You Can Lead A Horse To Oil...

Enclothe, one of my favorite independent shirt shops, has a pretty swank moving sale going on right now: buy any two shirts, get 30% off your entire order. I have no clue how long the sale lasts, but it's pretty well noted at their site at the moment, so it's definitely worth checking out. It shouldn't be hard to find two or more shirts worth rocking, either... they don't have a huge collection, but what they do have is incredibly solid, reasonably diverse, and very worth browsing.

Without a doubt, the best value for my money in Enclothe-land is the brilliant Horsebot. Its current rendition is selling down to the wire (Men's S & XL are all that are left, last I checked, as well as most smaller women's sizes), but it is definitely a shirt worth keeping tabs on if you can't snag it now (write to Enclothe if you want, even... they'll be more apt to reprint if they see demand). Like most of the shirts at Enclothe, it's designed by Derek M., the shop's mastermind, and while the storefront does boast other designers, it's clear Derek's aesthetic runs through all of the work. And that, gentle readers, is part of why Enclothe kicks all sorts of ass... it's got a founder with a style so solid, it doesn't really NEED to bring in outside work. Which I suppose should bring me back to the point of the blog: Horsebot kicking ass.

I really should be able to leave it at that. I mean, look at it! Your ass must be sore already! And I say, why wouldn't it be? The image is powerful and iconic, straddling the line of military and mythic. The colors are bold, popping off not only the black silhouettes they sit on, but against each other as well. The general silhouette idea is a solid one, also... it gives a rough exterior to the precise linework. Those lines, though, are precisely what sells the design for me. The robotics below the skin of the rider, blowing his war trumpet as his steel-skeletoned mount charges on... I won't lie, I can't escape a hint of He-Man in the idea of a robotic horse, but there's no nostalgia in my appreciation. This is a dark design, not a reminiscent one. It's almost likening this technology, this hybrid animal as a harbinger of the end times (and indeed, it's writeup at Enclothe doesn't dissuade one from that opinion). It's a serious shirt, and one of the most striking I've seen in my travels... I knew I had to have one the second I lay eyes on it. Allow me to pass that desire on to you.