Apropos of nothing in particular, I present sharks, nature’s preeminent aquatic eating machine! No, not really; this is just a gallery of killer, shark-themed tees for those too freaked to venture from their land-locked perch. Popular misconceptions aside, sharks are fascinating creatures that, despite years of scientific research, remain largely mysterious and out-of-sight. Dating millions of years into the ocean’s primordial past, they have adapted remarkably well to changes in ecosystem and diet. For these reasons and more, they remain a go-to design motif/phenomenon/zeitgeist/catch-all for dozens of graphic artists and assorted tee companies. With this in mind, here are some of my faves, shirts, that to bastardize the quip, have jumped the snark (d’oh, that was clumsy).

One last FYI: click on the pics to link through…

1. I’ve always thought this was a stunning, blinged-out design. Pair with some gaudy shades for the complete look.

2. A clever template here, transferring a shark’s dominant facial structure to tee form.

3. At the billiards table, you either hustle or you get hustled. The Vince tee, as worn by Tom Cruise in The Color of Money, will mark you as a winning, charismatic pool shark.

4. No list of Shark shirts would be complete without at least one Jaws-inspired top.

The clip in question:

5. Likewise, no list of shark tees would be complete without a Jaws spoof. Hence, this example which riffs on that film’s iconic poster art with a little role reversal. Fish out of water, or something like that…

6. Maybe the most famous design of them all, the so-called Shark Cat top. You will, no doubt, recognize this shirt from the hilarious stoner comedy, Pineapple Express. I imagine we’ll get around to repro’ing this one someday…

From the source material:

7. Here again is a movie reference, this time from the Austin Powers franchise. Nature’s killing machine, only enhanced with freaking lasers! Shark 2.0!

Again, a vid from the source material:

Had I known about this shirt earlier, I would have included it on my list of laser tees…

8. I’m a sucker for clever slogan tees; to wit, this example which plays on the popularity of the Learning Channel’s annual Shark Week campaign.

9. If only it was that simple.

10. Gifted to me by a friend who traveled to Australia (shark central), this is one of my favorite shirts.

Leftover chum:

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 10:54 am by Macho Slut and is filed under Animals, Are You Tech Savvy? (I'm Not), Blinded By The Light, Cotton Candy, Found Item Clothing, Inc., Nerdy Pastimes, Pop Culture, Problems (Everybody Has At Least One), T-Shirt Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.