Che Guevara in fashion

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A Che jacket being worn at a Bush inauguration protest in 2005 Che clothing cropped.png
A Che jacket being worn at a Bush inauguration protest in 2005

The Che Guevara trend, or "Che chic", [1] is a fashion trend featuring the Argentine-born revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The phenomenon has attracted attention from the media, political commentators, songwriters, [2] and Cuban American activists due to the popularity of the T-shirt design, Che's political beliefs, and the "irony" of buying a T-shirt depicting a Marxist icon. As op-ed commentator Chris Berg noted in The Age , "Ironically, Che Guevara's longevity as a cultural symbol has been thanks to the very economic system he sought to destroy". [1]

Contents

Popularity

Che Guevara's image is a popular design for clothing, so much so that Che's likeness has been known as "the face that launched a thousand T-shirts". [3] [4] Commentators have noted how the T-shirt is popular among younger adults, especially university students drawn to the rebelliousness associated with the icon. Richard Castle of the Brisbane Times wryly observes that "strolling down Brunswick Street or Chapel Street, it could be easy to think Che Guevara was the only man under 40 never to have worn a Che Guevara T-shirt". [5] The recent popularity of Che-related fashion has been attributed to economic troubles, which make Che's message more appealing. [6]

History

The image depicted on Che chic is based on the Guerrillero Heroico photograph. It is unknown when the photo was first used as a fashion design, [7] although it was first given an artistic rework in a series of 1967 posters by the Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick. [8]

Response

The popularity of the trend has been criticised for downplaying Che's perceived flaws and romanticising his actions. Although accounts vary, it is estimated that several hundred people were executed nationwide during his time, with Guevara's jurisdictional death total at La Cabaña ranging from 55 to 105. Critics claim that youth support the icon without being aware of the controversial figure behind it, who has been accused of using violence as a means to achieve his objectives and supposedly "driving Cuba into economic disaster" by helping to overthrow the US-backed Batista dictatorship. [1] Critics have called the trend a "T-shirt fad". [9]

Members of the Cuban exile community have voiced opposition to Che chic and other depictions of Che as a pop cultural icon for the same reasons. [10]

Aleida Guevara, the eldest daughter of Che Guevara, has defended the fashion trend derived from her father's image, saying, "But look at the people who wear Che T-shirts. They tend to be those who don't conform, who want more from society, who are wondering if they can be better human beings. That, I think, he would have liked". [3]

See also

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Appearances of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara (1928–1967) in popular culture are common throughout the world. Although during his lifetime he was a highly politicized and controversial figure, in death his stylized image has been transformed into a worldwide emblem for an array of causes, representing a complex mesh of sometimes conflicting narratives. Che Guevara's image is viewed as everything from an inspirational icon of revolution, to a retro and vintage logo. Most commonly he is represented by a facial caricature originally by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick and based on Alberto Korda's famous 1960 photograph titled Guerrillero Heroico. The evocative simulacra abbreviation of the photographic portrait allowed for easy reproduction and instant recognizability across various uses. For many around the world, Che has become a generic symbol of the underdog, the idealist, the iconoclast, or the martyr. He has become, as author Michael Casey notes in Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image, "the quintessential postmodern icon signifying anything to anyone and everything to everyone."

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Hilda Gadea Acosta was a Peruvian economist, Communist leader, and author. She was the first wife of Che Guevara.

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The legacy of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara is constantly evolving in the collective imagination. As a symbol of counterculture worldwide, Guevara is one of the most recognizable and influential revolutionary figures of the twentieth century. However, during his life, and even more since his death, Che has elicited controversy and wildly divergent opinions on his personal character and actions. He has been both revered and reviled, being characterized as everything from a heroic defender of the poor, to a cold-hearted executioner.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, author, intellectual, physician, military theorist, and guerrilla leader. His life, legacy, and ideas have attracted a great deal of interest from historians, artists, film makers, musicians, and biographers. In reference to the abundance of material, Nobel Prize–winning author Gabriel García Márquez has declared that "it would take a thousand years and a million pages to write Che's biography."

<i>Guerrillero Heroico</i> Photograph of Che Guevara

Guerrillero Heroico is an iconic photograph of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara taken by Alberto Korda. It was captured on March 5, 1960, in Havana, Cuba, at a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion. By the end of the 1960s, the image, in conjunction with Guevara's subsequent actions and eventual execution, helped solidify the leader as a cultural icon. Korda has said that at the moment he shot the picture, he was drawn to Guevara's facial expression, which showed "absolute implacability" as well as anger and pain. Years later, Korda would say that the photograph showed Che's firm and stoic character. Guevara was 31 years old at the time the photograph was taken.

Chevolution is a 2008 documentary film which examines the history and legacy of the photo Guerrillero Heroico taken by famous Cuban photographer Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez. This image has thrived for the decades since Che Guevara's death and has evolved into an iconic image, which represents a multitude of ideals. The documentary explores the story of how the photo came to be, its adoption of multiple interpretations and meanings, as well as the commercialization of the image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist chic</span> Elements of popular culture based on Communist symbols

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Berg, Chris (October 14, 2007). "Che chic: you've ignored the horrors, now buy the T-shirt". The Age . Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  2. "Richard Shindell "Che Guevara T Shirt" video". YouTube .
  3. 1 2 Chrisafis, Angelique (May 3, 2003). "Che, my father: His face adorned the T-shirts and posters of a student generation. Even 35 years after his death Che Guevara remains an icon. But to his daughter Aleida he is the mysterious visitor who gave her sweets". The Guardian . Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  4. Porter, Barney (October 8, 2007). "Che Guevara remembered". ABC News . Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  5. Castles, Richard (June 28, 2009). "Have a life, willing to buy the T-shirt". Brisbane Times . Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  6. White, Tanika (April 4, 2005). "MEAN WHAT YOU WEAR ; This year's T-shirt has something to get off its wearer's chest". The Baltimore Sun . Retrieved August 3, 2004.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. Watkins, Valentine (May 3, 2010). "Cool t-shirt, bro". Salient . Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  8. Trisha Ziff, Che Guevara: Revolutionary & Icon, Abrams Image, 2006, pg 21
  9. Bowen III, DK (October 23, 2007). "Che Guevara: once a revolutionary, now just a T-shirt fad". The Collegian . Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  10. Marquez, Myriam (April 4, 2005). "Revolutionist Che Guevara T-Shirts Keep Reality Under Wraps". Clarkson University. Archived from the original on August 11, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2010.