The New Shirt

THE NEW SHIRT COMES KNITTED

It is in­deed a bold state­ment, claim­ing to re­place some­thing that has been every man’s top choice for any work-related oc­ca­sion, par­ties and every­thing in be­tween for ages. So, what is the new shirt, and does it top its pre­de­ces­sor?

For a long time, the work uni­form was a dark blue suit and tie, which nat­u­rally re­quired a white for­mal shirt. Then we let go of the tie and be­fore we knew it, for­mal trousers and an odd blazer be­came a reg­u­lar work ap­pear­ance, where the for­mal shirt still was promi­nent. The ca­sual rev­o­lu­tion then crashed with the jacket com­pletely aban­doned. Men would be seen in the of­fice wear­ing jeans, chi­nos and dress pants with shirts of var­i­ous sorts, often with a colour­ful de­tail in­side the col­lar and cuffs. The gen­eral style codex was sadly thrown out of the win­dow.

“The knit­ted shirt al­lows you to com­bine it with the dark navy suit as well as the ca­sual chino or jeans, de­pend­ing on the mood or what the sit­u­a­tion calls for.”

The re­ac­tion from menswear brands to the ca­sual rev­o­lu­tion in the work­place was to re-​launch the old worker’s jacket or over­shirt, a phe­nom­e­non that reestab­lished men’s dig­nity some­what. How­ever, the thing miss­ing the whole time was some­thing that would allow all of the above dress codes to co-​exist, while still mak­ing each look com­plete on its own, and this is where the knit­ted polo shirt comes in.

The knit­ted shirt al­lows you to com­bine it with the dark navy suit as well as the ca­sual chino or jeans, de­pend­ing on the mood or what the sit­u­a­tion calls for. The new shirt never wrin­kles (be­cause it is knit­ted) and has an ef­fort­less el­e­gance even when worn with­out any jacket. When you come home, rather than rais­ing the ther­mo­stat – the sen­si­ble and re­spon­si­ble man puts on a cardi­gan, under which the knit­ted shirt looks just as right. Going out again? The blazer or sport coat will make you look smart but not over the top when paired with an un­but­toned knit­ted polo.

Per­sonal pref­er­ence nat­u­rally comes in with wear­ing the col­lar tucked in or out. What re­mains the same is en­joy­ing the non-​clingy, breath­able ma­te­r­ial close to your skin. It has got a col­lar and cuffs, but while a shirt needs to be washed al­most im­me­di­ately, knitwear airs and re­sists stains with its nat­ural wool fibre grease. The new shirt – ver­sa­tile, com­fort­able and ut­terly good-​looking whether you wear it with a suit, denim or semi-​smart with your over­shirt and jacket. It’s a shirt that com­pletes us.