Fashion to think about

A t-shirt seems like a simple object: cotton, stitching, sometimes a logo. But history proves otherwise: few garments have carried so much symbolic power. The t-shirt is not just clothing: it's a banner, an identity, a manifesto. It covers us, but above all, it declares who we are. And the question becomes inevitable: can a t-shirt make us think differently, even question the world?

Che Guevara: from myth to t-shirt

In the 1960s and 70s, Che Guevara's face—based on Alberto Korda's photograph—became one of the most reproduced images of the 20th century. What began as a revolutionary symbol ended up printed on T-shirts worldwide: from barricades to souvenir shops. Jim Fitzpatrick , the Irish artist who popularized the silhouette, recounted that he released the image's rights so it could be reproduced globally without restrictions. The result: it became the most printed face in history. Herein lies the first contradiction: is it protest or fashion? Perhaps both. What is certain is that millions of torsos turned it into a portable flag.

Acid House and the smiley

Late 1980s, UK. Rave culture and Acid House were taking over clubs and abandoned factories. Their emblem: the yellow smiley face on t-shirts. Popularized by DJ Danny Rampling and his club Shoom in London (1987), it was the visual password for recognizing ravers inside and outside underground parties. It became so associated with ecstasy that the police even went so far as to chase young people wearing smiley face t-shirts in the streets. Behind that happy face lay a revolution: nocturnal freedom, a countercultural community. Each smiley face t-shirt was a secret code, a tribal wink. A simple graphic or a social movement.

Frankie Say Relax

In 1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood released "Relax," a song with explicitly sexual content, something they didn't initially acknowledge. Together with Katharine Hamnett, they created the "Frankie Say Relax" T-shirt. Huge lettering, a direct message, and a provocation in the midst of the conservative Thatcher and Reagan era. The result: censorship, controversy, and millions of T-shirts sold. A garment could be both pop and subversive.

George Michael was photographed wearing the T-shirt, which fueled both the controversy and the sales. The BBC banned the song "Relax ," but the censorship only made it more famous. The T-shirts sold out as the single climbed the charts.

Punk and Westwood: fashion as a weapon

In the 70s, Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren understood that the T-shirt was a political canvas. Uncomfortable phrases that invited defiance. T-shirts that made people uncomfortable, that screamed from the body. Punk wasn't just heard: it was worn.

In 1976, the Sex Pistols appeared on television wearing T-shirts designed by Vivienne Westwood bearing the word "DESTROY" and a swastika. The scandal was immediate: headlines, censorship, and a guaranteed place in punk history.

Choose Life

In 1983, Katharine Hamnett launched T-shirts with giant lettering: “Choose Life,” “Save the Future,” “Worldwide Nuclear Ban Now.” These were editorial slogans, more suited to a newspaper than a coat rack. Hamnett was invited to a reception with Margaret Thatcher at Downing Street in 1984. Under her jacket, she wore a T-shirt with the slogan “58% Don’t Want Pershing” (a reference to nuclear missiles). When her jacket was opened for the official photograph, the message appeared in all the newspapers the next day.

Hamnett proved that a t-shirt could be a graphic pamphlet, and that fashion could infiltrate political conversation.

Band tees: wearable identity

From the 1970s onward, band t-shirts became a declaration of belonging. Ramones, Metallica, Nirvana, The Clash. A t-shirt didn't just say what you listened to, but who you were. They were a tribal passport, a cultural manifesto. And today they continue to function as emblems of collective memory or simply as iconography.

For example, the Ramones t-shirt (with the eagle logo designed by Arturo Vega) became the band's uniform and, over time, has been adopted by thousands who have never even heard their music. Cultural irony: a symbol of rebellion turned into an H&M staple.

Protest in cotton: Black Lives Matter

In the last decade, the Black Lives Matter movement has turned the T-shirt into a global canvas. “I Can’t Breathe,” “Black Lives Matter”: urgent, direct messages, impossible to ignore.

In 2014, NBA players like LeBron James and Derrick Rose took to the court wearing "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts after the death of Eric Garner at the hands of police. The league tried to ban them, but the image had already gone global. NBA players, street protesters, artists: everyone turned the T-shirt into a powerful voice against systemic racism.

Supreme: status and contradiction

The red Supreme logo is perhaps the most coveted t-shirt of recent decades. A minimalist rectangle transformed into a fetish. Is it a message or a market? Irony or extreme capitalism? The t-shirt here functions as a mirror of consumer society: authenticity transformed into an object of speculation.

In 2017, a simple Supreme Box Logo Tee was resold on the secondary market for over $1,000 . A $30 t-shirt transformed into a symbol of excess in the streetwear market.

Fashion and manifesto

Each of these t-shirts proved the same thing: cotton can carry more power than a speech. Because a t-shirt isn't innocent: it speaks, confronts, questions. We believe that fashion should have that edge: that dressing should be about covering up and also revealing oneself. Making a statement. Taking action. That each garment should be a manifesto, identity, and possibility.

So, can a t-shirt make you question the world? History has already answered: yes. And it will continue to do so as long as there are bodies willing to truly wear clothes.