DESIGNER T-SHIRT: HYPE OR HERO?
RIOTHERE.COM 2021
The elusive designer T-shirt. Worth the hype or just a scam for the uninitiated?
Easy to wear, fun to style, designer t-shirts have taken over the runways of some of the biggest luxury labels – from Dior, Chanel to Gucci and everyone in between, re-igniting a 90’s sensibility of logo-mania spearheaded by counter-culture brand Vetements back in 2016 with the introduction of their infamous DHL t-shirt at $350 a pop.
Cool, cult and covetable, similar to rock t-shirts in the nihilistic days of yore when people actually listened to rock music, the designer tee is a way to signify allegiance to one’s favorite brand (not band) and high fashion style tribe.
Are you with team Philo or Hedi? The industry instigator Demna Gvasalia or fashion’s iconic avant-garde darling Nicolas Ghesquiere?
With all the upheaval taking place in the big fashion houses over the recent years, the designer logo tee was not just a testament to conspicuous consumption, but importantly a way or reasserting brand fidelity and identity. I wear Celiné (with an accent) = I am a Philophile = I am a confident, accomplished, woman with nuanced taste who dresses for the unflinching female gaze.
A loaded message, certainly, but one that gets it across with impact and immediacy.
And it is that immediacy that has been one of the most compelling and alluring nature of the designer t-shirt. Dating back to the 1980’s, the subversive potential of the t-shirt and its power as a medium of expression is what drew iconic designers like Vivienne Westwood and Katharine Hamnett to voice their political and revolutionary messages from climate control, environmental change to freedom of choice and birth control. We all remember the infamous and iconic oversized “CHOOSE LIFE” rock t-shirts designed by Hamnett adopted by pop bands like Wham! and Queen – an early expression of political statements becoming a cultural pop phenomenon.
“Ultimately, the t-shirt expresses what I love and what I’m interested in. It’s the start of a communication.”
- Rei Matsunuma, Uniqlo Marketing Director
Fast forward twenty years and young Brit designer Henry Holland introduced the designer slogan T-shirt to a new generation with witty, ironic lines poking fun at the fashion industry with slogans like “Suck on my Toe, Phoebe Philo” or “I want to party with Hillier Bartley”. The designer affectionately refers to these as his “fashion groupie” T-shirts as a means of showing adoration (albeit with a healthy dose of sarcasm) to designers that have influenced him the most.
In most recent years, we’ve seen the designer t-shirt take on new political statements, spearheaded by Dior and their chic style taking on feminism with THE FUTURE IS FEMALE t-shirts. Ultimately, it seems the best way to spread your message right now is to wear it.
And wearing it is the best part. The designer t-shirt trend has no age boundaries, is seasonless, well made and well cut (making it durable with a longer shelf life than the disposable high street versions) and can be styled in a myriad of ways to showcase individual personality and style.
Feeling millennial? Try pairing the best rock style t-shirt with a simple slip dress and chunky boots.
Thirty-something? Throw on some high-waisted jeans, tuck in that designer tee and pair it with mid-heel mules for easy chic style.
The new corporate cool? Easy. Baggy pants, an iconic tee and a blazer takes you from work from home to mid-day meetings with effortless ease.
Dress them up, dress them down, showcase your brand allegiance, express your personal style and have a little fun with fashion. A designer t-shirt doesn’t define you, but it is a way of telling the world who you are. And that my friend, is a pretty powerful statement to make.