I have a number of nicely fitted button-down shirts I used to wear with business suits. As my wardrobe has become more casual, though, the shirts have begun to seem too stiff. I don’t want to abandon them altogether, so how can I work these shirts back into regular rotation? — Christina, Wilmington, N.C.
We tend to think of simple shirts — button-ups or even tees — as neutral variables in an outfit, the thing you wear with, or as a base for, another garment that is the star. This is especially true with suits, since the shirt is just there to go underneath. Once you abandon the suit, however, the shirt becomes the main event. That can be disconcerting because it seems decontextualized.
That doesn’t mean the shirt is not ready for its close-up, however. It means (to continue a somewhat strained metaphor) you have to stop thinking about it as a supporting character in your wardrobe, or something from another wardrobe era, and think about it as a star.
In other words, it’s more about adjusting your own expectations than adjusting the items of clothing you already own.
Simply consider the role shirts played in Matthieu Blazy’s much-heralded debut at Chanel. Often the takeaways from shows are not mere trends or new silhouettes but styling approaches that are easier (and significantly cheaper) to incorporate into your own life than the clothes themselves. And this particular show was a treasure trove, especially when it came to shirts.
Mr. Blazy worked with Charvet, the famous Place Vendôme shirtmaker (Coco Chanel herself used to wear its shirts) to create crisp button-ups that he showed untucked over big, fancy ball skirts. The men’s wear cuts counterbalanced the frothiness of the skirts, and the casualness of the attitude added a nice throwaway touch to what might have otherwise been a very grand look. Oh, this elaborate old thing? Pshaw.
This was, by the way, a signature of the designer Carolina Herrera, who is famous for wearing a crisp white shirt with a long skirt to almost every black-tie event she attends. When she retired in 2018, the finale of her last show featured every model in a white shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and a long, jewel-toned taffeta skirt with a wide belt.
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The post What’s the Best Way to Wear a Button-Up Shirt? appeared first on New York Times.
