There have been a series of articles about the vintage hotties who are currently wowing the world: Sharon Stone and Helen Mirren, Susan Sarandon and Meryl Streep, all of whom have had major cinematic hits at a point in their lives when female movie stars used to become almost invisible. Their clothes have garnered as much attention as their performances – with Sarandon’s red dresses and Streep’s swing coats turning up on catwalk models half their age or less. But one thing few of them have been photographed in … is a T-shirt.
That doesn’t mean women over a certain age shouldn’t wear T-shirts – two of the UK’s finest talents: Judie Dench and Julie Walters, both made red carpet appearances in formal-style T-shirts this year, and Meryl Streep brought the long sleeved jersey T-shirt back into high prominence in The Devil Wears Prada, but it does mean there are new rules to be aware of.
Midriff baring is best left to the under thirties who have abdomens of steel – even the faintest wrinkle or bulge will look glaring if your skin peeks out from under your T-shirt.
The arms matter. In cap or short sleeves, you have to be sure that there isn’t some arm strangle going on – sleeves should be relaxed, not clamped around a body area that does tend to show one’s age at the best of times. For spaghetti straps, make sure you don’t end up with a back fat bulge – it’s not seemly. And while the very young can probably get away with three or four straps on each arm, for vintage ladies it’s probably best to just wear one set of straps and a good supporting, strapless bra.
Oversized T-shirts (Dawn French apart) are not good for public appearances unless you’re on the beach. It just gives the impression that you’ve surrendered to your age, or that you’ve had a senior moment and pulled on your hubby’s T-shirt by mistake. A fitted T-shirt is alluring, especially one that’s specially shaped to the female figure
T-shirts with clever slogans are great, but if you’re over twenty, you need to step back and ask if the message is so important that you want it across your chest. What’s cute in a teen can seem like a brash statement in somebody with age and authority on their side – Katharine Hamnett may have made a career out of T-shirt messages but be very sure that the words you wear really do define the person you wish people to see.
A Danish appeals court has convicted six people of selling T-shirts to aid extremist organisations. They were accused of breaking Denmark’s antiterrorism law by selling T-shirts to raise money for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Most of the defendants had ties to Fighters and Lovers, a company which made and sold shirts with the groups’ logos. Both the Palestinian and the Colombian group are on the European Union’s list of terrorist organisations.
And a Newcastle United football supporter has had to buy a T-shirt that says ‘I’m not Mike Ashley’ to wear on the terraces. Why? Because his resemblance to Ashley, who is generally considered to have ‘destroyed’ the club and ‘driven’ Kevin Keegan away has led to him being punched and insulted during recent matches. The case of mistaken identity is doubly unfair as the look-alike is a season ticket holder and staunch supporter of the club.
Yasuo Fukuda, who was in charge for just 11 months and whose period at the top is generally considered to have been a disaster, finally got it right on his last day! Japanese politicians aren’t exactly known for their charisma, but Fukuda was known as the least charismatic of all. However, at a press conference on his last day in the job, he was asked whether he had given his everything during his disastrous 11 and a half months in office. In reply Fukuda scowled at the reporter and replied, ‘I can see myself objectively. I’m not like you’.
And those four words allowed the 67-year-old leader to catch the public imagination. Since then the phrase, in Japanese of course: anata to chigaun desu - has appeared on T-shirts, mugs and even baby clothes. Within hours of his resignation press conference, pictures of the former PM made from keyboard characters, appeared across the internet showing s a drawing of the former PM, pistols drawn, with the words printed below.
Thousands of T-shirt versions have been sold online since they went on sale last week, according to their manufacturer, ClubT. The firm, which moved quickly to obtain rights to the image, said the shirts had already become the most popular of its 800,000 designs. They have even outsold T-shirts depicting the swimmer Kosuke Kitajima, who won two gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.
Yes Jordan, aka Katie Price, whose recent conversion to dressage is being used to inspire inner-city children to take up riding in time for the 2012 Olympics. She is the ‘face’ of Hoof, a campaign run by the British Equestrian Federation which wants to produce a generation of young city horse riders as a legacy of London 2012. Jordan/Katie has begun to compete in dressage events on a mount named Jordan’s Glamour and the Hoof promotion is certainly a victory for Jordan/Katie who was banned from the Cartier Polo Cartier Polo International tournament for (allegedly) being too chavvy.
Surely not? Well, perhaps … As you can see from the image, Katie/Jordan has created her own equestrian line and she modelled the hot pink T-shirt and velvet hot pants from her sportswear range beside one of her other horses, Candy, who was wearing a hot pink horse-blanket from ‘KP’, Katie’s new clothing label … for horses. And one of the committee organising the equestrian events for 2012 has said that Jordan is reputed to be a ‘rude and a foul person’ and hoped that she wouldn’t be invited to future events.The official preferred not to be named.
What is it with Australians and their T-shirts?Back in May Dom Rebel put the most expensive T-shirt in Australia on display ($1000, a diamond studded skull design) and now, a beaded and frilled T-shirt featuring a print by Del Kathryn Barton is going on sale at $400 as part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, starting in Melbourne tomorrow.
It’s not what you expect of the average Aussie, is it? Given the national identity with grunge clothing, sport and rough-and-ready humour, this predilection for pricey T-shirts is peculiar to say the least.However there is some method in the madness.The expensive T-shirt was commissioned by Sydney label Romance Was Born as part of a ‘Limited’ exhibition of specially commissioned T-shirts which will be sold to the public after a presentation at the GPO shopping complex in Melbourne. Other designers include Alpha 60, Ksubi, Rainer and Bassike, who all contributed custom-designed T-shirts to the Limited project.One of the organisers of the event said, ‘We wanted to celebrate the humble T-shirt, because it’s where a lot of Australian designers have their beginnings … most people wouldn’t pay that much for an average T-shirt, but this one is special, it has become a work of art.’
Alexi Freeman show, Melbourne, courtesy of fashionistar
The area, which gave a start to many a famous name from Bernard Gant of Gant shirts through to Calvin Klein, and is home to the Fashion Walk of Fame, is shrinking fast.Fashion designer Anna Sui wants to save it, and she’s trying to do so by using fashion to save fashion – along with scores of other names in the fashion industry she’s exploiting the high profile of New York Fashion Week to get the message out.And the message itself is carried by a classic black T-shirt stating Save the Garment Center.
The problem is that new zoning laws have changed the way buildings in the district are classified and many landlords are hoping to turn what have been factories into luxury lofts and chic hotels, nice for them, with rising rents but not so nice for small fashion contractors who will have nowhere else to set up their small but essential businesses.Sui, Vera Wang, Nicole Miller and others are encouraging their fellow Council of Fashion Designers of America members to help promote the T-shirt which also bears the email addresses of New York City officials who can be petitioned to change the zoning – those rather less than stylish addresses are on the back of the fashion-statement T-shirt, by the way! And if Sui has her way, those details will be seen on the backs of many a model as she does her catwalk turn …
Girls Aloud have probably always been as well known for their costumes as their music, and now they’ve teamed up with Kit Kat Senses (a chocolate that you can’t imagine ever actually passes their lips) and the Make-A-Wish Foundation which grants the wishes of youngsters fighting life-threatening illnesses. Girls Aloud: aka Nicole, Cheryl, Kimberly, Nadine and Sarah, and their partners will be giving away 165 T-shirts every day for six weeks in August and September.
Since it was founded in 1986, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted over 4,900 wishes to young children, from meeting their pop and sporting idols to hot air ballooning.
