Day 135

Day 135 of my THREEHUNDREDANDSIXTEEFIVE challenge has me inside this Realm T-shirt, purchased from a TKMaxx store several years ago. The theory goes that TKMaxx is the Purgatory of clothing – garments wind up here if they don’t quite justify their original retail price tags, but aren’t so bad that they belong on a Guy Fawkes dummy. Essentially they’re all quality items, but with a slight quirk or defect that has them shunned from the limelight. I believe this Realm number didn’t quite make the cut as a portion of the elaborate print has perished around the neckline – a minor discrepancy but seemingly enough to deny its entry into the high-end surf-wear outlets.

There are two prints in play on this tee; a pale blue one and a dark blue one, both intertwined from top to bottom spanning the entire canvas. They each simply spell “The Realm” in an exaggerated cursive font, littered with flourishes and splash effects and then magnified to fill the space.

I very much like this tee; it’s a good colour and the design is exactly the level of ‘messed up’ that I wish to portray to onlookers. I’m lucky to have found this overlooked gem hidden in the bowels of TKMaxx’s rails of doom and plucked it from the edge of the slop-bucket precipice. Had I have not, this tee would most likely be washing windows right now, or securing an oil leak, or acting as a drip tray at the mercy of a careless painter and decorator.

Don’t worry little Realm T-shirt, Andi has accepted you.