Why tourist T-shirts are suddenly the season’s hottest fashion item
A generic tourist T-shirt, the kind sold in souvenir shops with a place-name graphic, has become a surprising microtrend. The article traces the look back to the 1960s, when screen printing spread and some Miami resorts began selling branded shirts for tourism and advertising. It says the 1976 launch of the “I ❤️ NY” shirt made it a global tourism icon, and by the 1970s location-based T-shirts were a staple in souvenir stores worldwide.
Now the trend is returning through high fashion. Chanel showed a sparkly “I love NY” T-shirt under a tweed skirt suit in Matthieu Blazy’s “Métiers d’art” collection, first at an abandoned subway stop on Bowery in New York and then in Seoul three weeks ago. Louis Vuitton also featured a cropped version with ruffled sleeves in its Cruise 2027 collection. The article says the look is usually adopted first by early adopters and celebrities.
Among recent celebrity examples, Sabrina Carpenter wore a tiny Brazil top in green and yellow during her tour in Brazil and Paraguay, while Hailey Bieber wore a ribbed 100 percent cotton tank from Made Some that cost $132. Amelia Dimoldenberg showed how a basic tourist tee can be dressed up for an evening event: at a recent premiere in New York, she wore a white shirt reading “I love New York” with a modern tutu-style skirt by Miss Claire Sullivan and heels.
The article also cites older references, including Lindsay Lohan in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in New York Minute, and Celine Dion wearing a Vetements “I love Paris” shirt during Paris Fashion Week in 2019. In Israel, influencer and TV panelist Danit Greenberg wore a colorful tourist T-shirt on Kan 11’s “Ma SheTagidu,” and businesswoman and content creator Rotem Hajjaj wore a white “Saint Tropez” shirt during a Michael Kors event in Saint-Tropez. The piece concludes that football shirts also fit the trend, especially with the 2026 World Cup now underway, and recommends pairing the tee with unexpected pieces such as a pencil skirt, tailored trousers, or a blazer.
