T-Shirt

Originally designed to be hidden under other clothes, the T-shirt has become one of the essential elements of casual fashion in the United States and around the world. The T-shirt, so-called because of its T-like shape, was issued as an undergarment to servicemen during the first two world wars (1914–18 and 1939–45). The short-sleeved T-shirt was made of soft cotton fabric, much more comfortable than the woolen undergarments typical since 1880, and it quickly became a favorite with soldiers and sailors alike.

The hard work of war soon found military men stripping down to their white T-shirts to do their jobs in relative comfort. By the end of World War II in 1945, pictures of sailors and soldiers working in nothing more than pants and T-shirts had become quite common. In 1942 T-shirted military men even appeared on the cover of Life magazine, one of the most popular magazines of the time, marking the transition of the T-shirt from undershirt to an acceptable outer shirt.

The return home of servicemen soon made the T-shirt an essential part of working men's wardrobes. The popularity of the T-shirt was further fueled by Hollywood. Films featuring male film stars in T-shirts associated the shirts with masculine power, sexuality,

and youthful rebellion. Handsome Marlon Brando (1924–) wore a T-shirt that showed off his muscular build in the 1951 feature film A Streetcar Named Desire, and James Dean's (1931–1955) role in Rebel without a Cause (1955) linked the T-shirt with youthful distrust of authority figures.

Soon T-shirts were used to make political statements or simply to express a point of view. During the Vietnam War (1954–75) plain white T-shirts worn by young men associated them with a conservative political attitude, while more liberal (progressive) men wore tie-dyed or painted T-shirts. Women began to use the T-shirt to make their own statements during the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. The T-shirt's clingy fabric accentuated women's shapeliness.

The symbolism of T-shirts became much more obvious when T-shirts started carrying written messages. T-shirts displayed the widest range of opinions and messages, from the pleasant "Have a Nice Day" to offensive profanity and from college university names to professional sports teams. T-shirts turned their wearers into walking billboards for popular brands such as Nike or Old Navy. Whether you wanted to show your love of a local college, a brand of soda pop, or a favorite rock band, there was a T-shirt for you. At the beginning of the twenty-first century T-shirts continued to be an essential component of wardrobes around the world and were, along with blue jeans, the foremost examples of American fashion.