Rolling Stones T-shirt match gives Kiwi fan a buzz

Gary Ivill (inset) and Keith Richards (above) had on matching Goldie-style Richards T-shirts at the Rolling Stones concert.

Garry Ivill couldn't believe his eyes when Keith Richards took the stage in Auckland wearing exactly the same T-shirt as him.

The 51-year-old Aucklander didn't expect his idol to have the T-shirt bearing his distinctive face in the style of a Goldie portrait of a Maori chief - especially as the design had been his wife's idea.

The news the top had taken the rocker's fancy also surprised US-based T-shirt designer Dave Callens. He got an email from Mr Ivill during the concert which read: "Keith Richards is wearing your T-shirt, can you believe it?"

Mr Callens' firm, CFDavinki.com, sent Richards' management five tops this year with the guitarist's face replicating iconic images. They showed him as Crocodile Dundee, as Santa and as Leonardo da Vinci - but none had been seen on the current tour.

Richards wore one of Mr Callens' designs in the US last year where his face replaced da Vinci's famed Mona Lisa.

Mr Callens said: "I've never met Keith ... but you've got to love that face ... I guess he loved [the Mona Lisa T-shirt] because he wore it three times at the end of the US tour and had all kinds of photos taken with it."

A former music tour manager, Mr Callens sent T-shirts to musicians including Ringo Starr, but said Richards appeared to like them best.

Since Richards wore the Mona Lisa top, the designer had been thinking about what to create for the Rolling Stones' 2014 tour.

Coming up with a Crocodile Dundee design for the Australian concerts had been easy, but he called on the help of Mr Ivill and his wife - whom he knew from an email friendship after they bought a Mona Lisa tee from him - for an idea for the one-off New Zealand show.

Mr Ivill said his wife, an Auckland painter, instantly thought of the 1905 Goldie portrait because it reminded her of the Stones guitarist with his well-worn face.

After Saturday night's sell-out event Mr Ivill was approached by a dozen fans wanting to know where he got the T-shirt. He has also been flooded with messages after a photo of him wearing the T-shirt was posted on Twitter and Facebook.