How to Wear a Graphic Tee

Shoutout to Lauren Hammelev and Victoria Blum for asking where I find my cute graphic tees and inspiring me to write this post!

I love graphic tees. I’ve loved graphic tees for a long time, but always struggled to wear them without feeling like I was back in middle school. I always love the tees with little phrases too, but somehow those felt even more juvenile.

I ended up wearing this outfit last Thursday, when I was feeling pretty drained so the whole “50% Human 50% Coffee” was feeling pretty relatable to me. (You can find this shirt and other fun coffee puns at As of Latte!) When I got up to give my impromptu speech of the day, a few people were definitely commenting on the shirt. Turns out we all were feeling pretty drained. When my friend, Lauren, asked to read my shirt, we started a little conversation about how hard it was to pull off funny phrase shirts without feeling ridiculous. So, I’m sharing a few of my tips for wearing fun graphic tees.

1. Pair them with a skirt. Maybe it’s just me, but I 100% think graphic tees look cuter with a skirt. I love tying them at the waist with a denim skirt or tucking them in. It slims the waist and looks a bit more mature than having them hang over some denim.
2. Pair them with polished shoes. Instead of opting for sneaks, which are totally ok, you can try to pair them with shoes with a bit more maturity to them like mules, loafers, or leather sandals. Flip-flops are fine, but you run the risk of looking like a beach bum. Sneakers are also fine, but you run the risk of looking like you just stepped out of a Hot Topic commericial from the early 2000s. I may be the only one who thinks that. That’s ok. Maybe it just hits too close to home with what I wore in middle school.
3. Throw on a blazer. Don’t believe me? Check out my blazer and graphic tee combos HERE and HERE. With a pair of thigh-high boots, a blazer, and high pony, I was definitely tossing out some major fashion editor vibes.
4. Opt for relatable sayings, not cheesy sayings. There’s a fine line between relatable and cheesy. This shirt hit home with a lot of people because it’s a busy season for everyone and we all feel like we’re running on caffeine.
5. Ease into graphic tees with vacation and band tees. In my opinion, band tees and location tees are the easiest to pull off. They’re simple and don’t make too much of a statement aside from places you’ve been and music you listen to. Try wearing these before you go more into the funny saying tees. After a while, the funnier tees will feel more natural.
6. Rock it. Wear them with confidence! If you aren’t into it that day, don’t wear it. Half of the outfit is always the person wearing it, so just feel your outfit and rock it all day long.