Popover Shirts: I got 5 made and these are the mistakes I made along the way

[wafflingwaffles]

(of note, 2 of the 5 shirts were from SF darling Lee Baron)

Video link:

Last year I saw a photo of Pini Parma's flannel popover shirts and I thought they looked really cool so over the course of a year I got 5 popover shirts made in various styles and from two different makers

One benefit of living in HK is that bespoke is relatively inexpensive with none of the shirts in the above video costing more than US$60 with fabric included

I did however find that with each shirt there were small styling/fabric annoyances which bothered me; I don't know whether this is because I'm overly crticial of my own choices (hence the name of the channel) but in any event increasingly I'm thinking that bespoke might not be the be-all and end-all and that if someone doesn't have a keen eye for style (as I certainly don't) they might be better suited just buying OTR from a company with good styling (I believe S. Crompton touches on this as well)

In any event making this video was enjoyable (as I do genuinely enjoy the bespoke process of making choices of fabric/styling etc and making mistakes along the way) so give me any feedback as you see fit thanks

 

[FlyingHorker]

A tighter popover is a pain ********** to put on. I think a wider placket looks better than a narrow placket, and goes well with a popover, they're both more casual.

IMO, MOP buttons are overrated and there's nothing wrong with plastic. The brown plastic buttons look great to me.

I like your first shirt the best, though I'm also heavily biased towards button down collars and collar rolls.

 

[wafflingwaffles]

A tighter popover is a pain ********** to put on. I think a wider placket looks better than a narrow placket, and goes well with a popover, they're both more casual.

IMO, MOP buttons are overrated and there's nothing wrong with plastic. The brown plastic buttons look great to me.

I like your first shirt the best, though I'm also heavily biased towards button down collars and collar rolls.

Thanks.

Yes one thing I forgot to mention is that the tighter shirts were so difficult to put on. Pretty sure I popped something in my back trying to put on the white one once lol

agreed re buttons. In fact I think my fav button of all time is the super thick plastic one you see at 1:35. Although , I did just buy some brown horn buttons...

thanks re: first shirt. Yes I’m actually quite surprised how nice the collar looks considering I asked for an extra stiff collar (in retrospect the way that it frames the neck in such a rigid way is quite cool). I wonder how a super soft 3.5 inch collar with a roll would look on a popover

 

[FlyingHorker]

Thanks.

Yes one thing I forgot to mention is that the tighter shirts were so difficult to put on. Pretty sure I popped something in my back trying to put on the white one once lol

agreed re buttons. In fact I think my fav button of all time is the super thick plastic one you see at 1:35. Although , I did just buy some brown horn buttons...

thanks re: first shirt. Yes I’m actually quite surprised how nice the collar looks considering I asked for an extra stiff collar (in retrospect the way that it frames the neck in such a rigid way is quite cool). I wonder how a super soft 3.5 inch collar with a roll would look on a popover

Yeah I made the mistake with buying a slim popover, never again.

The thick buttons look cool, are they any issue for actual buttoning?

I'm surprised that collar is extra stiff, it looks great. Is it comfortable?

 

[wafflingwaffles]

Yeah I made the mistake with buying a slim popover, never again.

The thick buttons look cool, are they any issue for actual buttoning?

I'm surprised that collar is extra stiff, it looks great. Is it comfortable?

yeah lol. Where’s your popover from?

thick buttons surprisingly no issues when buttoning

the stiff collar is extremely uncomfortable LOL. Strong correlation between softness and comfort especially in the heat

 

[FlyingHorker]

yeah lol. Where’s your popover from?

thick buttons surprisingly no issues when buttoning

the stiff collar is extremely uncomfortable LOL. Strong correlation between softness and comfort especially in the heat

Oof, I can imagine man. I no longer wear stiff, fused collars. At most, I will have a lined collar, but no fusing.

My popover was from Spier & Mackay, and I already bought it a size too small.