In our last edition of the Pick of the Week, we mentioned Supreme’s ability to consistently create compelling accessories. It’s one of the brand’s most obvious strengths. But Supreme’s accessory game is matched near-equally by their exciting, and often-mysterious, reference game. Whether it be t-shirts calling out upcoming products or releases, collections that draw their inspiration from a film, or even a simple logo flip, nobody does it like Supreme. And in the case of the Supreme Water Pistol T-shirt, you get the best of both worlds; a reference to an accessory, and a hard one to get your hands on at that.
The original Supreme Water Pistol dropped during the Spring/Summer 2011 season, ten years before the Water Pistol T-shirt. Released right around the time that Supreme began its ascent to pop-culture darling status, the Water Pistol accessory now demands eye-popping premiums due to its status as a heritage accessory. Because of this, the Supreme Water Pistol is counterfeit often and real versions are hard to come by.
Supreme’s Water Pistol T-shirt is a clever celebration of the original Water Pistol’s ten year birthday. Featuring a Black woman holding the Water Pistol close to her face, the Supreme Water Pistol T-shirt’s graphic resembles the way that James Bond or a Bond Girl would pose in cover art for the films. The graphic on the Supreme Water Pistol T-shirt shows the woman holding a different kind of water gun than the brand released in 2011, deviating slightly from the official design of their own historical accessory.
For those aware of the Water Pistol’s history, this t-shirt may have lit up a sense of nostalgia, but for newer fans of the brand, knowledge of the previous release is totally unnecessary to appreciate the t-shirt. Combining an accessible catalog with a rich history loaded to the brim with reference after reference is no easy task. Yet Supreme consistently executes on this, delivering products that attract new customers while also satisfying the insider itch of longtime fans.
The Supreme Water Pistol T-shirt is just one of many instances where the brand has looked backward or forward in reference to their catalog. This season’s collaborative Nike Dunk Lows featured a similar kind of reference, arriving with nearly the same design details as 2003’s Nike Dunk High Pro SB. Supreme also runs their references in the other direction, retrospectively revealing that certain pieces functioned almost like a teaser. This was the case with Fall/Winter 2021’s Bobsled L/S Top, which preceded the brand’s Spring/Summer 2021 that featured a real Supreme Bobsled. Supreme has made it abundantly clear that nearly anything they release at any time could be some kind of reference to their own 27 year old extended universe. Now we just need to wait a decade to see if we get a similar t-shirt that features a Nerf Blaster instead of a Water Pistol.
Buy and Sell every color of the Supreme Water Pistol T-shirt on StockX below.
