Vintage Mao Zedong 90s

This vintage T-shirt featuring Mao Zedong is a cultural artifact from the 1990s that reflects a complex and often contradictory Western fascination with Chinese communist iconography. The front of the shirt displays a stylized, propaganda-style image of Mao, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, with the text “大海航行靠舵手” (Dàhǎi hángxíng kào duòshǒu), a famous slogan that translates to “Sailing the seas depends on the helmsman,” a direct reference to Mao’s leadership. The back features a calligraphy-style slogan, though the text is partially obscured. These shirts were part of a broader trend in Western fashion that re-appropriated political and historical imagery, often without a deep understanding of its original context. While the original propaganda posters were meant to inspire loyalty and revolution in China, in the West, they were often adopted as a form of edgy, counter-cultural fashion, making this T-shirt a unique and provocative piece of late 20th-century pop culture.

Size 76x61cm
Condition 9/10 (Stains)