How to wear a white shirt

[cold war painter]

The thread I meant can be found at the internet archive link, on the second line of the thread you linked to.

I don't know if the collar is a major reason why it looks odd to me, perhaps a non-spread collar would seem better but I think if the shirt was a more "country" cloth like a plain oxford or a tattersall then the collar wouldn't matter so much.

Anyway it looks to me like your blue striped shirt wants to be a part of this:

Whereas your jacket and tie want a shirt more like this, which I imagine to be a wool/cotton blend (and I guess you could call that a semi-spread collar):

 

[coldsalmon]

Wow, that thread is amazing. You are completely right about the issue of coherence. Thanks for all of the info. I will work on "rusticating" my shirts to go with that jacket, and get a navy blazer for when I want to wear a white shirt.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

Ok, another contender for breaking the rules w/r/t white shirt and brown, or it being an 'advanced' look or whatever.

Brown sportcoat
White spread collar twill.
Dark brown cashmere tie.




SugarB and Manton established a few pages ago that brown + white shirt + dark tie 'can' work/be a good look, but is tricky. I've always thought a brown jacket (I rarely wear suits, so am sticking to that context) just about demanded a blue shirt - but, I think maybe this is because I almost always wear a navy tie (with just about everything - with white shirts). That said, I'm moving towards a more white shirt based wardrobe entirely, and a more monochrome look in general. I put this together and thought that a) it worked, b) it DIDN'T look better when I tried it with a white OCBD instead of the spread collar twill.

What say you, SF?

*also: just kind of trying to revive this amazing thread in general...

 

[YRR92]

^^

That lacks the ease that an OCBD necessitates. Same thing with a four-in-hand knot, more-textured tie, and either no tie bar or one that isn't 2014 high and tiny (off-topic: boo to those), and an OCBD would make sense.

I think the reason that works well is because of the white/off-white in the coat. You basically have white and brown there, and if you want to limit your color palette like that, a white shirt makes more sense. Adding a blue shirt would be adding another color.

Now, if you had a blue tie, then a blue shirt would make more sense. And if you had a tie in more than one color, a blue shirt might be very helpful, since it would broaden your palette.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

Makes sense. I never do the FIH (sin around here, I know) and perhaps the tie could use more texture - I thought it worked better with this cashmere than with my brown grenadines though, and I really don't care for knits. Maybe that is indeed why the OCBD seemed off. Oh, and yeah on the tie bar, I know, I know. It's an affectation I can't seem to give up although I've tried off and on for years, and don't like them larger or lower. But point taken.

So: the spread collar is indeed preferable, despite the shirt being white and it being a sportcoat?

Corollary: I seem to find the spread collar white shirt works fine with other sport coats so long as they're in 'city' colors - blues and greys. I essentially try to blend a city color palette/look with 'country' attire and fabrics (besides, obviously, the shirt). I think it works in general, but always avoided it with brown/tan etc jackets until now.

 

[YRR92]

Makes sense. I never do the FIH (sin around here, I know) and perhaps the tie could use more texture - I thought it worked better with this cashmere than with my brown grenadines though, and I really don't care for knits. Maybe that is indeed why the OCBD seemed off. Oh, and yeah on the tie bar, I know, I know. It's an affectation I can't seem to give up although I've tried off and on for years, and don't like them larger or lower. But point taken.

So: the spread collar is indeed preferable, despite the shirt being white and it being a sportcoat?

Corollary: I seem to find the spread collar white shirt works fine with other sport coats so long as they're in 'city' colors - blues and greys. I essentially try to blend a city color palette/look with 'country' attire and fabrics (besides, obviously, the shirt). I think it works in general, but always avoided it with brown/tan etc jackets until now.

Well, what's preferable? I mean, if it were me, that would be a knit tie, a FIH knot, and an OCBD.

But I think the spread makes sense, given the other elements you have. The cashmere is better than a grenadine would be, and a fairly restrained cashmere is a good choice for what you're doing here. It's like a microcosm of the whole thing: the most refined, elegant version of country clothing.

I don't think I've ever seen a symmetrical tie knot that looked right with a BD collar, though.

It can be tricky to balance city and country in a single rig, but keeping things simple helps. That said, there are still plenty of times when light blue shirts are the path of least resistance.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

It's like a microcosm of the whole thing: the most refined, elegant version of country clothing.

That's preferable, for me. I take that as a compliment of the highest order whether intended or not, because that is exactly what I'm after with my fits.

I'll stick with the spread.

 

[watchband]

Interesting thread!White shirt is great,I've never notice my outfit match,this thread may be helpful to me.

 

[sugarbutch]

Independent of one's knot preferences, your windsor (or whatever it is) is too big for this particular collar. You can see that it's pushing the points up off the shirt. I like the combination otherwise.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

I have a 2.75" (my usual size) of the same fabric being made up by Hober at the moment. This 3" one is from a brief experimentation last year with wider widths, and is all I have at the moment. Agreed that the knot is too big - it's a half windsor but the thick cashmere bulks it up considerably more on top of that. Thanks for the input.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

your windsor (or whatever it is) is too big for this particular collar.

SB, as I said I think the narrower tie width will help alleviate the issue, but do you (or anyone else for that matter) think I should experiment with an even wider spread perhaps, given my preference for half-windsors? Or is this about as spread as you can go with a white shirt/odd jacket combo?

 

[sugarbutch]

You don't need a wider spread. Longer points and a taller collar band would take care of it.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

Perhaps I'll give one of them double button Italian jobs a shot.

 

[archibaldleach]

IMO the sport coat looks like a suiting fabric, OCBD would be better if you must do white, and a subtle ecru could also provide an interesting look there.

 

[sugarbutch]

Don't fall prey to the OCBD Brigade!