Circa mid to late 1960’s some “Greasers” took to wearing Baggies and Dago T’s. They seemed to go well with “side tie” shoes, Cuban heels and horseshoe cleats. Anyone know the origins (neighborhood? gang? time frame?) of this style?
<One Dago’s Opinion>
That should be “guinea tee”
</One Dago’s Opinion>
Dago T’s? Is that just a regular T with marinara sauce stains?
/I immediately regret this post
No worse than “Wife Beaters.”
Except for the ethnic slur, I guess.
A dago T was a sleeveless white men’s undershirt with or without marinara stains.
Are the suspenders a mandatory part of that ‘outfit’?
Not when I was a young whippersnapper, but I don’t know about kids these days.
–Whaddya mean “was”? I’m wearin’ one as I write this. They happen to be very comfortable underclothing in warm weather. One thing I would never do though, is wear one without a shirt over it.
I always think of those under-garments as “Stanley Kowalski T-shirts.” Which, I guess, is about the same thing.
Justin Bailey, where are you from? I never bother with the Chicago forum 'cause I aint from there. But, when I read this thread title I thought, “What’s a Dago T? Must be a guinea tee.” I hail from the NY Metro area.
Tim R. Mortiss I always think of Stanley Kowalski in a plain white “regular” t-shirt with sleeves.
I’m a Chicagoan and I’ve never heard “guinea t” before. It’s wifebeater.
Western NY. It’s been guinea tee all my life. But at least one family member will break out with “Look at all the dagos” at a family wedding. It never fails to get a laugh.
So we’re equal-opportunity slur-slingers.
I’m a lifelong Chicagoan and never heard “guinea tee” until this thread. Ethnically insulting or not, it was always “dago tee.” I only started hearing “wife-beater” about a decade or so ago.
Not that any of this is helping to answer the OP’s question, of course…
Ditto. “Wifebeater” and “Dago T” were the neighborhood appellations for a sleeveless undershirt. I seem to recall “Dago T” being the more common of the two.
I’ve been wearing White Wife Beaters, for as long as I can remember. I have never heard of a guinea tee? Must be a NY thing.
So glad you clarified what that was. A wifebeater. What are baggies? Baggy track pants?
Sorry. I’m from Seattle.
They were (or maybe still are) work pants. Baggy work pants. Baggie grays were first on the scene and then certain neighborhoods or gangs started to wear the blue version (Baggy Blues). Memory serves, if belts were worn they were very narrow. The pants legs were folded/rolled up vs. being hemmed. Shoes of choice were “side ties” with Cuban heels and “horseshoe” cleats.
Oh. That’s not too bad. Can be sexy on a nice body.