The graphic T-shirt. A blank canvasthe tailor's cloth, placed between the lining and the outer More. A manifesto. A declaration of belonging. Its history does not follow fashion but the needs for expression. Born in the early 20th century as military-issue underwear, the printed T-shirt found its first use in the U.S. Army. Soldiers, marking their loyalty, painted insignias onto their white cottonnatural cellulosic textile fiber constituting the seminal ha More T-Shirts. The message on the t-shirt was simple: I belong to the Army; this is my batch number.

Post-war, the T-shirt broke ranks. Of course, it is synonymous with likes of Elvis and James Dean. The first Band T-Shirt reportedly appeared at an Elvis Fan Club, who had printed plain T-Shirts with messages to their idol. The counterculture claimed it as a sign of rebellion. The 1960s saw psychedelic prints, rock band emblems, also political slogans printed on T-Shirts. Warren Dayton turned it into protest art: the face of Che Guevara, resistance printed onto fabric. The smiley face, ‘I Heart NY’… The graphic tee spoke a new, clear, bold language. Today, it is part of the collective conscious.

Then, the 1980s, fashion designers picked up on the graphic T-Shirt. Brands turned the T-shirt into an advertising board. Brand logos became a new currency. But rebellion persisted. Punk bands shredded their tees, skaters and hip-hop artists made them oversized, screen printed with street codes. Grunge style stripped them back: faded, frayed, real. Some of the T-Shirts are by now as iconic as the people who wear them.

With the coming of the new Millenia came Indie culture, around Bands such as The Strokes. They liked to combine slick slim-cut tailoring with t-shirts printed with the logos of other bands, of singers, or their favourite books. References were clearly to the British Mod: skinny ties, sleek boots, contrasting colours. Hedi Slimane popularised this look, making it more punk, with ripped black skinny jeans, T-shirts frayed at the hem, and super-slim suit jackets.

Outside the indie scene, in the 1990s, early 2000s, digital printing exploded. DIY culture took over, and subcultures flourished: Skaters, surfers, graffiti artists—their scenes embodied in graphic T-Shirt. Streetwear brands created unique visual identifications with the prints on their T-Shirts. Once again, the graphic T-Shirt stood as a uniform for the underground.