Last month, Dazed teamed up with cult streetwear label Farmer’s Daughter to create a new capsule collection featuring t-shirts and tote bags. (There are even a few left here). This month, we’re back at it again, partnering with London brand YMC (You Must Create) for an exclusive run of limited-edition t-shirts, inspired by the Dazed archive. 

The collection marks Dazed’s 35th and YMC’s 30th anniversaries, celebrating two brands that have rubbed shoulders since the 90s. “YMC and Dazed have always been closely connected, especially in the early days of the brand,” says YMC creative director Sage Toda-Nation. “I’ve always been inspired by the Dazed editorials from that time.”

It’s no surprise then that the inspiration for the t-shirt’s design came directly from Dazed’s pages. The July 1996 issue, to be exact, and one specific advert that featured a series of specially commissioned t-shirts, created by designers including Richard Voinnet, Christophe Lemaire and YMC. Notably, the ad included the slogan: “Dazed & Confused Stripper”, which you’ll spot printed across the collection. 

But beyond the 90s ad, the T-shirt also takes inspiration from orgies. The project’s title, the 1996 Orgy T-shirt Reissue, takes its name from a photograph by Ollie Dove (shown on the T-shirt), in which the artist has captured a group of friends in a compromising position. “I photographed this image 10 years ago,” says Dove. “I was making loose drawings of humans living all over each other, but the drawings weren’t working, so I asked my friends to reinterpret one of them for me so I could photograph it. Everyone thinks it’s an orgy! But in my head, it wasn’t sexual at all. It was about feeling completely overwhelmed by humans and the complications of being human.” 

The campaign sees our Dazed colleagues become models (oh so naturally, might we add): Alice, Luis, Maya, Rae, Percy, Precious and Sam, alongside Riley, son of Dazed’s COO, photographed by Wynston Shannon and styled by Bella Kavanagh. “We loved the collection’s play on words and felt it perfectly captured the punky, irreverent, put-your-fingers-up attitude that has defined the magazine for the past three and a half decades,” says Dazed art director Ester Mejibovski. “It felt right to bring it back.”

Dazed and YMC will launch the t-shirts during London Fashion Week, at an event at YMC’s East London store on September 20 from 5 to 7pm. The event will be hosted by YMC creative director Sage Toda-Nation, alongside Dazed editor-in-chief Ted Stansfield, art director Ester Mejibovski and artist Ollie Dove. The T-shirts will also be available to purchase via youmustcreate.com. 100 per cent of Dazed’s profits will be donated to a young designer to help fund their next collection. YMC profits will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Care, in honour of YMC’s co-founder and original creative director Fraser Moss. For your chance to attend the event, head to the Dazed Club app for more information.