To celebrate 25 years of YMC, the brand's creator, Fraser Moss, has teamed up with the Museum of Youth Culture to create an exclusive collection of archive print T-shirts.
Designed on YMC's Triple T, crafted from a soft slub organic cotton jersey, the tees are a relaxed, oversized fit that will suit anyone – you just need to pick your favourite genre.
The Indie Print
This broad church that encompasses many sounds and scenes had its beginnings in the C86 movement, this was named after the NME cassette from 1986 which compiled U.K. bands on independent labels including The Pastels, Primal Scream, and The Wedding Present to name a few.
Up until this point, alternative music had either been pigeonholed as Post Punk or New Wave. By the late '80s Indie had spawned the Shoegazing & Madchester scenes, which led to Britpop in the early '90s – this scene probably single-handedly created more Indie landfill than any other.
Photographer Brian Sweeney said:
“[This was] taken at an after show party at GoNorth festival in Aberdeen some time early 2000s – proper last man/woman standing time of night, and there were a few kids in the corner just having a really nice time. One of those shots from a time long by when people showed off for the camera, never got her name as she was too busy enjoying herself for conversation!”
The Toasting Print
The British have always had an affinity with Jamaican music. Reggae first appeared in the tune “Do the Reggay” by Toots and the Maytals in '68. These 45s were played on Sound systems which had originated in '50s Jamaica but by the '60s had migrated to the UK. An early pioneer, Lloyd Coxsone took reggae to the masses by taking his Sir Coxsone Sound System on the road – this helped cement the UK scene, and by 1974 sound systems were introduced to Notting Hill Carnival... and the rest is history.
Photographer Peter Anderson said:
"I went to Notting Hill Carnival in 1983 to take some photographs for NME. I was very quickly distracted from the processions by all the Sound Systems, MCs, and DJs playing the Dance Hall music of the day. I loved it. So this is where I made the photograph.”
The Rave Print
The evergreen scene with its roots in US acid house of the mid '80s and club nights on the Balearic Island of Ibiza. It first hit the shores of the UK in the late '80s and was catch-phrased the second summer of love. It spread like wildfire creating raves of such magnitude that the government deemed them a danger to '90s society and made them illegal. To this day the argument continues: did it start in London or Manchester? Was it Shoom or the Hacienda? All I know is “Everything starts with an E”.
Photographer Peter J Walsh said: “The photo of ravers was taken at the DJ Dave Haslam’s legendary ‘Freedom’ Saturday night at The Boardwalk, Manchester along with resident DJ Tin Tin. The Face named it one of the most important club nights in the country and it ran for over five years.
"Dave had asked me to come and photograph the night and to put on an exhibition of the photos in the club in the following months. Freedom was a great night, everyone was really friendly and happy and the music that Dave and Tin Tin played was really pumping on the night I was there. When shooting clubs, as well as the wide shots of the club itself, I liked to get right into the crowd on the dance floor and experience the night that the ravers were having...
"I shot seven rolls of film that night and I got some amazing photographs of an original acid house night in the heart of Manchester. The exhibition at the boardwalk was a great success, and it's great now to look back at the photos and remember Freedom was a fantastic Manchester club night.”
Which will you choose? Shop the YMC x Museum of Youth Culture collection here.