Someone asked the difference between sport and dress shirts the other day, to which I replied, "Sport shirts have two pockets." Now obviously sport shirts often have more pattern and the cloth is usually not as fine as that used for a dress shirt, but to my mind the principal difference between the two is that a sports shirt has some additional storage as it is often worn without a jacket. A man does need a place for his sunglasses and readers after all, and two pockets give a more balanced look than one.
Now some sport shirts have but one pocket and I think of that as yet another attempt by the makers to save a penny by reducing the cloth required for a shirt and re-using the dress shirt pattern they already have (rather like those two button dinner jackets with flapped pockets and notched lapels). The man who thinks about his clothes will have two pockets for sport and may otherwise have them the same as his button cuff dress shirts since the collar will flap appropriately without stays. That sameness means they can do double duty under an odd jacket as the occasion and temperature warrants.
Sport shirts may be less refined than a dress shirt but that is perfectly all right for many occasions. Linen, oxford cloth and chambray, for example, work well in either guise.
In the photo, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Chairman of Ferarri, wears a sport shirt at the Italian Grand Prix.
Posts
8 comments:
The extra chest pocket is useful for holding those pit pass lanyards that hang on your neck and flop around in the wind. I have a shirt jacket with 2 chest and 2 hip pockets made from thin, white cotton that's part of my race track uniform. It's great for keeping the sun away as well.
I don't believe that dress shirts should have a pocket, so what's the purpose of a shirt with only one pocket? I've long considered the standard oxford cloth button-down shirt with one open pocket to be a classic sports shirt. Should an oxford shirt have two pockets?
An oxford cloth shirt should not have a pocket. Indeed they never did until Brooks Brothers ruined theirs by adding one in the 1960s.
In my long experience no proper dress shirt has ever had a pocket. They have cropped up on shirts regularly, but never (or rarely) on higher-end shirts.
I suspect they may have increased wherever fewer jackets are worn, but I don't think I've ever found a real use for a shirt pocket. Sunglasses? They're either on my nose or in a case.
On a casual shirt worn without a jacket I've kept chewing gum in the pockets, it relieves the feeling of having stuff in trouser pockets. I don't smoke, but even if I did I probably wouldn't walk around with a carton in the shirt pocket.
Confused. Will you say at top that Oxford cloth works in either guise then below that it should never have pockets??
No pockets = dress shirt
sport shirt = two pockets
one pocket = the worst of both worlds
Ha! Got it thanks :-)
Long sleeve polo shirt with one pocket ala Drakes best of both worlds?
Post a Comment