The once-kitsch now-cool slogan is having new life breathed into it courtesy of nascent designer Patrick McDowell.
Everybody remembers the first time they saw a sign saying ‘Live, Laugh, Love’. Mine was in a café – an ominous piece of decorated driftwood hung from a wall declaring the three core tenets of a life well-lived.
In the years since, it’s become synonymous with, well, all things ever-so-slightly naff and uncool. Until now, that is, thanks to Liverpool-born, London-based designer Patrick McDowell.
“A lot of my work is about looking at my past and reimagining it into a more fashionable future,” McDowell tells Stylist. “It’s essentially about taking things that are classically heterosexual and ‘queering’ them. It’s important as queer people that we are able to reflect on the often-confusing world of heteronormativity and redefine it.”
Credit: Getty Images
The result is the reclaiming of ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ in an 18-piece collaboration with Hit and Run, a zero-waste platform established by Mickey Ellis to enable and promote designers, artists and causes. Classic black T-shirts, sweatshirts and tank tops are emblazoned with the phrase, while others read ‘Gay Sex In Church’, another nod to McDowell’s challenge of heteronormativity.
McDowell, a graduate of Central Saint Martins’ feted fashion course, chose to collaborate with Hit and Run because it’s “championing slogan T-shirts for the 21st century, which is giving a voice to people during turbulent times”.
Credit: Hit&Run
McDowell’s graduate collection, which he debuted in 2018, established him as a true fashion forward-thinker. It was made from old Swarovski crystals and Burberry fabric donated by Christopher Bailey and preceded a nomination from Anna Wintour for the Stella McCartney Today for Tomorrow Award. In the years since, McDowell’s combination of tongue-in-cheek irony and conscious practices has cemented his growing status within the industry.
As for what fans of his modern take on ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ can expect next, McDowell remains schtum. “I’m working on a show for London Fashion Week, and all I’ll say is: ‘Let them eat cake.’”
Shop Patrick McDowell x Hit and Run here. Prices start from £35.
Images: Getty; Hit and Run
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