1000 T-Shirts: That Make a Statement

Call this the one-volume encyclopedia that centers around one specific article of clothing: the T-shirt—everything you ever wanted to know about a T-shirt and even what you didn’t even realize you needed to know about a T-shirt.

If there is one item that is even more ubiquitous than a pair of jeans it is undoubtedly a T-shirt in one manifestation or another. If there is an article of clothing that is part of the world’s wardrobe it would be the T-shirt. Lastly if there is any article of wearing apparel that is multi-generational, unisex, sometimes sending a message, and has no fashion expiration date then that would be a T-shirt.

Orsini examines or possibly surgically dissects the uses, origins, history, brands and iconography of this item to the point of, well . . . do you really need to know all of this? Nevertheless, this  is a book for those who hunger for knowledge, no matter how arcane when it comes the world of fashion as the author explores so many facets.

Frankly, the book might be referred to as a visual thesis on the subject. This particular reader found it to be somewhat overly informative to the point of sensing that the “message” could have been sent and received in less than almost 300 pages. At a certain saturation level the reader might lose interest since every imaginable aspect of the T-shirt is explored, categorized, dissected, and examined.