Tee Time

By Nandita Khanna

Height of fashion: Diane von Furstenberg's T-shirt for the cause.

It's an undeniable fashion truth: the little white T-shirt permeates our wardrobe day in and out. And why shouldn't it? T-shirts are comfortable, easy to wear, and can be paired with just about anything. In fact, I've amassed quite a collection of tissue tees from some of my favorite designers (adampluseve, Splendid, J.Crew, James Perse). But what happens on those days when you don't really want your T-shirt to play second fiddle to the rest of your outfit? Or you want to look chic on the plane, but more effortless than dolled-up?

As it turns out an event called Limited Editions New York (L.E.N.Y.) speaks to our sartorial woes. L.E.N.Y. is a twice-yearly exhibition during New York's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week that will call upon the design talent of some of fashion's boldest names to create limited-edition pieces made available at only the hippest boutiques around the globe (Colette in Paris, Harvey Nichols in the UK, Milk in Los Angeles, and Intermix in New York).

For the initative's inagural year, they've taken cues from fashion's green movement and decided to use Al Gore's Climate Project as the recipient of the proceeds from T-shirt sales. Gore's widely publicized project works to raise awareness about the effects of global warming while also urging others to take action.

Alongside UK-based label Buddhist Punk, stylesetters including Gwyneth Paltrow, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Sophie Albou, Diane von Furstenberg, Margherita Missoni, and Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin have exerted their creative juices to whip up distinct and cheeky tees. To wit: Albou's is embroidered "It's getting hot in here" on the front, while Turlington's asks, "Will it always be greener?" Each cotton jersey shirt is made in a limited-quantity (only 500 are being made in each) and at just under $200 a pop they're an altruistic way to look good and do good.

The tees are currently available for pre-order online at Intermix--so if you can't jet off to Corso Como 10 in Milan, this just might be the next best thing. For today, anyway.