How to Keep cool in a T-Shirt

As the sun begins to thaw out the UK and dries up the rivers of flood water, we need to prepare for the imminent heatwave that is no doubt going to be our summer. The summer is the birthplace of the modern t-shirt, our pasty arms get an adventure into the world, dazzlingly white soon to be turned pink under the baking heat of the sun.

The beauty of the modern t-shirt is that you aren't hampered by style, or colours and you can even get your own image, design or slogan customised onto a garment of your choosing. From a fashion t-shirt to a statement t-shirt you can literally be your own designer. To source customised t-shirts you need to have an idea of what exactly you want it to look like. A design is the easy part, you then need to consider position of the artwork and any additional slogans. From sleeve tags to hem names think outside the chest area.

For some inspiration this summer we have selected some different but unique ways to wear a t-shirt to the best effect, ensuring you stay cool and look cool.

The cropped t-shirt

This doesn't have to be perfectly seemed hem line, you can literally get a regular t-shirt and crop it using some scissors. The beauty of a cropped top is that it keeps you cool allowing air to pass under the garment easier. But be careful not to do any handstands!

 Sleeveless Tops

This 80's inspired look has come back into fashion with a bang. Coupled with a boob tube or bikini for the girls this unisex look is a great cooling practical beach t-shirt. Allowing you to show off ribcage tattoos and all over tan this t-shirt is perfect for warm weather.

 Scoop Neck T-Shirt

Scoop neck t-shirts are standard in all t-shirt printing shops, great for girls weekends away or time spent at the beach. Remember logo placement or artwork on these garments can be tricky to place so you may want to think about the hem, or rear of the t-shirt to showcase your design.

 Tied up T-Shirt

If you find yourself caught in the heat and have a regular t-shirt on don't worry, those knots you learned at scouts will stand you in good stead. Tie the front section around creating a cropped top look, you can also roll up the sleeves to help cool your arms.

Celebrity T-Shirts - Cool designs worn by celebs

Celebrities are constantly appearing in print media and online in different t-shirts, from bold statements, proclamations of music fandom to self promotion there is an abundance of different ideas that celebrities use to adorn their comfortable dress down wear. These novelty t-shirts can create a storm of popularity and provide a huge swell of sales to t-shirt makers the world over. With most movie stars and pop music artists you will find they have a well versed team of stylists following them around the world laying out their days wear before they have had their morning dump. But is it really necessary to have so much thought in what t-shirt you wear, I guess if your photographed morning, noon and night then the answer to that is of course yes. Your t-shirt can cause controversy and even harm your public image so better to have it cross checked by a professional. Here are five of the best examples of celebrities wearing t-shirts for different means:

Self Promoting - Movie

Vin Diesel is a action god of an actor, bringing to life one of the cult favourite comic characters in the chronicle of Riddick, first seen during the film Pitch Black. He is obviously a big fan of this franchise doing appearances at comic con throughout last year. He is often sporting a retro style Furyan t-shirt which is a nod to his character. Of course this t-shirt instantly inspired thousands of fans to go out and get their hands on the same item, albeit with a less ample chest to fill it out. The beauty of this t-shirt is that it is not an overtly obvious statement, for those not fans of this franchise they could be confused by what the word means, meaning google searches no doubt shoot through the roof, not bad to promote your upcoming sequel.

Proclaiming good taste in music

Celebrities can often get dragged into awkward interview questions about their taste in music, all vying to be seen as cool they can rely on a few of the faithful names in the history of music to display their cool credentials. From the Rolling Stones to the Doors these super bands are t-shirt ever presents and why not let the celebrity jump on that bandwagon. Of course we would all love to see them interviewed about the band they are showcasing, what is their favourite track, which is their favourite album. We then might see if they are true fans or simply wearing it as a fashion symbol, the kind of action that makes fans angry!

Standing up for a cause

If I was a celebrity being photographed daily I'd ensure each message seen was one which would make people think. From the famous NO MORE PAGE 3 cause to the NO FUR campaign I'd get a point across using the power of print media. If you do find yourself in this position of power it may be worth considering if the message will come back to haunt you. Don't go promoting the rights of animals if you have leather shoes and a fur coat, don't promote vegetarianism whilst pictured in McDonald's and don't promote abstinence from drugs if your high!

Retro Retro Retro

It's a sign of age to see something from your childhood become retro but of course it happens to all of us at some point. The rise in retro cool has been growing for years and movies from the 70's and 80's are now fair game, have you seen the Goonies t-shirts? This is a sign of good taste, but amusing when you see an actor wear a movie t-shirt for a film they would have had little chance being cast in.

Just Plain Rude

Rude t-shirts can be edgy, but are they really something you should wear in a public place? Who knows but its a growing trend amongst celebs. From the "Save a horse ride a cowboy" to the "F*CK You" there are plenty of slogans that can be used to turn heads. Rihanna is no stranger to this and is clearly making an ironic statement here with her top, queue the number of times you will see this around your local shopping mall normalising what could be viewed as an offensive word.

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Fashion Crimes - Banned T-shirts

There is no accounting for taste in a diverse society and many items of clothing can cause offence. Whether it be see through leggings or a bold and brash political slogan on your chest, people enjoy being offended, but should it be a criminal offence. There have been some amazingly stupid cases of arrests over t-shirt slogans throughout history and across the world, from the anti apartheid t-shirts of the 70's banned in South Africa to the pro NRA school expulsion in the states.

T-Shirts became popular as an outer wear garment around 1920, having previously been used solely as an undergarment or vest. From the origins of work wear they have morphed into a multi purpose fashion item that is found in everybodies wardrobe. From V-neck to crop tops the list of adaptations are endless and their brush with the law is as old as their invention.

Wet T-shirt contests where invented in Spain, as part of the festivities this past time was perhaps chauvanistic in it's message. The list of controversial brushes with the law is long, public decency laws make this type of game the preserve of student nightclubs and kinky festivals, synonymous with spring break there has been a number of cases of underage displays which got the organisers into a lot of hot water. One of the funniest examples was an Ohio newsreader (Catherine Bosley) who was caught on camera stripping off and getting a shower of water revealing her ample assets, hardly the past time suitable for someone in the public eye. Having resigned her news anchor position she went on to successfully sue Hustler magazine which took it upon themselves to publish the pictures (previously bought and copyrighted by Bosley - clever lady) no doubt the out of court settlement was perhaps enough to endure the loss of her news career.

Another example of the troubled history of the t-shirt is the case of an NRA supporting 14 year old who was arrested after refusing to remove the offending item of clothing at his school. With the US history of gun crime in high school you can understand the teasing and outcry from fellow students but in my school you got detention not a criminal record. On appeal the court ruled in the boys favour and he was allowed to return to school with the offending t-shirts, a victory for freedom of speech or perhaps a case of wasted tax payers money.

Being arrested for causing offence is perhaps a grey area, the result is only likely to happen if people complain, because otherwise nobody has been caused any offence. A mother in Orlando recently fell foul of this when in a newly opened water park with her children got soaked making her top half visible to other park goers. Now having been to florida I know how hot it can get and often people would go on water rides to cool down, I'm not sure I ever considered the fact t-shirts would go transparent, you ain't likely to put a coat on afterwards unless you were partial to a bit of sun stroke. So this mother is suing the police for the utter nonsense of someone being offended by a pair of slightly visible boobs. Society has a strange relationship with the naked form, campaigners want to promote breastfeeding in public but at all other times its criminal to go topless? 

Political messages are easily conveyed on a t-shirts, saves on your arms getting tired holding up a board. Of course depending on the political message and where you may be going it's worth thinking is it going to get you into trouble. A country fair might not be the most political of places but one smart business person decided B*llocks to Blair was a great slogan given Tony Blair's utter contempt for many of the rural livelihoods, this resulted in an arrest of one person, strangely they were not the only one wearing the t-shirt. She did eventually get released on the condition she put on a jacket, without explanation as to whether it was the word they were censoring or perhaps the political message, perhaps Blair's a Baddie would have been better.