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Celebrities are wearing their heart on their slogan tees.
Some are political, some cheeky and majority of them either handmade or created by indie designers. Ayo Edebiri, for one, made her disdain for AI sartorially clear when wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the blunt message: “Do Not Talk to Me About AI. I Will Kill Myself.” The irreverent tee, designed by musician Karl Kuehn, turned heads online, but Edebiri has long made her anti-AI sentiments clear. In 2024, the actress criticized the technology’s environmental impact on Instagram, declaring, “This shit is cooking the planet!!!! And our brains!!!!”
Not all are political, though. Just last week, Ethan Hawke was photographed on set of “The Lowdown” in Tulsa, Oklahoma wearing a baby blue “Dump Him” tee, a replica of the Juicy Couture one famously worn by Britney Spears following her breakup with Justin Timberlake in 2000.
If Spears is one of the first major proponents of the slogan tee, celebrity-loved designer Conner Ives can be at least partially credited with its recent resurgence — most notably with his “Protect the Dolls” t-shirt worn by Pedro Pascal, Troye Sivan, Tilda Swinton and others. The American-born, London-based designer made the original shirt himself the night before his fall 2025 runway show, responding to the Trump administration’s attacks on transgender rights. “Dolls” is an affectionate term for trans women rooted in queer ballroom culture. After the viral moment, he put the t-shirt up for sale with profits going towards the nonprofit TransLifeline.
Ives continued his lover affair with the slogan tee for the 2026 Spring/Summer season, releasing three new t-shirts imprinted with quippy phrases: “AI Betrayed Me,” “I Work Nights” and “Bring Back Shame,” the latter modeled by Hari Nef at New York Fashion Week. Given Hollywood’s love affair with Ives, and how well received his most recent show, we can only expect more celebrities in the style.
The irreverent trend has also made its way to the red carpet. Alexander Skarsgård may its biggest proponent. The actor most recently wore a custom shirt printed with “Lick My Worm” at a “Wicker” screening last month — a nod to an Olivia Colman line in the film. Before that, he wore a green “Just Say No” tee to a promotional event for the film at 92nd Street Y.
A24 has wisely jumped on the bandwagon. Their merch site is filled with slogan tees for each of their individual titles, starting with Jonathan Anderson’s viral “I Told Ya” tee for “Challengers.” Most recently, Zendaya wore the Emily Dawn-Long-designed “To Be Loved Is to be Known” tee for the “The Drama.”
Shop a few slogan tees inspired the celebrity-loved trend below:
Source: Variety · Anna Tingley
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