Graphic Tees and High Fashion? An Interesting Match-Up

The graphic tee has always been considered something of low to mid class fashion. People living in high rise apartments in the middle of New York City would never have been caught dead wearing a t-shirt plastered with a trendy silk screen printing. Yet, the more we look around the easier to notice that graphic tees are making a huge comeback into mainstream clothing trends and they have managed to work their way up to the level of high fashion. Famous celebrities such as Naomi Campbell have been photographed during their daily routines wearing these graphic tees. But where did this graphic tee movement come from and just how far are do its effects reach into society?

Fashion is much the proverbial revolving door; fashion trends from the 1920's will come back 80 years later in full force. Just a few years ago we had the flashback to a time where everyone wore bellbottoms and jeans ending in flares. The graphic tee; however, got its start in the 1970's and early 1980's due primarily to the increased interest in do-it-yourself t shirts (got to love hippies). The trend quickly blew out as fast as the hippie group did but it is once again in full swing on the streets and in the suburbs. If you go to stores such as Juice Couture, Armani Exchange, Express, and Banana Republic. These stores span mid to high fashion and each of these major fashion power-houses feature a number of graphic tees.

However it should be said now that the actual graphics featured on the tees tend to be different that the normal skulls and swirls found on the streets. These new graphic tees feature grunge-styled British and Scottish Coat-of-Arms of famous clans. They also use iconic figures such as crowns, crosses, gargoyles, and royal lions. Though still graphic tees, these companies try to set themselves apart by creating a new category of "high fashion graphic tees" If a person were to take a closer look, they would find that there is very little difference in quality among these graphic t shirts; and one could realize that these huge brand names are struggling to keep their luxury brands alive and are being reduced to participating in the main stream. This offers them a more lucrative market; however it manages to dilute the actual brand and could possibly hurt them in the long wrong.