The Shirt of Summer Isn't a Shirt at All
The perfect summer shirt is in the eye of the beholder. The shirt of summer 2024, however, is not up for debate. And it's not really a shirt, either.
Sometimes called a "wife pleaser," sometimes called an undershirt and nearly always white, the ribbed tank top is the single most ubiquitous base layer of the season.
If that sounds obvious, it's because it was also the shirt of summer 2023. In fact, it's never not been worn. It's just that now the ribbed tank is even more the definitive shirt of the summer.
What began as a TikTok-driven renaming campaign culminated in the ribbed tank returning to claim its throne as not only the single most versatile base layer of all time, but perhaps the single greatest warm weather "shirt" ever conceived.
Beyond (or perhaps due to) its proletarian appeal, the ribbed tank has recently been taken up by basically every famously stylish young celeb in the biz: Anya Taylor-Joy, Jeremy Allen White, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Emma Corrin all wore basically the same simple style in beautifully distinct harmony. And that doesn't even come close to covering the literal dozens I see worn out and around New York on the daily.
Yes, the ribbed tank is the ultimate summertime no-brainer, regardless of budget, style, taste, or occasion.
But we all knew that already. What's currently so interesting is that the ribbed tank has recently been adopted across gender and identity.
Whereas in 2023 it had a more Dimes Square dirtbag affiliation, catering to a certain type of post-scumbro dude, as of 2024 the ribbed tank is for everyone.
And why not? Fitted snug for ease, tank tops unleash the guns, both framing and airing out the torso. Sweaty? Dries but quick. Stained? Mere amplification of the tank's devil-may-care cool.
Like a T-shirt, ribbed tanks go with everything: Jeans, shorts, track pants, sweats, slacks, swim trunks. Even more than a tee, they also go under anything.
But, again, the real major update isn't even that the ribbed tank no longer needs to be covered. It's that the ribbed tank covers all.
And while other trends come and go, the tank top's mutability guarantees staying power.
Zendaya wearing the ribbed tank with a luxury skirt makes just as much sense as Emily Ratajkowski wearing it with sweat shorts. It is formal, it is casual, it is inevitable like death and taxes.
That's at least partially why we're seeing a boom in the tank top classique rather than the outrageously expensive luxury versions.
It's not just the price tags keeping the average ribbed tank enjoyer away from LOEWE's $430 tanks and Prada's $995 cotton singlet, though they certainly don't help. No, the point is that the ribbed tank is knowingly "unfashionable," in the same sense as other timeless all-timers like T-shirts and denim jeans.
The ribbed tank is a no-nonsense nothing so uncomplicated enough to innately flow with everything in its vicinity, absorbing the flavors of surrounding garments. It is fashion tofu.
However, those pricey fashion-forward tanks may deserve some credit for today's tank transformation.
The ribbed tank top became part of mid-20th century men's underwear after World War II when militaria was adopted into civilian wardrobes. Later, the imitable on-screen bravado of James Dean and Marlon Brando made it a bad boy base layer.
In subsequent decades, the ribbed tank became the archetypal menswear undershirt, hardly ever seen nor heard save for certain circumstances that earned its less-savory nickname.
Around 2022, the white ribbed tank top was rechristened, at least partially by TikTokers, the "wife pleaser." The term wasn't more widely adopted until about 2023, though, when it began resurfacing en masse, poking out from un-buttoned shirts as a reflection of menswear's greater Aimé Leon Dore-ification.
And while the aforementioned ultra-expensive luxury tanks made waves in 2022, they helped normalize the ribbed tank top as an ungendered essential.
Now, the most approachable retailers on the planet are pushing remarkably popular unisex variants — Abercrombie's website promises that as many as four dozen people are viewing its ribbed tanks at any given moment. And that's to say nothing of the elastic athleisure iterations.
The tank's cost-effectiveness and broad appeal means that it's also available in a variety of cuts, weights and (typically low) price points, encouraging would-be wearers to find their own flavor through experimentation.
And experiment they do, all in the name of the perfect fit.
One coworker told me she buys her ribbed tanks from the Target boys' section, for instance, because they fit perfectly snug and cropped right off the shelf.
The ribbed tank resurgence is reflective of fashion's patiently increasing comfort with genderfluidity, a proposition exemplified by pioneering queer designers like Telfar, Vaquera and Kingsley and itself indicative of greater cultural trends, adoption and appropriation. It speaks to music-driven stylistic subcultures from rave to grunge.
And, when winter arrives, the ribbed tank will not go away. It will instead return to its original purpose, comfortably tucked beneath outer layers and ready to blossom anew come spring.
