LITTLE ROCK — In fashion, ostentation is out.
Spending hundreds on bags, dresses and jeans isn't hip in this soured economy, as our pockets aren't as deep. But depth is the essence of the one must-have summer piece: the V-neck.
Casual, simple, stylish and comparatively cheap, the V-neck has dominated this summer's sartorial discussion - for men and women.
The T-shirt has appeared on red carpets under blazers, at hot spots layered and paired with sandals, flats, heels and boots. You see them at rock and hiphop shows, at coffee shops and bookstores. From fashion icons and movie stars to people who live paycheck to paycheck, the V-neck is a style anyone can own and master.
"They're very basic," said Kara Collins, who works in a store in the Columbia, S.C., Five Points shopping district and owns 20 Vnecks. "You can wear them with anything."
The V-neck, a garment whose neckline falls to a point on the chest, like the letter "V," used to be your father's T-shirt, relegated to the underwear drawer.
It allowed men who didn't wear the A-shirt, commonly - and vulgarly - referred to as the "wife beater," under their dress shirts room to unwind on the go.
When they loosened or took off the tie for an after-work Scotch at the bar, the white wouldn't show, unlike if they were wearing a regular crewneck T-shirt.
The V-neck, a T-shirt once folded, is now a shirt to hang in the closet. And white is the least fashionable of the V-neck colors.
Zac Efron, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and the Jonas Brothers have widened the popularity of wearing a shirt with a plunging neckline.
But it didn't become a trending smash until women co-opted the look.
In the V-neck's case, it was Lindsay Lohan, still an apotheosis of pop culture, according to Cliff Brett, who runs the men's street wear and contemporary fashion blog, or Web log, Anatomy (www.foryourenrich ment.com).
"As soon as you see people like that wearing it," he said, "you know that a trend is about to crash."
CULTURE CLUB
In fashion, it's all about the cut.
The V-neck has various lengths, and the deeper the cut, the more alluring it looks on women.
"It's very flattering," said Anne Postic, who writes The Shop Tart (theshoptart.com), a local shopping blog. Postic added that the V-neck boosts women without a certain kind of surgical enhancement.
"It evens the playing field," she said. "Anything that's flattering is going to stick around."
Lauren Teal, the in-store salesmanager at Eat More Tees, a custom T-shirt store, said shoppers gravitate to the V-necks, which cost $2 to $3 more than regular T-shirts. The fit, though, causes some to back off.
"A lot of the V-neck T-shirts we have are form-fitting, so a lot of women shy away from that," Teal said.
Teal, who wears V-necks, favors the selection at Express.
"They have little pockets, and I like those," she said. "If you're wearing jewelry, the necklace looks better" in a V-neck.
On a recent Saturday afternoon while working at Salty's, Collins, a rising senior at Brookland-Cayce High School, layered two V-necks - the top was pink, bottom white - with drainpipe jeans and Rainbow flip-flops.
"I like them because they're casual and sexy at the same time," she said.
Several budget stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart sell V-necks in myriad colors, but Collins prefers the American Apparel brand, which sell for $22.
"They fit the best, but they're expensive," she said. "You need at least one V-neck from American Apparel because that will be your favorite. And the cut of the V is deeper."
Collins said she can spot an American Apparel tee on anyone.
"It fits better and it has longer sleeves," she said.
Brett said the deep - or super - V on T-shirts provides a preferably more feminine look for women.
"I think V-neck style, as far as garments go, is more widely accepted for women," he said. "Now that men have embraced the traditional V, women want something a little different."
Women may focus on the form of a V-neck, but it's all about function for men.
Stuart Styles, who leaned on the railing outside of New Brookland Tavern while waiting for a recent show to begin, had defined reasons for choosing V-necks.
He was wearing a whiteAmerican Apparel V-neck with gray stripes.
"It helps show my [tattoo] off," he said pointing to his chest, where ink marks emerged from the V. "It's something different than crew necks.
"It's such a summer shirt."
Fans of This Machine Is Me, electro-popsters, might notice a familiar theme in the band's look: Blake Arambula is always wearing a V-neck.
"If you look at any of our pictures, I'm wearing some sort of V-neck," said Arambula, who plays guitar and keyboard. "Since I've been wearing them, it gives me both fashion and function.
"If I'm wearing those onstage, the air can circulate a lot better. It's a lot more breezy."
Arambula prefers PacSun V-necks, particularly those that feature a neck that is a different color than the shirt.
"I pretty much bought them out. And they're cheaper," he said, noting the price tag of $16.50. "Now I'm a conscientious V-neck shopper."
He's also a guy not afraid to let it all hang out - chest hair, that is. It's something the hirsute must consider.
"It's kind of like I'm not afraid to show off the chest," Arambula said. "I've got nothing to hide here."
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR?
In fashion, saturation is a good thing until it isn't.
The V-neck isn't there - yet.
"I used to think of the V-neck as something only indie kids and hipster kids wore," Brett said.
Hipsters who shop at Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, and rummage through thrift store racks, have long been aware of the V-neck's style.
But will it reach the masses, incorporated by, say, the Southern prep? You know the look: Rainbow flip-flops or Sperry Top-Siders, sunglasses anchored by Croakies and knee-baring khaki shorts.
"It's neutral enough to cross that barrier," Brett said.
The V-neck cut, in other garments like sweaters and cardigans, is already a wardrobe staple for men and women.
And the wrap dress, introduced by the designer Dianne Von Furstenberg in the 1970s, has formed a V on women for three decades.
The V-neck is universal.
"Pretty much anyone can wear it if Talbots has a V-neck," Postic said of the women's specialty retailer where she recently shopped with her mother.
"Anybody can do it. It just has to do with the depth of the V."
Postic recalled her college look, which straddled the line between prep and grunge.
She wore ripped jeans, Bass Weejuns shoes and a black wool V-neck cardigan from Gap, creating an androgynous but sexy appearance.
It sounds like a look that fashion's "it" model Agyness Deyn might appropriate.
In fashion, some things never go out of style.
High Profile, Pages 46 on 08/23/2009