Alice's T-Party: Sofia Coppola, David Byrne, and Others Design T-shirts for Chef Alice Waters and Levi's
Vogue.com, August 19, 2011 [Link]
By Emily Holt

T-shirt designed by David Byrne
Photo: Courtesy of Levi's

Sunday, August 28, marks the fortieth anniversary of Chez Panisse, the iconic natural-foods restaurant in Berkeley, California, founded by Alice Waters whose name has become a sort of shorthand for an organic, local, and sustainable lifestyle. The planned celebration will undoubtedly be one of the most tenderly composed feasts in recent memory, but what�s a milestone birthday party without a T-shirt? And why not five?

To honor the occasion and�perhaps more importantly�to raise money for Waters�s Edible Schoolyard project, which educates students on growing and cooking their own food, the chef partnered with Levi�s on a limited-edition collection of T-shirts and enlisted friends Sofia Coppola, David Byrne, Dave Eggers, and Maira Kalman to contribute a design.

True to character, Kalman provided a whimsical illustration about liking pie, Eggers offered an abstract drawing of a Mandarin orange praising it as a �fruit of beauty and truth,� Coppola kept things simple with a green emblem, and Byrne rendered clouds on a piece of toast.

The shirts will debut on Wednesday, August 24, at a lunch in San Francisco. Elsewhere around the country they can be bought at Levi�s stores, or barring that, ordered on levi.com�which, though it�s not the most local and sustainable option, is certainly a step in the right direction.

Edible Schoolyard T-shirt, $30; levi.com.