I attended a conference a year ago; it has nothing to do with style, but the keynote speaker talked about formal shirts. He talked about white shirts representing old-school authority (my words are not his words, but I remember they are). I always think so, but he also talked about colored and striped shirts and the people who wear them. I don’t remember what he said about how different generations see things. Can you provide any insights on this?
AI agrees that men’s formal shirts do tend to indicate a lot of information about the wearer. Not only the color of the shirt, but also the pattern, fabric, tailoring, collar and dressing style. These elements work together to make a statement to the wearer, and they should fit the form of the environment. Let me break it down for each category:
Color-In almost all cases, the most conservative color choice is white. It can never be “wrong”. Because of this, white shirts often do tend to suggest old-school authority. Followed by the multifunctional blue shirt; but here, there is a huge change. Light blue is the quiet tradition, as are many medium blues. Dark blue is more informal and usually more suitable as casual wear.
Still fairly conservative are plain white/ivory shirts (and shirts with narrow blue and white stripes). Arranged along the etiquette are light pink, soft yellow and the newly popular lavender. Even so, it is rare to see older, conservative men wearing any purple clothes.
More fashionable, younger and informal dressers like to expand their color range by wearing shirts of various colors. Darker and brighter shirts are less elegant. Gray, tan, and khaki neutral shirts have a feeling of wearing, and it is best to avoid fashionable business and social attire.
Patterns-Patterned shirts are more casual than solid color shirts. Among all the dress shirt patterns, stripes are the most popular. The narrower the stripes, the more sophisticated and traditional the shirt. Wider and brighter stripes make the shirt more casual (for example, bold Bengal stripes). In addition to stripes, handsome small shirt patterns also include tattersalls, herringbone patterns and checkered patterns. Patterns such as polka dots, large plaid, plaid and Hawaiian flowers are only suitable for sweatshirts. They are too flashy and unsuitable as business suit shirts.
Fabric-The choice of shirt fabric is 100% cotton. The more you can see the texture of the fabric, the less formal it is generally. Shirt fabrics/textures range from the most exquisite-such as smooth wide cloth and fine Oxford cloth-to less formal-standard Oxford cloth and end-to-end weaving-to the most casual-chambray And denim. But denim is too rough to be used as a formal shirt, even for a young, cool person.
Tailoring-Brooks Brothers’ full-fit shirts of yesteryear are more traditional, but they are now close to outdated. Today’s version is still slightly fuller, but not like a parachute. Slim and super slim models are more casual and more modern. Even so, this does not necessarily make them suitable for everyone’s age (or likable). Regarding French cuffs: they are more elegant than barrel (button) cuffs. Although all French cuff shirts are formal shirts, not all formal shirts have French cuffs. Of course, formal shirts always have long sleeves.
Collar-This is probably the most distinguishing element for the wearer. Traditional/college style dressing tables are mostly (only?) comfortable with soft rolled up button collars. These are men in academia and other Ivy League types, as well as older people. Many young men and avant-garde dressers wear straight collars and/or split collars most of the time, limiting their choice of button collars to casual weekend dresses. The wider the collar, the more sophisticated and gorgeous it looks. In addition, the wider the distribution, the less suitable the shirt is to wear an open collar without a tie. I strongly believe that a buttoned collar should always be worn with a button; otherwise, why choose it?
You remember the comment on the white shirt in the keynote speech, because it makes sense and will stand the test of time. Fashion magazines cannot always be like this. Many of the content you see in it these days may not be the best advice for wearing a suitable formal shirt in a traditional work environment…or, usually, anywhere outside of their page.
Post time: Nov-06-2021