Few things in a man's wardrobe are as underappreciated as the white shirt. Worn in the post-war years by every IBM man, white became the symbol of dull in dressing, noted for its tendency to wash out pale complexions when not in a proper context. But white was not always considered so mundane. A sign that a man did not work with his hands and could afford to have his clothing laundered, Beau Brummell for example wore nothing but white with his navy jackets and buff colored trousers.
Centuries after Brummell white shirts remain the best choice for evening, either with formal wear or a lounge suit. During the day, they complement jackets with white in the pattern, whether pin stripes for the City or black and white odd jackets like the one worn by Mr. Grant in the photo (he sets his off perfectly with a black necktie).
Whether oxford cloth or twill for cool weather, poplin for year-round wear or voile or batiste for the heat, consider the white shirt.
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5 comments:
The shirt pictured looks to me like an ivory colour, but that could just be the photo. I prefer to wear ivory/cream/ecru shirts in most contexts instead of white, saving white for formalwear or a suit in the evening.
We are a big fans of the white shirt at Arthur & Henry. Our classic is a double cuff white herringbone. Organic and fair trade cotton.
Mr. Grant had the advantage of being a Winter (i.e., high contrast), so white was a good color for him. But, as your earlier post on Daniel Craig demonstrated, even non-Winters can pull of white shirts if they have a tan.
Having said that, I'm with you all the way on white shirts for evening. I might even wear a white button down for mid-day Thanksgiving dinner!
I've always preferred white, or very light cream-coloured, shirts. It's just a fact that too many blue shirts are worn by men during the day and it has become boring. The bolder stray into pink to break the blue monotony, but IMHO neither really works with autumn colours.
Under the brown herringbone wool odd jackets I like to wear going between autumn/winter I feel the white shirt complements them best...even in the daytime. I just go for a softer collar or leave the bones out of a dress shirt.
Nothing beats the white shirt for the serious meticulous professional.
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