Horizontal stripes play a very limited role in men's clothing. True, they are sometimes found on knit ties, polos, rugby jerseys and prison uniforms but the only other place that comes to mind is a man's dress shirt body, a rare species indeed. Horizontally striped shirts are a style little seen since the 1980's, when Alan Flusser put Michael Douglas in them for the movie Wall Street.
Since horizontally striped shirts (which we will call HSS for brevity going forward) are so rare, the challenge is whether a man can wear them with the proper amount of nonchalance, so they do not call undue attention to themselves and, by association, the wearer. For they are great looking when worn correctly. And here we owe a debt of gratitude to Ed Tutee of Style Forum and The London Lounge whose photo demonstrating the proper way to wear horizontal stripes graces this essay.
To begin with, the HSS is quieter when less of it is visible and that means it is better under jackets with smaller chest openings, such as vested suits or double breasteds. The shirt body itself should continue the low key theme, with narrower stripes in relatively dull colors preferred over brighter and wider versions. A conventionally striped collar like the one in the photo calls less attention to the shirt than a white contrast collar. Finally, solid colored neckties in low intensity colors complete a picture of discretion that is a worthwhile change of pace.
And that is how to wear the HSS. Put one in your wardrobe.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Put One In Your Wardrobe
Photo: etutee
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12 comments:
Will I am a tremendous fan of your blog, read it every day. But this post is very strange to me...
It says the best way to wear horizontal stripes is to show as little of the shirt as possible and make sure the color of the stripes is as dull as possible in order to make them almost invisible. So what's the point of wearing horizontal stripes?
Because they look good isn't enough of a reason?
Beautiful DB suit, Will. Who is the tailor?
I've definitely never thought about wearing horizontal stripes, but they look really unconventional yet solid in that photo. Good call.
The shirt featured is interesting, most HSS that I have seen have a solid color collar (usually white). I like it personally.
As usual, good post--
Can anyone suggest a great place to purchase Horizontal striped shirts?
I believe that Will's point is that, subtly employed, the HSS offers a slightly askew perspective on a man's typical dress that rewards closer inspection without drawing undue attention to itself.
It's a great look.
Scott, visit Hemrajani next time they are in your area, choose a stripe, and tell them you want it horizontal.
b, I don't know who made the suit as it's etutee's and if he's ever said I've long since forgotten.
This might be the best representation of super-wide peak lapels on a DB that I've seen. Often the width of the lapels makes a grown man look like a kid in his dad's clothes, but the horizontal stripes of the shirt justifies the width of the lapels. Nice job.
Dante
Have mixed opinions about HS shirts but not about your blog which I've just discovered in the past few days. It's great. Having surfed some of the older entries your choices and advice are generally excellent and thought provoking so I expect to become a regular.
Will, the suit in the photo has a relatively strong shoulder, similar to the shoulder in most of my suits and jackets -- the line is straight across (almost perpendicular) to the sleeve. I've noticed that many of your suits appear to have a somewhat softer shoulder that slopes ever so slightly as it meets the sleeve. Is this an example of the so-called Neapolitan shoulder? Perhaps a post on the construction of shoulders in tailored clothing is in order -- I don't believe I've seen anything of the sort in your older posts.
I'm a great fan of the horizontal stripe. However, I think the stripe should be a little more subtle - a thin silver on mid-blue - and, in my opinion, a French collar.
For those asking about retailers of the horizontal stripe, it is important to note that they are rare, largely because striped materials are not produced in square formats but rectangular formats and that the stripe pattern goes down and not across the loom - if a manufacturer decided to make horizontally striped shirts, he could make fewer of them for the same cost as vertically striped shirts.
Nevertheless, specialist and historically interested retailers like Ralph Lauren are currently offering them in store. However, it will almost certainly be cheaper to have one made by a tailor
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