Hasta La Ideas

Save Japan! t-shirts featuring the work of Karl Lagerfeld and Lady Gaga go on sale June 25 at Uniqlo stores worldwide. (All photos: Kazuo Shimamoto)

As many a PBS pledge drive has taught us, it’s easier to persuade people to donate to charitable causes when t-shirts and tote bags are involved. The Save Japan! Project set out to boost the covetability quotient of its philanthropic merch by asking celebrities such as Karl Lagerfeld, Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Lanvin artistic director Alber Elbaz to contribute sketches and personal notes of support to feature on a line of ten t-shirts that will benefit the Japanese Red Cross to aid recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Save Japan!, created only hours after the quake, has recruited volunteers from the fashion industry and partnered with Vogue Japan and GQ Japan to promote the “Fashion Unites for Japan” t-shirts, which will hit Uniqlo stores worldwide on June 25. Sales of the limited-edition shirts, to be priced at $19.90 each in U.S. stores, are expected to raise approximately 100 million yen ($1.2 million). Here’s a sneak peek at some of the designs, including Gaga’s collage of messages written on her bag by fans during a visit to Japan last year, love (and hope and courage) from Lagerfeld, and our pick of the bunch: Victoria Beckham‘s zen red circle, inside which she sends love and hope in understated sans-serif caps.

Save Japan! t-shirts featuring the work of Victoria Beckham and Elber Albaz.
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