![]() ![]() Die-hard Yeezy fans quickly pointed to the Donda West crewneck sweater he has been spotted wearing since 2015 (most famously in Vic Mensa’s “U Mad” music video) as the inspiration. When Kanye West hit Madison Square Garden with his extravagant fashion show meets TLOP listening party back in February, the performer debuted a range of concert merchandise adorned with his newest lyrics – each phrase carefully set in a bold blackletter font. “You were only allowed to wear something like that if you were affiliated, and if you weren't, you were getting jammed up.” “Growing up in Venice in the 80s and 90s, I always saw gentlemen in my neighborhood wearing t-shirts and crewnecks with that font,” he added. “Those letters and that traditional layout are a part of my culture as a gang member,” Spanto explained to Dazed. The duo behind the brand, Spanto and 2tone, channeled the frustration and anger they felt from the gentrification overtaking their hometown into a debut collection with no shortage of the Old English font and its links to LA gang culture. Before Vetements or Pablo, pioneers like New York’s SSUR (founded back in 1990) as well as newer brands like Been Trill have been using the letter style – even A$AP Mob made use of the font for their debut collection of namesake merch in 2013.īorn x Raised is a Los Angeles streetwear label that has embraced a variant of blackletter since day one. It’s long been found in gothic subculture ( featuring in the pages of 80s and 90s goth bible Propaganda, for instance) and has been a frequently used motif in the world of streetwear for years. The letters may be sweeping through mainstream men’s and women’s fashion right now, but the style is nothing new. The bold and medievalesque style, sometimes referred to as gothic or Old English, has quickly risen to the go-to typeface choice for designers and labels alike this year – just look at Gucci’s SS16 menswear show, where it popped up on a hoodie. Most of the time when you are going for a font you want one that people can read at a glance without having to crack a code to get your meaning.Whether you blame Kanye West and his Life of Pablo merch or Vetements and their longer-than-longsleeve t-shirts, one thing is certain: blackletter fonts are everywhere right now. I think they are OK, although not ideal, as a title font, but too much lettering in this kind of font can really be too difficult. I always find Gothic fonts a little bit too fancy for me, and they are difficult to read without really studying them to see what they mean. I don't think I'd use them for anything other than titles either, but it can be quite versatile and I think people should always experiment a little bit with fonts when they are preparing something, since you never know when something unexpected might work with the piece. I never really thought about the fact that they were sans serif either, until recently, because some of the classic gothic fonts have quite a few frills on them, but if you look up a plain one, it is quite square. ![]() As it says in the article, the term "gothic lettering" actually covers quite a range of fonts. ![]() I've used gothic fonts a few times, but I try to make sure that they are absolutely free to use (since I can't afford to buy the rights) before I do anything with my work. I found one of my friend's fonts on a website stating that it was public domain when it actually wasn't. There are quite a few really nice websites with free fonts on them, but you have to be a bit cautious about them as well. ![]()
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