DISTRESSING Fashionable T-shirts go from rags to riches

The price for a simple tee seems to only get higher and higher.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Back in the day, sticker shock was not something that applied to T-shirts.
But like coffee, gasoline, jeans and houses, the price for a simple tee seems to only get higher and higher.
A shadow rib tank by Three Dots will set you back $103. A scooped-back short-sleeve from C & amp;C California, meanwhile, runs $53 -- but because its shirts look best layered, one is never enough.
Do you need to sit down yet? If so, you probably haven't been paying attention. As a friend of mine said, "I wish I still batted an eye at those prices."
Nowadays, brand names -- as well as variations in fabrics, colors, cuts and decoration -- are driving prices up, and yet designer T-shirts are flying off shelves faster than ever.
Fashion insiders pin the modern renaissance of the tee to the rebirth of designer jeans.
"If you are wearing $175 jeans, you might not want to wear a $25 T-shirt; you might want to wear a $60 James Perse," said Kal Ruttenstein, Bloomingdale's senior vice president for fashion direction. "It's no longer leftover tees, no longer just tees with a snappy saying. They are well-designed, well-made T-shirts in fashion colors."
Shirts have gotten tighter and smaller, sleeves are capped or quarter-length, hems are cut asymmetrically, and the fronts -- or backs -- are adorned with statements, jewels or fabric.
Unofficial ensemble
"The unofficial going-out uniform is jeans, a heel and a T-shirt," said GiGi Guerra, executive editor of Lucky Magazine. "It's almost like you don't need accessories. Just layer a purple and blue shirt."
Women are taking them up a notch too, Ruttenstein said: "I see women wearing them under a Chanel suit."
To meet the T-shirt demand, Bloomingdale's has increased the number of T-shirt brands it carries by double digits.
In Englewood, N.J., there's a rainbow of options along several of the walls at Marcia's Attic.
Real moneymaker
"We pay the rent with T-shirts, and always have," said Dean Hecker, one of the store's owners.
"It used to be we did it more and you couldn't find this stuff anywhere but here," he said. "But I guess the world has caught up with us. Or joined the party."
Newer designers such as C & amp;C, James Perse, Park Vogel and Sass and Bide have made strong inroads, joining Michael Stars, Velvet and Three Dots in a field of designers that is widening and diversifying constantly.
Plus, "they're universal. Everyone looks good in them," added George Simonton, a designer and a professor at Fashion Institute of Technology.
Only the cheap tee is out, he said. "The Hanes T-shirt -- three for $9 -- maybe if you are 18 and gorgeous you can wear those things."