Today’s shoppers favor casual look
By William Rudolph
Staff Reporter
Socialites like Ivana Trump may
parade around flaunting thousands of
dollars of designer sequins. Madonna
may stomp around the world caress
ing her pointy Jean-Paul Gaultier
bodices.
But more normal folk are now
paying more and more money to look,
well, ordinary. Casual, even.
Looking good used to mean dress
ing up in the most expensive designer
clothing available, with the label in a
prominent enough position so that
anyone within 50 feet could tell that
the wearer of the outfit didn’t shop at
Sears.
Today, things have changed.
Perhaps as a reaction to the mate
rialistic, dress-for-success craze of
the 1980s, shoppers today are putting
aside their severe suits, power ties
and Joan Collins shoulder pads in
favor of well-made, relaxed clothing
that seems more at home in the back
yard than in the boardroom.
Nowhere is this any more promi
nent than in the revival of the T-shirt.
It used to be that T-shirts were
something to sleep in, or to wear as
undershirts. Whatever their use, they
were never anything to build an outfit
around. But today, the T-shirt has
come into a class of its own.
These days, a well-made T with a
good pair of jeans is acceptable cas
ual wear. It can even get one past the
door in a club, provided the unobtru
sive label is right. Even influential
magazines such as Vogue have drooled
over the “classic” look of a white T
shirl with pressed jeans.
The basic look is a one-pocket T in
a solid color, preferably muled. Al
though white and black arc the classic
choices, the more status-minded can
dress up the look with socially con
scious artsy T-shirts from the late
artisl/AIDS victim Keith Haring, or
the British animal rights organization
Lynx.
In contrast to most other trends,
even “poor” college students can
adopt this look, thanks in part to stores
such as the Gap.
Formerly a discount jeans and
record clearing house, The Gap has
mushroomed into an international
outlet for simple, well-made clothes
that look good without being obvi
ous. The chain’s slick “Individuals
of Style” advertising campaign popu
larized the look with eye-catching
portraits of celebrities such as Neneh
Cherry, Mike Tyson, Kim Basinger,
Winona Ryder and regular, ordinary
folk sporting pocket T’s and long
sleeved shirts.
And at $11 for a T-shirt and about
$23 for mock turtlenecks, The Gap
provides fashion at reasonable prices.
As a bonus, one doesn’t have to live
in a major fashion mecca to shop at
The Gap: there’s even one in Omaha.
If The Gap isn’t handy, catalog
outfitters such as J. Crew offer many
of the same classic combinations at
similar pnees with the ease of mail
box shopping.
As might be expected, top design
ers have jumped into the act with
their own relaxed lines, particularly
Donna Karan, who reportedly came
up with the idea when she couldn’t
find a pair of jeans she liked. Both
DKNY (short for Donna Karan New
York) and its down-to-earth founder
give women options for wearable,
easy-to-carc-for outfits in soft, realis
tic styles that recognize most women’s
bodies do not match anorexic, aerobi
cally perfect supermodcl figures.
The idea must have been on target:
DKNY so far has grossed $85 million
in 1990, according to the August is
sue of Mirabclla magazine.
Of course, familiar collections such
as Ralph Lauren’s Polo also promote
the new easy style.
If anything, the reasons behind
this trend probably reflect the recent
move towards relaxation. In the wake
of such post-modem traumas as sexu
ally transmitted diseases and the
environmental threat, many Ameri
cans arc abandoning the get-ahead
at-all-costs mentality in favor of an
easygoing lifestyle built around rela
tionships, health and “quality time”
spent at home, with less emphasis on
material trappings.
Consumers now seem to want to
spend less time coordinating their
closets. Instead, the current search is
for a comfortable outfit that can eas
ily go from the bedroom to the class
room, to work and to play without
complicated changes or worry about
what’s appropriate and “in” this
season.
Because T-shirts and jeans rarely
go out of style, they guarantee a good
investment.
If the relaxed fashion craze is any
indication, the 1990s will indeed be
‘‘a kinder, gentler nation,” as Presi
dent Bush sees it - at least on the
fashion frontlines.
Julia Mikolaicik/Daily Nebraskan
Michele Hudson looks casual yet well-dressed in her Donna
Karan New York clothing from Ben Simon’s.
T-shirt trends that lost the time test
By William Rudolph
Staff Reporter
Remember these T-shirts?
Today, one-pocket T’s in solid
colors or with judicious stripes may
be the rage. In the not so distant past,
much different T-shirts were hotter
than hot. But like the hula hoop and
the Dodo bird, the days of these styles
are definitely past.
• 1979-80: The height of the disco
era AND the height of the custom
printed T-shirt. Lincoln itself boasted
at least four specialty boutiques where
really cool fashion victims selected
decals for the front of the shirt. These
designs ranged lh)in Bo Derek to Dally
Duck. And, of course, names were
always on the back of the shirt. Par
ticularly popular was the year of high
school graduation emblazoned across
the chest, especially in elementary or
junior high school. Since it was the
’70s any statements could be made
with the chest, including such gems
as, “If I said you had a beautiful
body, would you hold it against me?”
I The ultimate in cool: having the same
T-shirt as one’s friends. The finished
product looked just groovy tucked
into painter s paints or covering hot
pants and roller skates. And all at a
time when the country had barely
recovered from mid-70s wonders like
“I’m With Stupid” and “She’s Mine.”
• Mid-1980s: The rock concert T
shirl. You could always tell who had
been at what concert the next day at
school by the flurry of concert T’s
littering the halls. These mostly black
(but sometimes gray) T-shirts often
had a cheesy silk-screened portrait of
the band on the front, with the tour
dates stenciled on the back. That way,
everyone would know that you had
spent your hard-earned allowance to
rock out to Loverboy and friends
instead of doing your earth science
homework like a good student.
• 1984-85: Wham! bam, thank
you,ma’am! Plain whiteT-shirts with
large, black messages let everyone
know your stand on any particular
issue. Whether or not you wanted to
“Choose Life” along with George
Michael, or “Relax” with Frankie
Goes to Hollywood, these trendy
coverings were a way to be fashion
able and political at the same time.
• 1987: If you didn’t have a Hard
Rock Cafe T-shirt, you stood a chance
of joining the ranks of the uncool.
Everybody who was anybody paraded
around campus with the most far
flung Hard Rock Cafe locations stuck
on their white and tan chests like
battle prizes. Hard Rock shirts actu
ally were wealth indicators. It was
one thing to have a shirt from Chi
cago, but not everyone could go to
Cancun, London or Tokyo Hard Rocks.
Even the domis ripped off the Hard
Rock logo, although being from Abel
Residence Hall didn’t exactly match
the exclusivity of a Stockholm T
shirt. As the shirts grew more and
more popular, the question became
not whether you wore the shirt, but
whether you had actually BEEN there
to buy it.
Last but not least: the grcck T. On
a similar scale to the rock concert T
shirt, a common shirt about campus
commemorates whichever riotous
theme evening fraternity and sorority
members have recently celebrated.
And while the T-shirts may publicize
and create solidarity among practi
tioners of grcck life, it’s very rare to
sec any fashionable house member
wearing a “Be My Idol’ ’ or4 ‘Anchor
Splash ’86" T.
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