T-shirts with hoods are the way to go and Ritu Kumar has plenty in her Label collection

You have known it only as a simple summer staple. Well, now the basic T-shirt is the stuff of high fashion, glamorous to boot and a trusted choice even for formalwear.

It’s now being embellished, digitally printed upon and even decorated with stones and crystals for the jewelled look. If you have a quirky sense of humour, polo neck tees with tongue-in-cheek slogans could be your ticket to uber cool. And all you have to do is decide the look that best suits you. But you could be paying anywhere up to Rs 10,000 for each — a far cry from the routine Rs 125 price tag.

Wacky one-liners are the mainstay of Chimp’s collection

Ritu Kumar attributes the popularity of tees to their versatility, their new textures and fits. She says: “A T-shirt can be teamed with a variety of legwear like skirts, trousers, formal pants and of course jeans, it can be slipped on under a formal jacket and can even double up as a blouse for a sari.”

Today, when you think of T-shirts, it’s easy to imagine them drenched in crystals or touched with heavy embroidery. Tarun Tahiliani made the jewelled tee popular a few seasons ago and more recently other designers have launched their own interpretations.

Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna’s signature label, Cue, offers men drapey tees styled with cowls

Manish Arora has recently collaborated with Swarovski to design T-shirts that will set you back by a cool Rs 10,000 each. You can pick them up only from Swarovski stores.

The base colour of the tee is black and each of them glitters with Swarovski encrusted motifs of Goddess Laxmi, Ganesha and Nandi (the Bull). Arora says: “I am hugely inspired by Indian pop culture — mainly Hindu symbolism — and the crystals add the sheen required for a night out.”

Apart from crystals, metal chains and zips are also raising the bar for the humble tee. For instance, Swapnil Shinde’s cotton-jersey T-shirts for women have metal chains at the back for detailing while the men’s tees get zips on the side. His prices range between Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,000.

Since experimenting with tees seems to be fashion’s newest buzzword, Ritu Kumar has brought her design ethos to the tee as well. Kumar’s ready-to-wear signature brand, Label, offers an array of tees with Indian prints. Check out the bandhni-printed, hooded and quarter-sleeved tee (Rs 1,950) or a Lycra tee with digital prints and puff-sleeves (Rs 2,850).

Her forthcoming line will have prints inspired by the Buddhist Tankha paintings and they will be priced at Rs 3,000 each.

If drapes are doing well, how can the T-shirt not keep up with this style trend? Draped tees are hot this season, say designers Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna. Their latest collection offers draped T-shirts for women and these have cowls on either side of the T-shirt.

Designers Nidhi Singh and Gaurav Gupta have created Bollywood inspired organic T-shirts in their latest line. Pic by Gajanan Dudhalkar

“Cowls can do wonders to enhance the look of the garment. We have designed the tees in Lycra, cotton-silk and silk-jersey with a little bit of sequin embellishments on them,” says Khanna. The colour palette includes lime green, coral and fuchsia. For men, they offer white, loose-fit tees with bright piping on the neck and sleeves. The prices go from Rs 1,800 to Rs 3,500.

Even Bollywood is proving to be a major inspiration for some designers who are rooting for catchy filmy slogans. Like designer duo Pranav Kapur and Abhir Khanna who are creating funky tees under the label Blue Bus Tees that was launched last year in Mumbai. The tees are available online at www.bluebustees.com.

Manish Arora has collaborated with Swarovski for T-shirts embellished with motifs inspired by Indian mythology

Says Khanna: “Our forte lies in cheeky one-liners and funny (and famous) dialogues on T-shirts.” Just pick from tees that scream — Mujhe Bhagwan Ke Liye, Rock On, Disco Dancer or Mere Paas Maa Hai. The price range varies from Rs 300 to Rs 600.

Another designer team of Nidhi Singh and Gaurav Gupta is making Bollywood poster art fashionable through their label, Indigreen. Says Gupta: “The idea is to have in-your-face one-liners to attract the fashionable crowd and at the same time to sport a green message.”

The T-shirts — which they sell online (www.indigreen.co.in) — are organic and are hand-painted with non-toxic colours by a team of Bollywood poster artists. Some of their go-green, Bollywood-inspired slogans include — Mere Paas Dharti Maa Hai (a take on the famous dialogue Mere Paas Maa Hai), Kaagaz Ke Phool and Do Anjaane (from Rs 600 to Rs 2,500).

Tongue-in-cheek slogans feature in tees designed by Pranav Kapoor and Abhir Khanna of Blue Bus Tees. Pic by Gajanan Dudhalkar

Tongue-in-cheek one-liners seem to be the mainstay of ‘Chimp’ launched by Mumbai designer Anckur Patodia in 2008. A vibrant colour palette like bright ochres, chilli-greens, yellows, blues and purples dominate the collection in cotton and are available in polo neck and half-sleeves. Prices range from Rs 299 to Rs 599.

Even graffiti art on tees is hot this season with new designers like Bhautik Siddhapura who works as an art director with Ogilvy & Mather by day and is a T-shirt designer by night. His brand Mom Made Co, a hit in the office circuit will soon be available in high-end stores in India.

“I design whatever comes to my mind and it can be funny slogans or some environmental issue or inspiration from everyday objects,” he explains. The T-shirts are priced at Rs 2,000.

So go ahead and take your pick from the new-look version of a very basic garment.