Puerto Vallarta.

Size: M?
Where: Puerto Vallarta, I guess?



Why: There is no why.

Comment: Mystery Shirt Week continues with this cute shirt from Puerto Vallarta.

Pureto Vallarta. Just like the shirt that started this whole "mystery shirt" kick.

Is it possible that I actually was in Puerto Vallarta at some point, and simply forgot? I wonder. You know, all my life my parents told me that when I was little we took a big family trip to the Grand Canyon, and I was just too young to remember. All my life I believed that when I was little we took a big family trip to the Grand Canyon, and I was just too young to remember. Until one day it suddenly occured to me.

If we really had taken a big family trip to the Grand Canyon, you'd think we would have taken even a single photograph of it.

Mystery shirt (2).

Size: M
Where: Evidently, it originated from an Abercrombie store somewhere.



Why: Nobody will ever know.

Comment: Are we bored with Mystery Shirt Week yet?

Unlike yesterday's shirt, this one actually is in bad enough shape to make me think that maybe I did pick it out of the laundry room trash (ha ha, not really). It's all stretched out and thin and has a bunch of tiny, ratty holes in it. So the question is not so much where did I get it, but why do I keep it?

Nothing to do with this shirt, but there's an Abercrombie store near my work that last summer took down all their signage and shuttered all their windows...yet the store was clearly still in operation, almost visible waves of cologne and air conditioning pulsing down the street whenever the door opened and shut, people going in and out and buying their short shirts and skinny jeans and...geez, what else do they sell there, lanyard ankle bracelets? I still don't know what the deal with that is, and last time I walked by (shortly before Christmas) all the signs were still down, windows still shuttered, business as brisk as ever.

Now there's a mystery.

Plain blue t-shirt.

Size: M?
Where: No idea.

Why: Not a clue.

Comment: Mystery Shirt Week continues with this plain blue t-shirt.

It's in pretty good shape, so I know I didn't just pick it out of the laundry room trash (not that I'd do that, anyway), and I may have even gotten it fairly recently.

Where did it come from? Why do I have it? When will I wear it next?

The answers to these questions and more, unknowable. It's a mystery.

Just a plain, blue t-shirt. Nothing to say. Move along.

Mystery shirt (1).

Size: S?
Where: Not a clue.



Why: No idea.

Comment: A couple weeks ago I posted about this shirt, which I had no idea from where I got it. And that got me thinking, you know, for all the shirts that I have, I'm sure there are at least a couple whose origins are a complete mystery to me, that have no stories attached to them (at least, none that I can remember). And so, after a fun afternoon digging deep in the back of my closet, I present to you: Mystery Shirt Week!

(it's actually just going to be a few days. as much as I'd imagined that there'd be a ton "mystery shirts", there only wound up being like three or four of them.)

So first up we have this grey long-sleeved number. I really do wonder where it came from. Did someone give it to me? Did someone leave it at my house? Looking at it and feeling it, you can tell that it's not new (unless it was purposely made with that faux-vintagey, "refugee shirt"-type feel). The shirt itself offers few clues: the label simply reads "anr" (is that a brand?), and is size S, which I'm pretty sure I'd never, ever buy for myself (much less so far back enough in time that I wouldn't remember getting it). I find the two-toned sleeves interesting, as it's sort of a one-stop for that long-sleeve-shirt-under-short-sleeve-shirt-over-long-sleeve-shirt look.

The shirt is also very soft and feels a little thin, but again it could be just because (I'm guessing) it's so old.

So...where could this shirt have possibly come from? Anyone care to speculate?

Johnny Hi-Fi.

Size: L
Where: cafepress, via Johnny Hi-Fi site.



Why: I like the band.

Comment: Johnny Hi-Fi, to my knowledge, began life in Austin, TX under the name Megalo. Then singer Eric Hsu relocated to Brooklyn and has been putting out awesome music under the name Johnny Hi-Fi ever since. Their album "Vicious Cycle of Promises & Apologies" (which you can download here) was one of my very favorites of last year.