The History of the T-Shirt
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, F.Scott Fitzgerald was the first to use the term "T-shirt" in print; it appeared in This Side of Paradise in 1920.
By the early 1950's, Hollywood’s actors began donning white T-shirts to signal their character’s rebelliousness — Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951), Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953) and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) — the T-shirt officially entered the man’s wardrobe as a garment that could be worn on its own outside of the workplace.
Worn close to the skin and revealing of the body, the T-shirt’s inherent sex appeal was first picked up by actresses and singers in the 1960s. By the 1970s, the T-shirt was truly unisex. It began to be reinterpreted by high end designers such as Yves Saint Laurent & Dior.
Due to the subversive nature of wearing an undergarment on the outside, the T-shirt has appealed to generations of musicians, writers, actors and intellectuals. The T-shirt has become synonymous with an effortless cool, and in the 1990s it became a part of the new uniform from iconic collections from Helmut Lang and Calvin Klein.
Now, the T-shirt is the most versatiled style in a wardrobe. It is worn at home, casual outtings, to work and even on red carpets and cocktail parties.
