In August, Joe Jonas was spotted out in New York City donning a dark blue denim jacket emblazoned with a large portrait of Sophie Turner’s Game of Thrones character, Sansa Stark. The middle Jo Bro has sartorially displayed admiration for his wife before, but the custom-made piece featuring Stark’s imposing visage took it to another level—and other celebs are following suit.
Turns out, we have Big Little Lies star Zoë Kravitz to thank for introducing us to this newest way to publicly display support for your partner. Kravitz kicked off the fun face-on-clothing trend back in July when her husband, Karl Glusman, posted a picture of the two of them in “Just Married” bombers with their mugs painted on the back.
Visual artist Samantha Urbani created the one-of-a-kind jackets for her newlywed friends, telling ELLE.com that she was “just so inspired” by their love.
“I made them really last minute [for Zoë and Karl], I bought the vintage leather as I was on my way to the airport [to their wedding] and miraculously found the right sizes,” Urbani says. “Their reaction was so priceless. Those guys love each other so much, their romance has this fateful timeless feel to it. This is the first time I’ve painted a couples’ set, and it was their relationship that inspired the idea.”
The trend isn’t limited to just denim and jackets, either. Last week, Gabrielle Union honored her husband in a fabulous RXCH gown checkered with adorable childhood photos of her husband Dwyane Wade on a red carpet for America’s Got Talent.
And at the CMT awards back in June, country singer Jessie James Decker’s husband, Eric Decker, sported a white tee-shirt with her face on it.
In March, Travis Scott sat courtside at a Houston Rockets game in a sweatshirt featuring a deadpan Kylie Jenner.
The “J Sisters” aka Sophie Turner, Priyanka Chopra, and Danielle Jones were also recently photographed in matching Jonas Brothers shirts to support their husbands.
The uptick in this kind of ultra-custom clothing, often handmade, is due, in part, to people wanting to “bring tactility back to the things we care about repping the most,” says Urbani. “In the era of social media, when we have a constant wash of selfies, hashtags, etc. creating a permanent, tangible object with an image or words on it feels so special and solid, literally. With all our interaction within a digital world, we lose touch with touch itself.”
“It was way more common in the 1980s and 1990s to get your partner’s, or even your own, face or name airbrushed or printed onto a shirt, jacket, hat,” she adds. “Today, it’s so easy to state your affection for someone online by posting a picture, but wearing something hand painted is so classic, timeless, bold, and intimate all at once.”
Plus, it’s way safer than getting their name tattooed on your body. Just don’t be this girl, who forced her boyfriend to wear a shirt covered with pictures of her face with, in all caps, the message: “IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU ARE TOO CLOSE. I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND.”