What is the single, most important, yet
underrated fashion staple of all time? Blazers, Maxi dresses, and Palazzo Pants have posts and articles written in their glory. Yet the underdog of the fashion world, the
Printed Tee-Shirt, gets sadly overlooked!
While you're reading this right now, chances are,
eight out of ten of you are wearing a tee-shirt. And a printed one at that! Tee-shirts are important. You get my point.
Before I begin writing, I must say I am not the biggest fan of printed tees. I spent my college years looking for plain tees which I religiously wore to class with denims, day after day. I took pains to stay away from tees which had chappals, apples, smileys, and other rad stuff printed on them, which were quite a rage in those final years of college!
Which is why, today, if I do buy myself a printed tee, I take great care to pick for myself the finest print of them all.
So lets decode this vast world of tee-shirt prints. If you got to stand out, you got to put a little bit of study into it!
1*The Animal Face Tee: These have whole/faces of animals printed on them. Not to be confused with animal prints, these have huge tigers, cute baby dolphins, adorable cats. If your'e an animal lover(like me), what better way to express it? Realistic animals on tee-shirts look quite chic too, when paired with the right stuff!
Examples I've Seen: Wolf Face, Tiger Face, Cat faces.
2*The Text Tee: These tee-shirts are for the typographically inclined. What's written is as important as how its written, and the text may be a design in itself. Awesome stuff, this!
3*The Motif Tee: This category has a repetitive printed design all over it. From leopard spots to bows to flowers, this tee shirt will definitely be amazingly fashionable, no matter what! Also, it can be paired with formal-ish bottoms, unlike most other tees, which would look ridiculous paired that way!
Examples I've seen: Birds, Aztec/Tribal prints, Playboy bunnies, Polka dots, Stripes!
4*The Accessory Print Tee: This is an interesting and a fairly new trend, and I'm secretly proud of discovering this category! These tee shirts have an accessory(which is generally disjoint from clothing) printed right ON them, which makes them so intriguing! These tee shirts do subtle humor, and they will definitely be conversation starters!
Examples I've Seen: cameras, ties, bow ties, badges, brooches, belts, headphones!
Warning: You will still need to carry your own camera to click pictures, the one on your printed tee wont do much!
5*The Message Tee: These tees are fairly widespread, and say a message out loud. Beware of looking like a smart-mouth when you sport these. Also make sure you believe in the message your'e displaying out to the world, you don't want to be a hypocrite! Don't just pick them up randomly, because they are on an offer of
Rs. 599 for 3 at the Mall.
My tip: stick to civilized, witty, and classy messages.
6*The Brand or Logo Tee: These tee shirts have a logo or a brand name emblazoned across the chest! Think band tees, football club tees, or the 'Being Human' tees. The above pointers regarding The
Message Tee apply here. Make sure its a brand you love! /
or are paid to endorse!
Hey, we all love these. They look cool, bring out the kid in you, plus they are always in vogue. They look cool paired with casual denims, skirts, and shorts!
8*The Photo Printed Tee: These tees have realistic photos printed right on them. The photographs can be of anything, anything at all! You can borrow from their colour schemes and pair them with appropriately coloured bottoms!
9*The Symbol Tee: These tees have a single symbol/icon printed on them. Fashion-wise, I give them the status of the
Motif Tee! They look great with anything! Don't bother too much about the symbol on it, unlike the Brand/Message Tee. Just follow a few basic ground rules, like if your'e a straight guy, you don't want to wear a Tee with a Heart on it!
