The T-shirt is a secret invention of the American army. Believe it? No, and rightly so, there was, of course, nothing secret about the appearance of T-shirts, but they still had something to do with the American army. T-shirt, so called T-shirts in English-speaking countries. The name familiar to our ear arose thanks to the game of football, or rather, thanks to the participants in this very game - football players, who wore T-shaped shirts with short sleeves.
Something similar to T-shirts appears during the First World War as underwear for soldiers of the British army. But the T-shirt gets its modern look during the Second World War. As you know, during the Second World War, the Americans fought in the Pacific Ocean, in a very hot climate, and it is for them, soldiers of the American army, that they begin to sew 100% cotton T-shirts with short sleeves and a round collar. Originally, all T-shirts were exclusively white. And the soldiers used them as underwear in cold latitudes, and as outerwear in hot ones.
Today you can find fashionable women's and men's T-shirts with many inscriptions and even pictures. According to the inscriptions and pictures, they can be divided into conditional groups: T-shirts for lovers, patriotic T-shirts, T-shirts for fans of a particular sport, or T-shirts just with cool and funny inscriptions. But the first inscriptions on T-shirts also appear during the Second World War in the American army, then soldiers wrote the numbers of military units, the names of units and models of weapons on them.
The real popularity of T-shirts comes in the post-war period. It was advertised by Hollywood. Namely, the films "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) and "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), in which the actors went wild in T-shirts.
1960s - the time of a riot, the emergence of youth movements, protests against the war in Vietnam. It was at this time that inscriptions appeared on T-shirts, reflecting the mood of young people, as well as indicating the problems existing in the world. T-shirts are becoming popular with hippies.
1970s - and the lettering on trendy T-shirts changes again. Now they are painted with images of popular musicians, singers, rock groups. But soon T-shirts with inscriptions, which were invented by the person wearing the T-shirt, are also becoming fashionable. According to legend, Johnny Rotten (a popular British rock musician, songwriter of the Sex Pistols) was the first to sign his T-shirt, reflecting with the help of the inscription on it his idea of the world, his own thoughts and emotions, his mood. T-shirts were also popular among punks at the time.
Today, women's and men's T-shirts, as in the 70s and 60s, remain youth clothing, dazzling with a variety of colors, inscriptions and drawings on them.