Fashion
THE PRESS, Christchurch
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 ZEST 13
Been there,
done that,
got the T-shirt
by Liz Breslin
F
ilming for the first part
of The Hobbit just
wrapped. I know
because I saw it on a
T-shirt. Well, I saw it on
the news. They showed the crew
wearing T-shirts proclaiming
‘‘200 days to go’’. It’s the ultimate
way to prove an experience,
isn’t it? Been there, done that,
got the T-shirt.
That concert you went to – it
only feels complete if you’ve got
the tour T. Love your team?
Wear their shirt! Feeling
rebellious? Head out with a
chest full of Che.
The T-shirt has become a
ubiquitous way to make
clothing into a more-thanfashion statement. Even back in
the 70s, Elle magazine
recognised it as ‘‘a basic item of
fashion that will never go out of
fashion because it’s already
beyond fashion’’. But the
T-shirt, in all its guises, is
pervasive and it’s easy to forget
that it has only really been an
acceptable form of dress for the
last 50 or so years.
The T-shirt started life as
underwear in the 1890s.
Named for its shape, like
its cousin the A shirt,
both stayed covered-up
until way after the
turn of the
century
when the
military
brought it
into the
realm of
functional
wear. One theory
of the T-shirt’s
rise to success in
the United States has
it that American
soldiers, in World War
I, noticed that on hot
days European soldiers
wore cotton vests instead
of woolly ones. By World
War II they’d adopted the
lighter singlets and even
developed their own
printed slogan
versions. Life
Magazine, in July 1942,
showed a buff soldier
wearing a tight T
branded ‘‘Air Corps
Gunnery School Las
Vegas Nevada’’.
In terms of
popularising it as
outerwear, the likes of
Marlon Brando and
James Dean finished what
the army boys had started.
Sexy moved on from shirts
and cuffs to muscle-hugging
T-shirts. Practicality has had a
part to play as well. T-shirts are
easy to dye, to fold and even (if
you’re into that sort of thing) to
iron. Kids can dress themselves
if they have a T. Women can
sport advertising logos across
their assets and men can hide
overgrown abs under baggy
beer-branded efforts. As well as
titillation and convenience,
T-shirts are a kind of social
media in their own right. Of
course, it’s very non-PC to judge
any kind of book by its cover but
some T-shirts are designed for
dialogue. Some favourites (not
mine): ‘‘I see dumb people’’;
‘‘Are you reading this or staring
at my tits?’’ (in tiny font); ‘‘I
fought for democracy in the
Middle East and all I got was
this lousy T-shirt’’. The most
memorable T-shirt I’ve seen said
‘‘I nuke gay whales for Jesus’’.
Seems to cover all bases, don’t
you think?
My husband is a master at
coming up with T-shirt slogans
every time he is moved to social
or political comment. They’re
mostly instantly forgettable, but
he does recall ‘‘Rove was
pushed’’ and ‘‘Osama Bin
Hiding’’. On the other side of
that coin, we were both amazed
in Thailand, in late 2001, when
we saw pro-Taleban T-shirts,
with George and Osama head to
head and towers toppling
behind. Frightening stuff.
With increasing awareness
about the real cost of our
clothes, T-shirts are even being
used to push their own
environmental soundness, as
well as advertising and political
agendas. Ethically-sourced
cotton is today’s T-shirt hype of
choice. But for how long? Next
year’s T could be ‘‘Didn’t go,
didn’t buy, the environmental
cost was too high.’’
■ Liz Breslin lives in Hawea Flat
and wears T-shirts to work.
Sign of the times: Steve Harris wearing up-to-the-minute T-shirt fashion for
PHOTO: KIRK HARGREAVES/FAIRFAX NZ
Christchurch.