Designer Vanna Youngstein is giving the baby tee new life

Vanna Youngstein appears in our 2023 summer issue, which you can buy here.

Few things bristle school-age creatives quite like the uniform. But as a kid in an English school with a strict dress code, Vanna Youngstein found a way to make it work: She’d pair the old-fashioned blouse with a crisp varsity jacket, playing on old and new, masculine and feminine, traditional and avant-garde. Today, Youngstein utilizes that duality as the in-demand designer behind a line of T-shirts worn by celebrities like Selena Gomez, Emily Ratajkowski, and the stars of Euphoria.

“Everyone looks completely unique, even if they’re wearing the exact same shirt,” Youngstein says. “The shirts are simple enough that you can put your own aesthetic into it.” While wearing a uniform in fashion feels antithetical to its nature, a Vanna Youngstein dead-stock tee gives you a feeling of belonging. Whether “Atomic,” “Cherry Baby” or “Babe Power” is emblazoned across the front in exaggerated glory, it’s a walking beacon of effortless kitsch.

Read more: Here’s where to get the coolest thrifted and vintage band T-shirts

In an interview with AP, Youngstein details her journey in fashion, the value of kitsch, taking cartoons as inspiration, and the reaction to her shirts being featured in Euphoria.

How did you first become interested in fashion?

My clothing line honestly looks like what I wore when I was young! I always had my own sense of style. When I was a teenager, I worked in the shops on Portobello Road in London. London in the ’90s, early 2000s, it was the place for the best T-shirts, the best fashion. If you see old photos of me, it looks like what everyone’s wearing right now. I collected slogan T-shirts as young as 5. 

I studied fashion design in England, and when you graduate, agents scout you at the shows. At one of the meetings, I happened to mention that my dad was American and I could relocate, and that was the golden ticket. A week later, I was in New York working for Diane Von Furstenberg. Since then, I’ve been back and forth like, “Do I wanna live in London? Do I wanna live in New York?” But New York always drags me back. 

What I find fascinating is how each person feels individual, even if they’re matching. It all comes down to styling. 

With my English roots, [you] would never dream of wearing the same shirt as your friend. But I think what I built was that everyone wanted the same exact T-shirt, and then they wear it in their own way. Even celebrities, they’d message me that they wanted the one that some other celebrity had worn. I would ask whether they’d want it in a different color or a different style, and it’s like, “No, no, I want the exact same one!” Hopefully, you can input your own style and wear it in a different way. In Japan, they went through a phase of layering my tank tops over these really Victorian shirts, which was so cool. I like exaggeration. It’s all about existing in a cartoon world as well as real life. 

It’s funny that you mention cartoons because you’re in essence a comedy writer! The slogans have this little pop of surprise; they bring a smile or a laugh. 

It’s so nice that you picked up on that. My “Atomic” design is very Looney Tunes. I sourced these dead-stock tank tops, and I was thinking I needed to do something to contrast it, something masculine to contrast with the feminine. I’ve always tried to do a mixture when I dress, like a flower dress with a big Supreme jacket. At school in England, I had to wear a uniform, really strict schools. But I would get varsity jackets made with my name on [it] and wear that over my school uniform, which is such a cool look. I remember this guy saying, “Why would I ever fancy someone that wore a men’s sailor jacket?” Today, anyone would wear that. That’s how the “Atomic” shirt blew up. And then it was on Euphoria. 

What was the Euphoria styling process like? 

When Heidi [Bivens, Euphoria costume designer] got the gig, she was hitting me up like crazy: “You’ve gotta gimme shirts for Euphoria.” I sent out whatever I had, like, “OK, I have an ‘Atomic’ and a ‘Trouble.’” When they were filming, Heidi sent me a picture, and they were shooting that iconic scene where Hunter [Schafer]’s wearing the cropped “Atomic” shirt in bed with Zendaya, and I remember feeling, “Oh wow, this is gonna be a really big thing.” I was obsessed with stuff before my time, like Clueless or Molly Ringwald, all those iconic characters. Then to actually have a small part in putting that on in real time? Similarly, I just gave shirts to this really cool band called MUNA. [Guitarist Josette Maskin] wore the “Trouble” tee opening up for Taylor Swift.

[Photo courtesy of Max]

Why do you tend to use dead stock for your designs? 

I’m really into sustainability, and that’s why I keep [print runs] small. I’m trying to be aware of how much we consume, and that’s why I’m encouraged by people wearing my stuff for years. With “Cherry Baby,” it was tight tees, and now I moved it to a unisex style because the skater Sean Pablo wore it, so skater guys want that style. Now it’s unisex, and it’s worn more baggy. With dead stock, I can adapt [to] the feeling, the sizing, and the proportions depending on what I can get my hands on at the time. It feels intentional.