Ichigo Tee

An ichigo tee where a parfait meets a hard checkerboard

A pink-haired girl holding a tall strawberry parfait, ICHIGO stacked vertically in outlined type with LOVE beneath, a black and white checkerboard filling the right side of the panel. The ichigo tee is the most graphic piece in the kawaii run, and the checkerboard is doing most of the work.

Ichigo means strawberry, and the fruit occupies a strange place in Japan. It is grown to a standard that has no equivalent elsewhere — individually wrapped, sold in single-fruit boxes, given as a formal gift — and it appears in dessert culture as a marker of care rather than of flavour. A parfait built around it is not a snack; it is an occasion, which is exactly the register kawaii illustration works in.

The checkerboard is the counterweight. That pattern entered Harajuku through skate culture and ska in the eighties and stayed because it is the one high-contrast motif that survives being mixed with anything. Contrast in one place lets everything else be soft. Take it away and this design loses its spine, dissolving into pastel.

It comes in black, apricot, slate and piggy pink. Black lets the checkerboard run off the edge of the panel into the base, which is the strongest reading. Apricot warms the creams and softens the contrast. Slate cools it toward something more restrained, and piggy pink is the full kawaii version where only the checks hold the line.

Cut from 240 gsm cotton. Hard-edged black and white patterns are the most demanding thing you can print on fabric — any stretch in the base shows up immediately as a wobble in what should be a straight edge, and the eye finds it faster than any other flaw.

The fit is oversized from the pattern stage, with a dropped shoulder and a crew neck. Take your usual size for the intended drop, or size down for a closer cut. Checkered socks if you want to answer the graphic, plain ones if you would rather let it lead.

• Type: Oversized graphic tee
• Material: Heavyweight cotton, around 240 gsm
• Print: Back print — girl with strawberry parfait and checkerboard, 'ICHIGO LOVE'
• Fit: Oversized, drop shoulder, crew neck, short sleeves
• Sizing: True to size for an oversized look — size down for a closer fit
• Colours: Black, apricot, slate, piggy pink
• Wear it with: Checkered socks, a chunky sole