Pink, blue, green, yellow, red – just a few of the many colors in which they appear. Sometimes they even have patterns or sayings on them, oftentimes they have Greek letters written in a swooping hand, while others simply say “STATE.” Campus is saturated with them. They pop up in almost every classroom, in the Union or the Sanderson, and they are found off campus as well. However, different as each may be, they do share one thing in common: their size.
What I’m referring to are oversized T-shirts, a style quite prevalent at the Mississippi State and Ole Miss campuses. Though mainly associated with those affiliated in sororities, this style can truly be found on just about any young woman. Think I exaggerate? Go ahead, stand in the Union and just people watch for 15 minutes, and I can guarantee that you’ll spot an abundance of girls swarming around Chick-fil-a with giant, brightly-colored tanks and tees hanging off their bodies.
Now, before we dig any further, allow me to inform you I am one of these people.  I believe the actual transition happened sometime in the beginning of freshman year – all of a sudden I found myself ordering not smalls or mediums but larges – and there is a certain appeal that goes with it. There’s something about a loose, large T-shirt that just makes life cozier. It’s like having a shirt-shaped blanket with you all the time. Besides, wearing an extra-large tee all the time keeps one from having to worry too much about scarfing down half-price Sonic milkshakes five nights a week. Calories don’t count if you can’t see the rolls, right?
    However, comfort and body-image issues aside, what’s really behind this…explosion of large tees? Somehow, I believe it has to do with the perception of maturity. Actually, less perception of maturity and more of the idea of screaming “I’m not a freshman.” Because, let’s be honest, when the school year rolls around who is usually walking around in actual fitted T-shirts? It’s not 83 percent of the upperclassmen, that’s for sure. Thus, as new college kids desperate to blend in, they quickly adapt to the situation and supersize their T-shirt wardrobes.                       This is a natural thing, and there really isn’t anything wrong with it (unless we’re talking from a fashion point of view, but hey! It’s college. Be a bum while you can.) but eventually we must pose the question: When does the shirt change from an upper body garment into a dress? This is a reasonable question to pose. Many T-shirt sizes are starting to be made bigger just to keep up with the demand. There is no harm in wanting clothes to be a bit bigger, or looser, but what’s the end game here? What does this mean for the tees and tanks of State and Ole Miss? Will they continue enlarging and exploding until each individual T-shirt takes the same amount of cotton to create, say, a circus tent?
    I see a world where large tees will eventually become extra-large and continue to increase until all we will be able to see are piles of fabric rolling across the Drill Field to their respective classes. It’ll be a minefield of cotton, with students having to leave 30 minutes earlier for class in order to navigate the Drill Field without being crushed by a rolling ball of cloth. This is why we must act now. From now on, everyone should order not just small, or extra-small T-shirts, but extra-extra-small. Drastic? Maybe, but do you want your children to grow up and live in fear of death by fabric? Hmph, I thought not.