Don't Be A Dick
You know when you’re driving to work and there’s that one annoying driver in front of you that can’t seem to pick a lane? Or when you watch someone’s dog take a crap on the sidewalk, and they don’t pick it up? Or how about when you’re at Target and you’re waiting in the self-checkout because you want to experience as little human interaction as possible today, but one of the registers isn’t working and the lady with the “can I speak to your manager” haircut that’s a solid 3 people behind you decides she doesn’t want to wait and goes to the broken register herself; only to call the Target employee over and complain about the register not working? Well, it’s moments like these that helped inspire our “Don’t Be A Dick” tee. “Don’t Be A Dick” was the first design idea that we came up with and it all started out as a joke.
When I first moved out to Los Angeles, I had already had about 4 years of working in retail under my belt and carried a decent amount of resentment for the general public. I had moved to “the Valley” and if you need any explanation on what the Valley is like, it is the place that people who think they live in Brentwood and Beverly Hills but aren’t in the right tax bracket to live there, live. “The Valley” is where Cher and friends from Clueless (a true modern classic) went to that party where Tai got hit in the head with a shoe and sang “Rollin’ With The Homies”. Are you getting the basic idea of what the Valley is like? Good. You’re gonna need that later. The longer I lived in the LA, the more I started to notice how so many people out here are total dicks! It became a daily occurrence where I’d be muttering under my breath, “don’t be a dick”, because I didn’t have the balls to say it out loud.
Once I finally got the inspiration to create Black Orchid Fashions and I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with it, my mom and I were talking about what LA is like and how it would just be easier to just leave a blanket statement out there saying “don’t be a dick” rather than wasting our breath. I remember saying to my mom, “I should just make T-shirts that say it” with a chuckle. My mom then looked at me, with her wide eyes of excitement and exclaimed, “YES! Yes, you should!” I laughed it off and figured nothing would ever come of that silly conversation.
However, as time went on, my ideas for the business changed, and the blanket statement became more and more appealing; I grew further inspiration to create my first product with “Don’t Be A Dick” in mind. It took a while to come up with what I wanted the artwork to look like: originally it was just going to be the words themselves, but I knew I wanted to do something different. I had the silly idea of incorporating traditional tattoo-style roses behind the written words to appear in the shape of a man’s nether regions. A “dick”, if you will. Get it? You get it? Yeah, felt a little too on the nose for me too.
When I reached out to the artist that ultimately brought my vision to life, Danny Renteria, we had already known each other from creating a few tattoos that I carry with me. “Don’t Be A Dick” was the first design I had brought up to Danny and it was also the one I was most protective over. Luckily Danny is so creative and receptive to ideas that everything moved so easily through the whole process. I felt like I could put all my trust into him and know I’d walk out with something I’d be proud of. I would say that’s the most important thing to look for when reaching out to and working with a tattoo artist.
After years of contemplating and months of planning, “Don’t Be A Dick” became one of the most anticipated and favorites of Black Orchid Fashions. It is a design that I plan to keep around for a long time and constantly use over and over again in so many different ways. It’s a phrase that (I’m sure) we all end up using at one point or another. Thankfully, you too can now save your breath and let us do the talking!
Thank you, my friends, for taking the time to read! And, remember, Don’t Be A Dick.
If you wish to contact Danny Renteria for any of your own tattoo needs, you can find him at Ventura Tattoo in Ventura, CA or check out his Instagram @dann_art