I know what you wear as a PJ top. Wear it out.

My last post was all about channeling fictional characters to put some pep in your step. Today I’m gonna take a less subtle approach to wearing your interests- it’s all about the fan tee! We all have them- shirts that celebrate a TV show, band, movie, or vague pop culture reference. For a couple of reasons though, I hardly ever wear my extensive collection outside the comfort of my home:

1) THEY’RE ALWAYS SO BIG! Seriously, I’m quite a small person, so at concerts and events I buy the smallest shirt size possible and still end up with a dress. Big tops can be tricky to work with and feminize.

2) Novelty tees don’t really count as ‘stylish’. Tragic, I know (my boyfriend will be horrified, they make up most of his wardrobe).

This is a shame because they’re such an easy and fun way to wear your personality, which is what fashion is all about, right? In the interest of all things fangirl, I have spent the day styling fan tees without losing my style mojo (assuming I had some to start with).

Sweat & shirt- Primark, jeans- Zara, shoes- Converse at Office

If you’re a regular reader (so my mum), you’ll know how I feel about the best school young witches and wizards could ever hope to attend (I’ve heard that Durmstrang doesn’t serve dessert at mealtimes). Sadly until recently I haven’t been able to reconcile my uniform sweat with the rest of my wardrobe. Now I think it works fabulously! Having a colourful collar visible gives something else to look at as well as the massive Hogwarts crest, and the  cream trousers lighten up the navy. I couldn’t get away with any more colour or pattern so I went with plain silver Converse. What I love about this look is that it pretty much completely sums me up: patterns, colour, Harry Potter and PUPPIES. And that’s the aim of the game today!

Tee- Primark, skirt- Topshop, shoes- Zara, jacket- charity shop

My brother and I have matching Heisenberg tops. Pretty sure my mum got fed up of us continually saying “Say my name…”, “Jesse, we need to cook!” and “Hi Brock, I’m Walt.” This tee is difficult because it’s so big. That’s where a high-waisted skirt comes in, to cinch it all in. Usually this would cover up a lot of the design of the tee, but here you can still see the face- it’s a nice detail, even if you don’t watch Breaking Bad. I chose the skirt and trainers because they add colour, which is lacking in Mr White’s face. The colours don’t distract from the tee though, because it is just so colourless. I added a denim jacket so I wouldn’t catch my death.

Tee- Madness, jeans- The Ragged Priest, boots- Topshop

(Can you tell I’m running out of places to take photos now?) This tee might not be an obvious reference. It’s not just war propaganda, it’s from the popular almost-ska band Madness. The band and the tee are very close to my heart because my dad and I are rather into the ska scene and spend a lot of time (well, relatively) going to concerts. This is one of those items of clothing that I sometimes stress about one day having to get rid of it due to a violent soup accident or a run-in with an angry ferret. I wanted it to be the focal point of the look, so I went for (almost!) plain jeans (you know I have to have a little bit of pazzazz in them). The slightly bigger fit of the top is ok here because of the skinnies, so I look less like an amorphous blob, bonus! Pretty much everyone at these concerts has docs but I can’t quite stretch to their price so I’m wearing Topshop bargain boots for £20 instead. No ragrets. Seriously though if anyone wants to set up a gofund.me to get me a pair of docs I wouldn’t say no.

Tee- gift, skirt- Topshop, shoes- Blondie

Now if you’re wondering why my legs look suspiciously not-the-same-colour-as-my-white-sandals, dear reader, it’s all the tights. Praise the Lord for 50 denier. The writing on the tee, which my hair obscures (deepest apologies), reads “Mr Precious”- see, it’s a LOTR- Mr Men crossover! How hilarious! At least this is how I imagine people reacting to it.. Again I took in the loose fit by using a skirt. The skirt actually features a rabbit-print, I’ll have to take close-ups next time. I don’t wear it often enough because I feel a bit like a cheerleader with those pleats but that is combatted with the tee. I didn’t want to overpower the lightness of the colours with dark shoes so I stuck to my trusty white sandals. Overall it is unusually summery for me but I love it!

Tee- gift, jeans- Topshop, jacket- H&M, sandals- Primark

If you thought the last tee was pushing it a bit, welcome to my fabulous purple Pokemon tee (“I can be anything you want me to be, baby”). The joke is that Ditto, the featured Pokemon, can shift form to be any other Pokemon. See, every day’s a school day! The colour of it is a bit at odds with the rest of my wardrobe, so I stuck to basics. It is a huge top, so my mom jeans give me my waist back. The bomber jacket and sandals make it a little less uncool (not that Pokemon could ever be anything less than the coolest game ever). The sandals were unearthed after a hiatus due to me stepping in animal poo so that’s nice too.

Tee- The Tuts, trousers- Zara, sandals & jacket- Primark 

I think this is my favourite look! This is a band tee- the Tuts performed at a gig my dad and I went too and they were fab! They’re also earth-conscious and feminist, so I feel really great about wearing them. I actually wear this top quite a lot, it’s a nice small size and it’s not too wacky so it can be worn with all my weird patterns! Soft black trousers and a floaty printed jacket give it a surprisingly summery feel for a mostly black outfit. This would be my plane outfit of choice if I were travelling this summer- although will melted duty-free Toblerone be really obvious on black?

That rounds it up, folks! Turns out those fan tees you’ve been rotating as pyjamas can be worn out! Rejoice! These outfits will set me up nicely for all the new lectures and tutorials when I go back to uni in September- it’s like wearing a sign that says “if you like this, be my friend”. Foolproof. Until next time, fan friends!