As part of its spring 2018 comic books-inspired collection, Prada has dropped an Angela Davis t-shirt featuring a graphic designed by Trina Robbins, the first woman to draw Wonder Woman for DC Comics.
The collection also includes additional illustrations by an all female stable made up of Joëlle Jones, Fiona Staples, Emma Rios, Stellar Leuna, Giuliana Maldini, Natsume Ono, Brigid Elva and Tarpé Mills.
In an interview with Dazed, Robbins explained the origin of the Davis illustration, “It was lovely for [Miuccia Prada] to use the Angela Davis one. In the original context, I had that made for the back cover of the very first all-female comic book, called “It Ain’t Me Babe,” [which] came out of Berkeley in 1970.
“The idea was you’d put this in your window to announce that if Angela Davis just happened to be passing by on the lam from the FBI she could knock on your door and you could give her refuge. Terribly romantic notion! I mean, I absolutely idolized Angela Davis. Running from the FBI, my God! She was such a comic-book character.”
More recently, the Davis poster was used in an Andrea Bowers installations.
At the age of 79, Davis remains healthy and active and was an honorary co-chair for the 2017 Women’s March on Washington. Davis hasn’t commented on the Prada t-shirt, but she did speak about use of her likeness in 2010, telling Jezebel about an exchange she once had with a woman wearing a t-shirt with her face on it, saying, “But that made me recognize that people bring their own interpretations to it. And that image is an image not so much of me as an individual as it is an image of an era during which millions of people came together, all over the world, and demanded my freedom.
“I can’t stop it. So, why not see what might be a possible productive and positive interpretation.”
The Angela Davis t-shirt is priced at $500 and is now available at matches.com.
