How the French got their signature lines

If there is one piece of clothing that almost all of us have in our closet, it is almost certainly a classic t-shirt with a distinctive Breton striped pattern. The t-shirt, best described as a classic cotton t-shirt with sailor stripes, has undergone many changes and refreshes throughout its history, worn by sailors and dock workers, as well as by people who in one way or another have forever marked the history of popular culture. .

The beginning of the Breton striped shirt dates back to a long time ago 1858, when they dressed the members in a neat striped uniform French sea crews. The original design consists of 21 lines, representing all Napoleon's victories, and the recognizable stripes had a practical purpose at the time, as a sailor in a striped shirt was easy to spot - especially when he fell overboard. The shirt was named after the former French province of Brittany, and was made in several versions from wool and cotton. With yours practicality soon impressed all the other workers and sailors in general. In those days, the T-shirt did not yet have a fashionable connotation.

Until the famous went to the northern French coast Coco Chanel. Her sensitive eye immediately recognized the interesting pattern and classic cut. A fashion icon impressed the sailors' uniforms to such an extent that she incorporated the Breton stripes into her own nautical collection, which she presented to the world of high fashion for years 1917. The relaxed design impressed many and contributed to the real fashion departure of the time, because before the modern collection, the fashion of tightly tied corsets reigned on the catwalks and streets of the fashion capitals. The fashion designer definitely went down in fashion history because of her ability to change it. You could say that she brought to the world of fashion, which had mainly limited women before a new wave of freshness and thereby enabled the women to finally breathe freely. The top she imagined was presented in the collection in combination with elegant bell-shaped trousers. Her idea received a lot of approval, and the shirt was quickly adopted by all the members of the upper classes at the time.

The Breton stripes made their screen debut years ago 1953, when they wear a striped shirt in the Hollywood classic "The Wild One" dressed Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin. In 1955, in the film "Rebel Without a Cause"followed to fame James Dean. The first lady to wear a Breton shirt on set was none other than beautiful and always self-contained Audrey Hepburn. With it, in combination with elegant black cigarette pants, she charmed in the movie "Funny Face". In the 60s of the last century, the Breton lines were marked mainly through the French of the new wave, as the striped shirt was the favorite garment of most actors. Jean Seberg for example, she wears it in the movie "Breathless“.

Read more about the history of the classic T-shirt.

The lines also inspired artists, Pablo Picasso was photographed wearing the striped classic quite a few times, and a cult pop artist was also impressed by the pattern Andy Warhol.

Also a gorgeous actress and style icon – Brigitte Bardot – she paid a lot of attention to her shirt. Modern fans of the striped shirt are also Audrey Tautou, who wore the shirt for the role of Coco Chanel in the movie "Coco Before Chanel", the designer also took the lines as his own Jean Paul Gaultier, who is even known as the ambassador of Breton stripes, as they appear in almost every one of his collections. He is so impressed with the pattern that he also put a bottle of his designer perfume in them"Only Male“.

The lines are loved by well-known style icons all over the world, they are worn mainly in combination with a classic beige tank top, high-quality tailored jeans and elegant ballet flats, which are replaced by leather sandals and canvas shorts in the summer.

As far as we know the basic rules of dress, we probably know a few of those classic pieces, which will always be in fashion and which we simply cannot miss. These pieces definitely include a black mini dress, a black blazer, well-tailored jeans, a white shirt and a beige coat. The basic classic pieces also include the cotton t-shirt with Breton stripes, which can already be found in many versions these days. We will certainly find one of our favorite pieces of clothing among t-shirts with long, three-quarter and short sleeves, and even a knitted version. The charm of this kind of classic is not just status, but above all usefulness, because the "classic" can be worn and combined in a thousand and one ways. In any case, the evidence for this is many famous artists and actors, as well as fashionable modern women, whose photos can serve as an endless source of inspiration.

The story of the Breton striped shirt has undergone many interesting twists and turns over time, despite this, and perhaps precisely because of this, we can say that the effect of the Breton stripes will remain forever the same - exciting.

Check out the variations of the Breton striped shirt in the gallery below.