERY DAY. HOUR. MINUTE. SECOND. PLACE. MOMENT. with each other. love it sooo much. (dani says, 'be serious.') they also say they’ve learned “patience” from each other 😭
they’re just so sarcastic and silly and candid. and awkward! i can’t get enough
