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Fashion seems to be an increasingly important part of everyday life at the moment, largely thanks to the presence of beauty programs, magazines and books everywhere we seem to look. Some critics say that we live in a more fashion conscious society than any other generation ever has but that just is not true. Women have always been fashion conscious and that may explain why the early history of the ladies t-shirt is virtually nonexistent!
The t-shirt was not initially a fashion statement but more a practical garment that was invented by males to protect their bodies. Times have changed and now the ladies t-shirt is highly fashionable in some way, shape or form every season but it has taken some time to get there!
The early history of the t-shirt is definitely a male history. It was a garment that was worn under clothes by the upper classes to protect their expensive suits from sweat and staining and also by the armed forces to help prevent their armour chafing their skin.
As you can tell, it was initially underwear rather than an actual item of clothing that you would wear out and about. However, this meant that the t-shirt had absolutely no role in the wardrobes of women. Female underwear took the form of petticoats and underskirts rather than what would have been perceived as a very unfeminine ladies t-shirt. Although modesty and practicality did count for something, women would not have worn men’s clothing because it would have been deemed inappropriate.
So when did the ladies t-shirt actually appear in the fashion market? Well, some women began to wear them as they began to take more of an active role in daily life. Some women pursued business interests in the 19th Century and of course some women campaigned for women’s rights during the same sort of era. It was around that time when practicality began to override traditional conventions. Times were changing and the place of the ladies t-shirt reflected that. It was initially an undergarment but it was actually a ladies t-shirt that was the first ever to be manufactured.
The Russell Manufacturing Company produced the very first t-shirt ever mass manufactured in 1902. This marked a huge departure from the clothes making of the past and opened the door for all sorts of fashions to be made and sold very cheaply.
Despite the fact that the ladies t-shirt was the first t-shirt ever manufactured, they were not popular outer garments until the 1960s and 1970s. Until the 1960s, traditional values and conservative dress was very much the order of the day for women. T-shirts were considered to be far too revealing for women to wear. After all, anything that revealed the female figure and highlighted the breasts was a big no-no back then.
However, the change of attitude in the 1960s changed all that and clingy clothes that celebrated the female body were welcomed with open arms. The ladies t-shirt became incredibly popular as a result because it was the perfect piece of clothing to cling to curves and to mass manufacture for far less than it cost to make other items of clothing.
The first fashionable ladies t-shirt was brightly coloured and hugged the waist. It would have had a turtle neck, a round neck or a deep v neck. However, in the 1960s, it would not have had any of the logos or slogans that we are used to seeing on the ladies t-shirt today. Women all over the world were wearing the feminine but fashionable t-shirts that were on offer in stores everywhere. They became an essential item of clothing. However, it was in the 1970s that the ladies t-shirt really began to impact upon catwalk fashions.
The emergence of the ladies t-shirt as high fashion was largely down to one specific designer – Vivienne Westwood. Westwood was a pioneer of punk fashions and used the t-shirt to spread political and social messages against the establishment. This continued through all her work of the period so her t-shirts became must haves of the fashion era. Torn fabrics, frayed edges and extra elements like safety pins all appeared in the t-shirts of this era, but the 1980s and 1990s was to see the ladies t-shirt fashion take a step back. The 1980s was characterised by the oversized t-shirt with the early 1990s returning to the cropped, tight version of the 1960s. However, although all three of these fashions emerged separately, all are highly in fashion today thanks to the resurgence of vintage t-shirts!
If you are male and want a t-shirt then you can walk into any store in the world and find one to fit you using the same sizing that you always use. If you are a woman then you might find it a little different… and definitely more difficult. There are different ladies t-shirt sizing schemes in countries all over the world so you should know your body dimensions rather than your size in the UK or US for example. If you are a size 10 in the UK then you are a size 6 in the US. Confused? It is not surprising if you are! Female dress sizes are the bane of most women’s lives so you are definitely not on your own.
You can find female sizes for the ladies t-shirt that go from XXS to 2XL in some countries but are mirrored by US size 00 to 16-18, which is again mirrored by UK sizing of 2 to 20-22. As such, it is probably the best idea to find out your chest and waist measurements and choose the appropriate size for you on that basis. If you do this then you will avoid another trap of shopping for a ladies t-shirt – the individual store size. Some stores manufacture clothing with smaller or larger accepted measurements for the size on the label so knowing your overall measurements would definitely prevent further confusion!
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