Why exactly is Ed Hardy printed across every t-shirt???

The cute guy in my college wears it.... And also my favorite celebrity and my BFFs and my younger brother and the wannabe guy on the road and the small kid in my locality and well just about everybody.... Phew! Ok so we all have seen people wearing Ed hardy tees, and honestly, to the point that I am so sick of them...though no offence to the great Ed Hardy himself because I totally respect him...and of course I absolutely salute Christian Audigier for making great casuals out of it and his selling strategies that made his brand oh so popular... but why is it popular again??  You must be wondering right, so here is why....


For the starters Ed hardy is 'The godfather of modern tattoo'. He is an American who studied tattoing in Japan and hence offered a fusion of east and west in the world of Ink Tattoo art. So basically he has a cult following and he has published a series of 5 books called tattootime and right now Hardy is retired from doing actual tattoos, but oversees and mentors the artists at his San Francisco studio, Tattoo City. And Christian Audigier (pronounciation) is a french designer who licensed the rights to produce the Ed Hardy clothing line in 2004. Before that he was working with Von Dutch Originals, who market directly to celebrity clients and by opening stores in high profile fashion districts. The same technique he applied to the Ed Hardy brand and look where it is today.

So long story short : Famous Tattoo artist + Famous designer + Famous celebrity clients = Famous brand yippie!!!
Ok so now Britney spears was their first client and then the rest his history. Ashton kutcher, Paris Hilton Hillary Duff and Justin Timberlake are just a few names that donned the brand.

Now you must wonder how it all started in India..well here is how.


Ed Hardy in India
In December 2007 the brand was launched in India with Bollywood A-listers walking the ramp for it. It included Sanjay Dutt, Urmila Matondkar, Amrita Arora, Sophie Chaudhary, Arjun Rampal, Manav Gangwani, Nikhil Chinappa and DJ Aqeel. And here are the photos...

They started with 2 stores in Delhi (select city walk,  Ambi Mall, gurgaon) and 2 in Mumbai (palladium and lower parel W) And in 2009 they also started a store in Jalandhar! Which by the way looks like this...

Ed Hardy in Bollywood
The trend here in India was majorly escalted by celebrities and movies. Katrina Kaif flaunted several Ed Hardy tees and jackets in Singh Is Kinng and Ranbir Kapoor wore an Ed Hardy tee in the very opening shot of Bachna Ae Haseeno. And it does'nt end here -  the Golmaal Returns cast which includes Kareena Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar and Shreyas Talpade sported identical hoodies of the same brand.

This was about on screen, off screen too its the favorite casual wear for celebs with Sanjay Dutt and Salmaan Khan often being spotted in them. Then to name others Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Rahul dev and Aryan- Srk's son have all worn it some time or the other and it has been featured in The Bombay times. The links to these picture are available at  http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=82742028124

So any ways, the scene today is - the original merchandise is rather expensive for a regular person like me and you and hence cheaper knock offs are available everywhere and this is how almost every person (mainly guys though) ,who is even the least bit fashion conscious, owns a fake or original Ed Hardy.
But my personal request now is MOVE ON! No matter how cool you think the tee makes you look, or how much you love the colors and the design.... don't be spotted with one. And if you are an absolute fan of it....please go buy an original and definitely not a tee but a jeans or shoes or a cap instead because they have beautiful designs in those ranges too. That will at least make you apart ...and that's what fashion is all about...breaking the norm right?

So until I write next.. stay stylish! Ciao! 

This post is the official entry to Star World Betty of Elle Contest- http://www.starworld.in/

I have always been inclined towards writing and being at a design college I discovered my passion for Fashion. Inevitably and thankfully I combined both. This blog came to me as my instrument to communicate. And now that I have decided to make a career out of this, it would be absolutely amazing to get to learn at the best place I can imagine - ELLE!! Being there as an intern will let me use all my creative talents and take me one step closer to the fashion world which excites me and fascinates me to no end. I really can't wait to be working hard for what i love and to be surrounded by the inspiring Elle team.