PHOTO: T-Shirt with a Message

Simple and hot, it bears a precise message, whether with words or print. What else than a T-shirt?!

Get me one person that does not have a single T-Shirt! The elderly, youth, kids… this garment has found itself in the hearts of all people regardless of their age or gender. Not only did it make our everyday lives more practical, but it caused a sexual revolution in the 70`s. Although it started its career underneath clothes, today, a T-shirt is an independent clothing apparel which covers the human torso. It is made in a T cut, and put on simply over the head. It is made of cotton, polyester or a mixture of the two materials, which gives it a visual softness. It gets its final look with a neck cut which is a classic oval one or a V cut. The latter is more sported by women in order for them to disclose their cleavage and accentuate their curves. The tighter the T-shirt, the more impressive the appearance.

How T-shirts became famous

Ancient 1901 was crucial for the appearance of T-shirts. We can thank the P.H. Hanes Knitting company (today Hanes) which divided one-part men`s underwear for their catalogue sale in two parts. It thus quietly evolves until the 50`s when fashion icons like James Dean (Rebel Without a Cause) and Marlon Brando (A Street Car Named Desire) who created a total “Boom!” by wearing them. Afterwards, companies stated using it as a marketing object for a walking advertisement and this turbo move was first used by Coca-Cola with its logo and Walt Disney with mascot Mickey Mouse. T-shirts were also used as slogans in protests against the Vietnam War, which was supported by music icons like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. The entire Woodstock generation of flower power was mad about them!

It obtains a slimmer fit during the sexual revolution in the 70`s, as well as a completely natural accompanying detail of the female figure “hardened nipples”. This avant-garde was promoted by Jacqueline Bisset at that time with a wet T-shirt in “The Deep”. Thus, film stylists included the famous T-shirt into the 80`s and Don Johnson`s character in Miami Vice, when an entirely new version of elegance was acquired by adding the black Armani jacket over a white T-shirt. They became longer for women and worn with legendary tights and high heels. We cannot talk of this look as a historic top combination, but it was unavoidable. Just remember Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible” in the 90`s, and slightly bite your fingers! Today, the comeback of T-shirts is celebrated by everyone, especially mega rich Paris Hilton.

T-shirts even put their T in politics! Politicians started using them for slogans in their election campaigns.

Created to shock

We consider this simple object as a cult one, in the same like as jeans, or combined with jeans which gave birth to another great “Bingo!”. It became implemented in art, music, film, politics and marketing as a versatile utilisable object and it has become an inevitable garment for every mortal.

T-shirt is a medium in advertising campaigns today, but at the same time a small space where an individual can express their own opinion. This opinion, whether it be in the form of a slogan, graphics or a photograph, is most often a shocking message of an individual to their surroundings. This transformance of information with which we act quietly will intrigue passers-by to think about the slogan which is in front of them in the healthier manner and they will do the same to others. The print expressed our personality or belonging to a certain subculture, this T-shirt is all we appreciate and love, all that we firmly support. This is how T-shirts were transformed into a small visual Philosophy. People are walking around in their little T-shirts, mutely saying: “Look at what I have to say”. Therefore look at the PHOTOGALLERY to see what was said.