Katharine Hamnett

Katharine Eleanor Hamnett (née Appleton; born 16 August 1947) is an English fashion designer best known for her political T-shirts.

From 1975, she was a freelance fashion designer in London, Paris, Milan, New York and Hong Kong until she founded the Katharine E. Hamnett clothes label in 1979.

[2] Hamnett's oversized T-shirts with large block letter slogans, launched in 1983, were adopted by pop bands, including Wham!.

After disappointment with the results, Hamnett terminated most of her licensing arrangements, and in 2005 relaunched her line under stricter ethical guidelines, including manufacturing and agricultural practices.

In 1984, during the Downing Street reception to mark the inaugural London Fashion Week, Hamnett met with then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wearing her own T-shirt with the slogan "58% DON'T WANT PERSHING", the anti-Tory policy reference to polls showing public opposition in the United Kingdom against the basing of Pershing II missiles in the country.

[9][10] In 2003, at a London fashion show, Hamnett's catwalk models wore shirts with "STOP WAR, BLAIR OUT",[11] a reference to the looming invasion of Iraq.

[15] In February 2024, Hamnett publicly relinquished her Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) distinction in protest against the UK government's support for the war in Gaza.

Hamnett was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours, for services to the fashion industry.