Clockwise from left: Jean Seberg, Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel, and me in one of my favorite striped tees.
As I counted them out — 17 striped shirts — I thought it might be time to address my obsession with the wardrobe staple now taking over my closet. From celebrities to street stylers, and designers, striped t-shirts are a mainstay in the fashion world. Maybe it all started with style greats like Coco Chanel, who famously adopted the nautical stripes of French fishermen as her own emblem of style. Now, we can't think of the classic pattern without drawing comparisons to icons like Audrey Hepburn or Jean Seberg, or present-day style setters like Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo, who've given us even more ways to wear (and love) our striped t-shirts. Aside from the inspirational draw to nautical stripes, there's also a practicality to our obsession: they go with literally everything and lend a decidedly chic twist to just about anything we put on. They go day to night in a flash, span the test of time and seasons (though we're partial to nautical stripes in the summertime), and they're a totally universal buy. Sure, some striped tees are more pricey than others, but whether yours is H&M or Saint James, the effect is the same.
If you needed more encouragement to jump on the 
