Las Vegas ? It wasn’t so long ago that pop queens sparked the “message” T-shirt fad with tops telling no one in particular “Dump him” or “I stole your boyfriend.”

We may all be pleased to learn we’ve evolved. Or at least our T-shirts have.

The message these days is much more likely to be, in words of T-shirt designer Eunice Chang, “peace, love and recycling.”

“It’s because of the war. People need a message and they want a positive message,” Chang said last week from the floor of the MAGIC fashion convention in Las Vegas. “I’m just following the fashion.”

The massive annual trade show aimed at fashion industry insiders and buyers is a preview of what the teens and 20-somethings will be wearing this fall and what many already are. This election year it signaled – along with the dogged persistence of the skinny jean – the serious side of the message T-shirt.

Chang’s T-shirts, for Los Angeles-based boutique Dorothy Blue, brought a sweet, vintage feel. A cartoon dove accompanied the words “Love, Peace.” Another pleaded: “Give Earth a chance.”

Some of the shirts were embellished with dreamy paisleys, others with iconic 1960s images, such as peace signs or rainbows. Some blended with another continuing T-shirt trend – the tattoo look. They were, unlike many past T-shirt fads, unironic.

Kathleen Gasperini of the market research firm Label Networks describes the trend as part of “a new hippiedom” making its way from urban street and summer music festival scenes.

She sees a resurgence of a do-it-yourself aesthetic in youth styles, a willingness to make an earnest statement and little concern that the peace sign around their neck may have been done before.

Gasperini said most young people aren’t deliberately referencing the Woodstock era or even directly mimicking it. A trademark of the look is a mix-and-match of styles – a T-shirt screaming “Love, love, love,” with 80s-inspired hot-pink, skinny jeans and Day-Glo bracelets.

“They’re making it their own,” she said.