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How to wear a white shirt - Page 7

post #91 of 429
8/2/12 at 10:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post

I am going to start a poll.

C'mmon, don't be shy.

We know you like teh white pocket square!

Ask what is possible, not what is predictable (but pay respect to the past!) . . .

- M
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post #92 of 429
8/2/12 at 11:00am


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post #93 of 429
8/2/12 at 11:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dopey View Post

I don't know how it became me who has been driven into defending the classic American canon of late, but I think an exception needs to be made for the white OCBD, which to me has many beautiful uses. Best and most elided in Manton's mini-treatise is that the white OCBD is great in a casual context, e.g. with jeans, or khakis. Also, under a tweed sportcoat (grays and blues, in particular) and under camelhair (he already mentioned the blazer).
maybe I just get like this in the summer.

This.

I only have two white shirts that are not OCBD, and those I only wear with a suit, and then very rarely.

But for the most part, I get what Manton is driving at (or at least what I understand of it) -- it is harder to work with white than perhaps is generally recognized, and probably done poorly more often than not. I would risk ecru before white in most cases.

I am curious if anybody else has ever tried a grey shirt? I had one a few years back and kind of liked it, but gave up on replacing it because it just seemed somehow redolent of dirt. confused0024.gif
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post #94 of 429
8/2/12 at 11:20am
A gray shirt to me should strictly be worn casual. Like a chambray with jeans or something. With a suit I think they tend to come across as too fashiony, cheap, or immature, (think Express or something).
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post #95 of 429
8/2/12 at 11:27am
I agree... I have a light grey (tending toward silver-ish... not shiny, but anyway...) end-on-end shirt that never seems to go with anything. As eg1 mentioned, it always just seems like a dirty white shirt, rather than a colour unto itself.
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post #96 of 429
8/2/12 at 11:47am
My n00b story with white shirts:

Several years ago,when I was just getting fired up on SF, I went to WW Chan and ordered about 4 white shirts in a few different fabrics. I presumed they would become the staples, anchors of my wardrobe.

Over the next few months, I found myself wearing them very, very little. I wasn't sure why. But they just rarely actually looked very good.

I think I'm learning in this thread why they didn't look great and some theory around them (getting back to fuuma's discussion about philosophy) but the bottom line is that, for some reason I can't explicate all that well, they just didn't look all that great.

90% of the time, blue is better, IMO.
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post #97 of 429
8/2/12 at 12:00pm
Obvious troll is obvious.
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post #98 of 429
8/2/12 at 12:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dopey View Post

... but I think an exception needs to be made for the white OCBD, .

definitely. my only white shirt atm.

beside my formal shirt.
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post #99 of 429
8/2/12 at 12:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas View Post

My n00b story with white shirts:
Several years ago,when I was just getting fired up on SF, I went to WW Chan and ordered about 4 white shirts in a few different fabrics. I presumed they would become the staples, anchors of my wardrobe.
Over the next few months, I found myself wearing them very, very little. I wasn't sure why. But they just rarely actually looked very good.
I think I'm learning in this thread why they didn't look great and some theory around them (getting back to fuuma's discussion about philosophy) but the bottom line is that, for some reason I can't explicate all that well, they just didn't look all that great.
90% of the time, blue is better, IMO.

yeah, basically, I had one white shirt with button cuffs, for job interviews, for my twenties and 30's. then I got some white shirts, and I find that I like them, I like the sharpness, the purity, to some extent. I'll be buying shirts in a few months, and I am really debating this, blue or white, or what ratio.
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post #100 of 429
8/2/12 at 3:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post

White BD (in linen) is the best shirt for a seersucker suit.

In fact, I think there must be a partial exception for white linen shirts in general. A number of the counter-examples offered involved linen shirts.

I don't think this is really in contradiction to Manton's original argument, either. The roughness in linen -- not to mention the inevitable wrinkles -- almost qualifies it as a pattern. Linen is most definitely not a "citified/formal" shirt. In addition, a lot of white linen shirts are not really "white," especially when you are wearing them.
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post #101 of 429
8/2/12 at 3:14pm

If one is to own only ONE white shirt (such as for funerals and more formal events), what is the ideal shirt, in terms of cloth, collar, and cuff?  I assume poplin or broadcloth, but would twill suffice? Is a spread or semi-spread collar conservative enough in an American context or should one stick to a point collar?  I gather that a double cuff is preferable.

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post #102 of 429
8/2/12 at 4:21pm
Fuuma,

This
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuuma View Post

There are several important problems with Aristotelian ethics and the subject/object Cartesian distinction of someone from outside looking in rationally and methodically at the world and making dispassionate observation about objects to learn their properties (Heidegger basically destroyed the whole thing in Being and Time), they also apply here, this isn’t really too important right now as most MCers need such help to grow into looking like something beside Christmas trees of fabric.

read in conjunction with your sig,
Quote:
"You bought electronic blue margiela jacket from porter 50% sale with quickness. So I say Stfu this is enought. You asshole. Fuck you"

is a thing of beauty.
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post #103 of 429
8/2/12 at 4:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bounder View Post

Fuuma,
This
read in conjunction with your sig,
is a thing of beauty.

definitely
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post #104 of 429
8/2/12 at 4:42pm

That juxtaposition is indeed remarkable.  Thanks for pointing it out.

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post #105 of 429
8/2/12 at 4:46pm

what a racist thread! cloud.gif

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