Garms.

Whilst surfing the vast World Wide Web in an effort to expand my wardrobe this summer, I came across something I wasn’t quite expecting. My brain was engaged with the thought of looking fresh on campus, searching the most exclusive brand aware websites known to man, which i had obtained knowledge of through the close-knit fashion community that of course I am far from being part of, i stumbled upon this. . .

http://www.ashopcalledwood.com/product/mhi_by_maharishi_clothing_mhi_greco_roman_t-shirt_in_white/

They also have it in a hoodie

http://www.ashopcalledwood.com/product/mhi_by_maharishi_clothing_mhi_greco_roman_hoodie/

Now, I am studying Classics at university, and whilst looking for clothes on the internet, that part of my brain could not have been further away . So I was slightly dumbstuck, staring at the screen, because I simply don’t associate my potential fashion purchases and my educational interest. I keep them firmly separated, like chalk and cheese, fashion can be defined as a la mode, and classics is . . . . not, it’s not of the moment, its ancient! Modern clothing brings to my mind, consumerism and vanity, and I think of classical images as far from that. This was the paradox I found myself in, but once I had got over this initial mind glitch, I then looked at the price and not quite knowing whether I wanted it because of my interest in fashion or classics, I copped it.

I got the shirt in black, because I thought the Corinthian helmet stands out more and makes for a better image. I think another reason why I bought this shirt is because I also remember buying a similar t-shirt that had a profile of a Corinthian helmet, with the by line of “Trojan”

This is the logo for the reggae/rock steady record label “Trojan”. This record label was founded in 1967 and surprise surprise has absolutely no classical affiliation whatsoever, the name was used after the trucks that delivered the actual records themselves around Jamaica. Regardless of how it came about, I really like the strong image, and what it represents. This shirt along with the other I had bought, I started to think what was it that appealed to me so much? I think on a purely aesthetic level they are both striking shirts especially the MHI one, but I think that my classical learning also played a massive part in why it appealed to me so much.

For me the Corinthian helmet featuring on the MHI shirt is a symbol of the hoplite (I have some photos of my previous Blog of Corinthian helmets from the British museum). The emergence of the hoplite class during the classical era in Greece is something that I find fascinating. It was an instance in history where a chain of events led to a radical change in society. A significant point in this progression of this society was the reforms of Solon. In the Archaic age battle was what you could call “Homeric”, as in it was dictated by wealthy land owners, ordering serfs to their likely death, fighting was for their personal gain, either for glory, land or possessions.

The aristocratic families could do this because of the wealth divide. A flash of brilliance came in the form of Solon, (638 BC–558 BC) he was instated democratically as lawmaker in Athens. He shook up the class divide by instating a class system based on income. What this gave rise to was a strengthening middle class, who owned their own land, and could afford things like their own armour and a hoplon (a massive spear). It was therefore in their interest to protect their land, if their city was threatened. Now, this shifted the dynamic of warfare dramatically, defence of the city now was planned, not just everyman for themselves, no caveman-like stone throwing here.

This played off the ever-increasingly popular democratic state. Hand in hand these two new ideas strengthened. So war was now political, not just men trying to reach Achilles like status, protocol in battle emerged such as limitations being placed on technology, formal declaration of war, post-mortem accord, fighting during the summer and daylight hours, cessation of killing, and shock collision of phalanxes. So all of these protocols combined meant that it was agreed that both forces should be of equal size and simply go toe to toe, rather spear tip to spear tip, no arrows or cavalry, just brute strength pitted against brute strength. It’s an extremely sophisticated and just form of warfare. So this is why I find the hoplite such an inspirational figure, a strong male with a civic duty.

With this notion I thought deeper, and further deconstructed the appeal of the T-shirt, bear in mind that I am fully aware that I am bordering on complete pretentiousness, but I do think that it could subliminally appeal to me because it stands for what I want to stand for. You know, the traits of the hoplite, duty, strength, fairness, wealth? Why wouldn’t I? I think that other people who have the same knowledge of the Hoplite would agree that this is a fair shout. You could further the argument that this shirt would especially appeal to the insecure male of today’s society, where the role of the almighty male is not as important as it was, and where advertising targets these insecurities. Perhaps I should go out there with a crate full of these shirts, and flog them to men who want to show off the Alpha male inside, by wearing it outside. The helmet is after all a phallic symbol, what better way than to wear it on your chest? This shirt could be an aegis for your insecurities! There you go there’s my advertising by-line. I’ve got it made in the shade.

The tags on the shirt also include the words “deus ex machina” which means “god from the machine” which is the name for a tragic device used in Greek theatre; it marks the intervention of a god in the play. As part of my advertising campaign I would run with “this piece of clothing is an intervention from the gods to make your life better!”

Another detail on the shirt that is humorous, is the application of the Greek alphabet letters to represent modern alphabet phonemes, to phonetically spell out “MHI”. Of course staying true to the Greek it says something completely incomprehensible. . . . . or maybe it’s a hidden message!? Ahhhh ignore this whole blog, that’s why I bought the shirt, because of the subliminal message in “EMMAICHAI” not all that pretentious breeze I was harping on about.