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About a week or so ago, driven out of the Compound by heat and by a case of the stir-crazies, the eCool team did some prowling around the Oviesse store on Viale Trastevere.  On this particular field trip, team members were armed with cameras and were assigned the task of photographing their favorite wacky t-shirt.  As it turns out, that was the perfect time to hit the store: the back-to-school fashions were just in and there was an almost endless supply of fashion entertainment.

We’ve already shared one of our favorites with you: it was the “I Look Forward to Meeting You” shirt (available only in women’s sizes) that we blogged about last week.  Now, we offer up a few others–these mainly available for children (or small adults) only.

First up is the grey t-shirt seen above on the left.  It’s got a groovy all-caps font that’s outlined in brown and green and reads, “Indie Rockcity in the Middle of Nowhere.”  Oh, and there are images of cassette tapes as well.  We’ve spent some time trying to figure out exactly which city they might be describing.  We feel like we’ve been there, but no one on the eCool team can recall the name of that nowhere urban locale.

Things get a bit more academic with our next two selections.  Above, right, is a pink shirt (it comes in other colors and in sleeved and sleeveless versions) sporting a huge “D and P” in athletic lettering.   As “D and P” is not the most easily recognizable abbreviation, the designers also inscribed the full phrase to which those large letters refer: “Discipline and Perseverance.”  We love this shirt for several reasons: 1) “Discipline and Perseverance” is such an inspirational motto.  We think it would be great to walk around with that emblazoned on our chests.  Each time during the day that we felt discouraged or lazy, we could simply look in the mirror and be reminded of the virtues necessary for success.  Not every t-shirt does that kind of work for you.  2) It’s so very Foucault.  Every time we look at that shirt (and, believe me, we’ve made many trips back to Oviesse to admire that baby), we think “Discipline and Punish.”  We’re not sure that “Discipline and Perseverance” are so very far removed from “Discipline and Punish” and we wonder if the t-shirt designer was doing some heavy reading when he or she came up with this little gem.  (Oh yeah, by the way, we’re buying everyone on the eCool team a “D and P” shirt.  So, if you should see a gaggle of grown people squeezed into children’s t-shirts and walking about the streets of Rome, then you’ve just had an eCool sighting.)

The other shirt perfect for the child-size academic is seen above and on the right.  It’s a purple number with a San Francisco seal at the center, around which is written “Scrawling Poets.”  Oh man do we dig this!  We went so far as to purchase a couple of these, squeeze ourselves into them, and pay a visit to Keats’ and Shelley’s burials in the Protestant Cemetery to see if the earth would shake when they rolled over in the graves.

This is not just about informal day wear, however.  Oviesse’s back-to-school displays currently feature some outfits that are perfect for a pre-teen night out on the town.  Who wouldn’t be proud to see their 12-year-old daughter slip into a slinky yellow dress (above, left) with a sexy blond model on it, around which are emblazoned the words, “Old Flavor New Emotions” and “Hola Guys, Your Pin-Up Side”?  This is the stuff that parents HOPE their children will want to wear – we’re sure of it.