Is Savile Row Ready for Rikki Rockett’s T-Shirts?

Watch out, Giorgio Armani.

When Axl Rose took the stage last month for Guns N’ Roses’ momentous opening-night Coliseum gig with the Rolling Stones, he wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a death’s head skull and the seamy slogan “Scumbag Hollywood Trash.”

The shirt’s designers were delighted. “Yeh, Axl is a perfect guy to wear our stuff,” explained Rikki Rockett, co-owner of Old Ghost Designs. “(Guns N’ Roses’ guitarist) Slash wore our ‘Welcome to L.A.’ shirt when they played the Cathouse. They’re exactly the kind of rebellious, rock ‘n’ roll guys we’re aiming for.”

When it comes to Rock Bad Boy fashion, Rockett is an expert--he’s the drummer in Poison, one of the country’s hottest mascara ‘n’ metal rock bands.

Rockett has certainly given his company a bona fide heavy-metal attitude. When he and partner John Grigley put on a fashion show recently, they rented out the Cathouse, a local headbanger hangout, and hired six exotic dancers to display their latest designs.

Rockett says he’s always dabbled as an artist and designer but never felt talented enough to pursue it as a career. But when he signed an endorsement deal with Vision Street Wear, a popular teen clothing firm, Rockett met Grigley, a skateboard hotshot who was working as a designer for the firm. Eager to improve his skateboard skills, Rockett invited Grigley to join Poison on the road.

“He went out on the tour bus with us for a week--and he survived!” said Rockett. “We got to be good friends. I liked his designs so much that I told him I’d back him if he wanted to do his own clothing line. So we’re working together, using John’s designs with our combined concepts. It’s really fun. We’re a little corporation, with our own attorney, accountant and publicist. In a way, it’s like having another band--cause all the concepts are ours.”

And what concepts! It’s no wonder Rockett has dubbed Grigley the “porno Picasso” of T-shirt designers. After seeing some of their raunchy designs, Tipper Gore may put Old Ghost’s T-shirts on the PMRC’s condemned list. In addition to the customary skull and crossbones, coiled snakes and death mask designs, the T-shirts feature an eerie, skeletal Jesus on a cross, a “Dead People Are Cool” design, several obscene slogans and a picture of gang members spread-eagled in front of a cop car, with the slogan “Welcome to L.A.”

“The whole idea is to stay close to what we see in the streets,” said Rockett. “In fact, after we did the ‘Welcome’ shirt, I was driving down La Brea when I saw a bunch of gang kids on their knees, being searched by the cops. And I must’ve slowed down to watch, ‘cause the cops started staring at me, wondering what I’m looking at. And I’m thinking--I’m looking at my shirt, happening right out on the street.”

Rockett and Grigley’s catalogue focuses on T-shirts, turtlenecks and bracelets, though Rockett says they’re expanding into skirts, caps and leg warmers. For now, Old Ghost designs are available at several Melrose Avenue stores, including Tiziana and Zulu, as well as Showcase Cycles on La Brea Avenue. (The pair has plans to eventually open their own retail outlet.)

“Our stuff is very anti-fashion,” said Rockett, who is headed up to Vancouver to begin work on Poison’s third album. “It’s certainly not the kind of stuff you’d expect to see in an art gallery.”