SINGAPORE'S unofficial national costume, the T-shirt, now has a festival of its own. Tuesday marked the start of the first Singapore T-shirt Festival showcasing the T-shirt as a medium for self-expression and its influence on street culture.

The festival, which comprises a month-long exhibition, as well as a marketplace, talks and workshops, is organised by Singaporean design practitioner Joseph Chiang of Monster Gallery together with Legendary Social Tees, a T-shirt printing company. "We were chatting about T-shirts and what we can do with them, and then the topic developed into how T-shirts are a form of social media, even before the topic became hot," says Mr Chiang. "Think about it - T-shirts are worn as a statement, which is what going on social media is about too. So T-shirts are really a prelude to social media." With this in mind, Mr Chiang roped in a group of artist friends to design a collection of T-shirts. Later he invited his designer friends to come onboard, when the DesignSingapore Council showed an interest in the project and sponsored a space at the National Design Centre for the exhibition.

Some 22 designers are involved in the project, including well-known creative directors such as Pann Lim from Kinetic and Jackson Tan of Black Design and Phunk, as well as graphic designers Sarah Tang, and Alison Schooling, of Sarah and Schooling. "I wanted to have a diverse group - so there are graphic designers, artists and illustrators involved," says Mr Chiang, who gave them free rein over what they wanted to do.