I bought an I ♥ NY shirt on an 8th grade class trip to NYC. We went to the top of the Empire State Building and I bought it in the gift shop. It was a child’s large and it basically fit me like the baby doll tees that were trendy at this time in 2000 (Class of 2000 4 Eva!). I took that shirt back to San Francisco and wore the shit out of it. I started crushing on NYC on that school trip. Wearing my I HEART NY shirt was basically the equivalent of writing my crush’s name all over my notebooks. It was retro and classic and I thought it went with everything.
That summer I went to my first concert (Blink 182 Roxx!). I freaked out before that I had nothing to wear to my first concert! It was right around my birthday so my aunt generously took me to American Eagle, her son’s favorite store, to find something to wear. I tried on maybe two things before declaring everything in the store too fucking preppy! I’d wear my trusty I♥NY instead. Yes, I was a 14 year-old girl whose aunt offered to buy her any outfit at American Eagle, and I turned it all down for a souvenir t-shirt. Hella punk rock, right?
I wore that shirt until the red heart turned a horrendous shade of mauve and the pit stains were more out of control than the mosh pit of a Blink 182 concert at the beginning of the millennium. It would have been very easy to buy a replacement as my family visited NYC most ever summer. But it wouldn’t have come from the gift shop from the Empire State Building… I never bought another I HEART NY shirt.
Until last week.
Pretty much exactly 18 years after my original purchase.
It suits me, don’t you think?
Have you ever bought an I HEART NY shirt? What did you wear to your first concert? Where you as punk rock as me at age 14 (LOL)?
*photo credit: Peter DeGiglio Photography
Yes, I bought a sweatshirt with I heart NY one of the times I was there visiting. I loved that sweatshirt because it was so comfortable! I may have to buy a new one when I am there in June!! I probably wore a dress to my first concert in the 70’s. It was long before I had even dreamed of going to NY.
I’ve never bought an I heart NY T-shirt, but I do admire them. I think you should know a little of the history behind the design. It was created by the legendary New York designer Milton Glaser, still working at age 89. In the late ’70s, New York was going through very rough times. The state wanted a way to help people reconnect with the city. Glaser did the iconic design for free. https://www.logoworks.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-the-i-love-new-york-logo/
I may not have been as punk rock as you 😉 but…
My sister graduated the same year as you, went to a Blink 182 concert in high school (same tour?), and worked for Milton Glaser during part of the time she lived in New York.