Style File: Dressing to a "tee"

A majority of my Twitter feed is heavily fashion-focused. I follow all of the major magazines, fashion bloggers, shopping websites, models and editors, often spending more time than I’d like to admit catching up on the latest fashion news. Some days, it’s a special sale at J.Crew or Shopbop. Other days, it’s a review of the Givenchy show in Paris.

The other day, it was a jaw-dropping tweet from Cosmopolitan with the teaser, “Just your average $91,500 T-shirt.”

The linked article revealed that this was no joke — there really is a T-shirt that costs upwards of 90 grand, and it isn’t your typical cotton Hanes. French luxury brand Hermès — known for its $10,000-plus Birkin bags — is selling a crocodile and chiffon T-shirt at their New York City Madison Avenue store that rings in around $99,500, including NYC sales tax.

There have been similar fashion controversies, like Francesca Eastwood setting a $100,000 Hermès Birkin bag on fire or the Olsen twins designing a $50,000 backpack for The Row.

Usually people just get upset: “You could feed a third-world country with that kind of money!” But this time around, I thought long and hard about the crocodile T-shirt and what it could mean for college students like me.

The singular message I gleaned from this story: invest in basics. I’m not talking about dropping a few hundred dollars on a pair of jeans. But when it comes to the items you rely on multiple times a week, it makes sense to find something high-quality that will look great for multiple seasons.

Last summer, I bought all of my basic white T-shirts for just a few dollars. As expected, I wore them to death. The fibers got stretched, holes formed at the seams and they just didn’t hold their shape. For something I needed for nearly every outfit — from denim cut-offs and sandals during the day to printed skirts and heels at night — I realized I had to make more of an investment. I headed to J.Crew and Bloomingdales to find tees that had a little bit of stretch, thicker fabric, the right neckline, a slightly loose fit and sleeves that weren’t too short, and guess what? After an eventful summer in New York and almost a full year at IU, they still look amazing.

The same kind of careful consideration should be paid to all of your classics, like great-fitting jeans, a sturdy leather bag and perfect ballet flats. While these have always been considered wardrobe necessities, the shift toward minimalism this spring and summer means the easiest way to look chic is to choose one standout piece — maybe a tribal clutch or statement necklace — and pair it with those tried-and-true basics.

The Hermès T-shirt is an extreme example, but it demonstrates the direction fashion is taking towards unfussy, clean style. After clicking through hundreds of street style photos from Fashion Week last month, the most stylish women in the world were all pushing that same message: They wore their tees with jeans, vibrant heels, sharp blazers and everything in between. It will certainly make getting dressed easier this summer, which is always a good thing.


­— emfarra@indiana.edu