Slogan tops are back and they are evoking major 90s nostalgia
The writing is on the t-shirt!
From Britney's 'Dump Him', all the way to JW Anderson's 'I Told Ya' t-shirt, slogan tees are back with a bang. And I’m not surprised—it was only a matter of time before the ’00s graphic tee made its way into our closets. In 2002, pop icon Britney Spears grabbed a Starbucks while wearing a baby blue t-shirt featuring a phrase that lives in my mind rent-free: 'Dump Him'. Similarly, there was Paris Hilton's 'Don't Be Jealous', Lindsay Lohan's 'Skinny B*tch', and a host of other slogan t-shirts that made the style a force to be reckoned with in the Y2K wardrobe! And who could forget Maria Grazia Chiuri's 'We should all be feminists' t-shirt years later, making a statement in her first collection for Dior in 2016? Perhaps the most memorable, and viral, resuscitation in recent years was Hailey Bieber's viral cropped white 'nepo baby' tee in 2023, a sartorial exercise in self-awareness—wearing her label loud and proud!
The 2024 trend cycle lately has been dominated by the 2000s-era (read: the resurgence of low-rise jeans and denim skirts), so it was only a matter of time until the statement graphic tee, a staple in every teen wardrobe, returned as well. As with most fashion trends, celebrities can be seen rallying behind the style. In fact, it seems to be the preferred mode of making a statement without saying anything at all; as opposed to the Instagram caption-esque ways of the past. Apart from Bieber’s now-iconic 'nepo baby' tee, we saw Sydney Sweeney’s message for everyone still obsessed with her boobs (her top read “Sorry for having great tits”), and Sabrina Carpenter’s cheeky reference to the controversy around filming her Feather music video in a Catholic church (her oversized tee read “Jesus was a carpenter”).
Another self-referential t-shirt came as a result of the 2023 Netflix docu-series Beckham—Victoria Beckham poked fun at herself with a "My Dad Had A Rolls Royce" t-shirt, in reference to her excessively memed confession. Olivia Rodrigo announced her album Guts wearing a cowboy hat and a white tank top that read 'Deluxe' in large red letters (accompanied by some y2k jewellery, obvs). The piece did what many good slogan tops do: tap into an aesthetic through nothing more than text.
The latest tee going viral comes via Zendaya and Jonathan Anderson, though we can trace its origin to John F Kennedy Jr– bearing the phrase 'I Told Ya'. The cult piece was originally worn by JFK Jr, when he was photographed by paparazzi, wearing it while playing frisbee with his dog. In 2024, Anderson revived the style for Luca Guadagnino’s blockbuster film, Challengers, in which it's worn by Zendaya.
What’s notable about this trend is the brazen loudness of the slogan t-shirt, especially as it stands in direct contrast to the white tees of last year’s quiet-luxury era. Whether it's a political statement, a phrase that speaks to the wearer, or just a bit of fun, the overall style is greater than the sum of its parts—and we couldn't approve more.
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