As a teenager, N.C. State University grad Shequeta Smith loved making her own T-shirts with iron-on letters and prints.
Years later, she's taking that experience to a higher level with her T-shirt line, Off My Chest Tees (www.offmychesttees.com). The line features shirts for men, women and children with cheeky logos referencing pop culture and politics.
"Doing a line of tees has been something that I've wanted to do since I was in high school," Smith says. "I had this really cool name for the line picked out, and all these ideas for neat shirts I was going to create. It remained a dream deferred until several months ago when I mentioned it to a friend, telling her that it was something I had yet to do. A few weeks later, I woke up one morning and it was all I could think about. I started doing research that day and never stopped."
Smith creates the T-shirt designs, and then works with a graphic artist to transfer her sketches to digital images, which are printed on soft cotton tees. The designs include riffs on the health-care debate "death panels" and the plastic surgery craze.
"I chose these subjects because they are things that everyone has some type of interaction with on a daily basis in this era of blogs, 24-hour news, and all of the exciting things going on in Washington," she says.
Smith opened an online shop this month, and she's creating limited-edition designs. The shirts have been a hit, with orders from a range of customers.
"Initially they seemed to appeal to the college crowd, but I'm not so convinced that they're the main audience for this line," Smith says. "I say this because a few weeks ago, we did a photo shoot in a subway terminal and folks from all walks of life kept approaching us about the tees, and commenting on how much they liked them. After that, I stopped focusing so much on targeting a certain age group and started working from the standpoint that if it's a good-quality tee, with a good message, everybody will want to wear it."
In this week's trunk ...
There are few things more frustrating than falling in love with a dress, only to realize it's not available in the size or color you want. That's not a problem with Chloe & Reese dresses. The line allows women to customize the size, color and style of their flirty party dresses and casual frocks to create their own looks. Fleur boutique in Raleigh's North Hills will hold a Chloe & Reese trunk show today through Saturday. Shoppers can see the label's latest styles and order customized looks.
Fleur is at 4321-115 Lassiter at North Hills, Raleigh. 571-6203, fleur-boutique.com, www.chloeandreese.com.
In all your glory
Step inside many Southern churches, and you'll swear you've walked into a milliner's fantasy - row after row of church ladies, wearing beautiful, ornate hats. The YWCA of the Greater Triangle celebrates that Sunday fashion tradition with its annual Crowns of Glory Fashion Show, 10 a.m.-noon Friday.
Seniors in the YWCA Golden Oaks seniors program will model swanky church attire and hats while jazz musicians provide live music. If you've got a hat you want to show, you can sign up. The deadline is Thursday.
The show will be held at the YWCA, 554 E. Hargett St., Raleigh. www.ywcatriangle.org.
Clean sweep sale
ReTails Thrift Shop, a Raleigh resale shop benefiting the nonprofit AnimalKind, will hold a 50 percent off storewide sale Sunday. Shoppers can save on clothing, housewares and electronics while helping the group, which assists low-income pet owners in getting their pets spayed or neutered.
ReTails is at 1608 N. Market Drive, Raleigh. 872-0019, www.animalkind.org.
