How Che became a fashion statement
"Che Guevara has become a brand. And the brand's logo is the image, which represents change. It has becomes the icon of the outside thinker, at whatever level - whether it is anti-war, pro-green or anti-globalisation," she says.
Outside thinker?! The man who fought to establish the ultimate Establishment, which is well on its way to being established?
As time went on, the meaning and the man represented by the image became separated in the western context, Ms Ziff explains.It began to be used as a decoration for products from tissues to underwear. Unilever even brought out a Che version of the Magnum ice cream in Australia - flavoured with cherry and guava.
And people are out there worrying about Indian blankets with swastikas on them?
Actually, this is a fascinating story, naming all the people who were responsible for creating the Che Brand: Alberto Korda (the original photographer), Jim Fitzpatrick (who turned it into a graphic), and even Jean-Paul Sartre (who may have given the photo to Dutch anarchists.) But what's missing...perhaps too hot for the Beeb...is a real examination of how the face of a political terrorist became acceptable causal wear, and what that means for us as a society.
UPDATE 10/10 - Capitalist exploitation of Che might be acceptable, but the Guevara family draws the line at Islamist exploitation.
UPDATE 10/16 - And Humberto Fontova (the one-man anti-Che lobby) tells the story about the guy who should have been on all those Che shirts.
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