For anyone who has studied Who What Wear’s spring 2021 trend report—if not, you can remedy the situation here—you’ll know that rediscovering the joy of getting dressed was at the heart of this season’s collections and manifested in everything from feel-good prints and fantasy frocks to paintbox brights and playful cut-outs. The graphic tee? I like to think of it as one of the more democratic ways to inject a little dopamine into your summer dressing, but you’ll be happy to hear that these could not be further from the Groovy Chick iterations of your teens. (Although, I’m sure there’s a corner of TikTok where those are cool again.)
The wonderful thing about the 2021 graphic tee is that you can very much make it your own, and the category spans everything from designer logos to quirky photographic prints. I personally have a soft spot for the retro-inspired designs championed by Alessandro Michele at Gucci (where else?), who is really going all in with the psychedelic ’70s fonts. Incidentally, there are plenty of fun graphic tees to be found second-hand, and sites such as Rokit are packed full of retro basketball prints, photographic tourist tees and, of course, a good selection of band T-shirts.
There is also something so deliciously Y2K about the designer logo tee, and I’ve loved how brands such as Ganni and Loewe x Paula’s Ibiza have managed to give the look a 2021 update with playful colourways and cartoon-like imagery. But whatever kind of graphic tee you choose, this trend is sure to put a smile on your face. Scroll down to see and shop my complete edit.
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