What's in a t-shirt?

If there is a causal link between geekdom and fashion the band T-shirt is it – preferably black, preferably quirky and perhaps a little too tight. Every geek, even the most acceptable, has one and most can, to some extent, pull it off. Though the Acceptable Geek Club deplores them being the only thing in one’s wardrobe, they have a time and a place and, if one can locate that correctly, can be pretty damn cool.

Though the Acceptable Geek Club likes band T-shirts (particularly one’s bearing images of The Stone Roses or The Smiths) it is perplexed by one’s motivations for wearing them. Geeks were up in arms when the Ramones and Rolling Stones logos began covering the Top Shop clad chests of teenage girls several years ago so why is it different when someone who knows the first 5 digits of ∏ does it? The obvious claim is an epistemic one:

1. Knowing about band x and owning their albums entitles you to wear their logo/album cover on your chest.
   


2. Failing to know about band x yet wearing their logo/album cover on your chest means you are a dangerous fraud subject to the whims of the global fashion industry and/or capitalism
   


3. Hence, only geeks should wear band T-shirts.

There is no room for ironic subversions of classic art or just wearing it because it looks nice here.

The knowledge argument outlined above is an appealing one, but it does not get to the heart of the matter. Why do geeks choose to wear the marks of their sins? Even the Acceptable Geek Club, which aims to celebrate geekery without ramming it down the wider public’s throats, has an attraction to these items that it does not regret. It is, however, concerned about where the desire to wear it’s old Nevermind hoody comes from.

As a teenage geek, the motivation was clear. Finding it hard to find others who “understand” and fed up with one’s peers idiocy, the temptation to brand oneself in an attempt to form bonds of common interest is obvious. Women also like a man in uniform, thus the same is true for Goths as sailors. However, as acceptable geeks approach 30 is the same motivation plausible? If so, it sounds relatively desperate. Alas, we are unable, as of yet, to find something that fills its place.