India, Aug. 7 -- For years , it was all about jeans. The fit mattered. The label on the back meant everything. We obsessed over the right kind of blue, how high it rose, where it frayed, and where it faded. Now, jeans have been shoved to the back of the shop floor, they're at the back of our minds. A long-ignored garment is front and centre: The T-shirt. And fashion is only part of the story.

It's back as a symbol of activism. All this year, Pedro Pascal and other celebrities wore T-shirts that read Protect the Dolls, drawing attention to transpersons' rights. It's the IRL status message of our time. At IPL 2025, MS Dhoni wore a T-shirt bearing Morse Code that fans quickly translated to read One Last Time, suggesting that this might be h...