The Great Ecru / Off-White Shirt Conundrum

[archibaldleach]

I did a couple searches and it seems there are not a lot of threads dedicated to ecru / off-white shirts. Perhaps there is a reason for that, but it's been awhile since we've had a thread on it and I thought it might be interesting to see what the consensus is. SF loves to talk about white shirts, light blue shirts and occasionally pastel colors such as pink and lilac, but ecru / off-white seems to not attract much conversation.

Personally, I never used to like ecru shirts. I bought one that I wore occasionally but usually felt that I would have been better off wearing another shirt that day. Once I realized how much I like tweed jackets (and the occasional corduroy jacket), however, I found that ecru could in some cases be a great pairing and started to like the look enough that I am seriously considering getting a few OCBDs made up in ecru. I don't think I'll ever consider them a key staple, but I do think having a couple of ecru shirts to wear with tweed in the winter may make a nice addition to my wardrobe. I currently just have one ecru shirts from Tyrwhitt in a broadcloth which is not exactly optimal as a texture for pairing with tweed, but I like the color combinations enough that I am content to wear it. Somewhat mediocre picture just showing how the colors interact with a brown herringbone Harris tweed jacket is below.

In any event, what are people's thoughts on ecru? Do you wear them (or would you were it not for skin tone issues)? If so, in what capacity and how often? Let's discuss (and please feel free to post pictures).

 

[spiermackay]

Ecru shirts always pair well with Earth tones. I have a chocolate brown corduroy jacket that I wear with an ivory/ecru OCBD and really love how the off white balances the darkness of the jacket. White would be nice, but I find it to be too stark of a contrast for a casual, toned down look.

 

[Wrenkin]

I wear mine with tweed, as pictured. I don't have much use for it in the summer.

 

[Academic2]

I think ecru occupies a distinct and thus potentially useful point on the dressy/casual continuum (and to some extent on the country/city continuum, too). I wear suits much more often than sport coats, thus tending more toward the dressy end of the spectrum, and don’t own any ecru shirts which I would wear with my suits. (On the other hand, I wouldn’t hesitate to wear a cream shirt with most of my suits if the mood struck me. But cream or off-white is, for me, very different than ecru.)

I do, however, have a couple of ecru button-down collar shirts which I’ll happily wear with a sport coat and no tie where a white shirt would, in my opinion, be out of place.

I think your association of ecru with tweed is spot on. I own only one tweed suit (a herringbone), not enough to justify a non-button-down ecru shirt. But if I did own such a shirt, I wouldn't hesitate to wear it with that suit.

Cheers,

Ac

 

[sultan22]

Given I have brown skin and warm toned.
Ecru/off-white is more flattering to my complexion than the plain crisp white shirts.
So naturally they are a staple in my wardrobe along with blue shirts.

 

[archibaldleach]

Figured this could use a bump. Would love to see some other pairings / thoughts on ecru shirts. Am seriously considering having Joe of MyTailor make me a couple of ecru shirts made with oxford cloth.

 

[archibaldleach]

One final bump before I let this thread die. I suppose I find it a bit surprising there aren't more threads on / interest in the subject.

By way of update on my own search, I ended up looking at a few ecru oxford fabric swatches in May but couldn't settle on one / feel confident how it would look made up. I'm probably going to just commission a few different shades of ecru / off white oxfords in September and maybe end up ordering one or two more of whichever one ends up being my favorite.

 

[jrd617]

don't like them. they seem throw off an elderly vibe to me for some reason.

 

[poorsod]



don't like them. they seem throw off an elderly vibe to me for some reason.

I presume this means that you basically only wear blue shirts with earth tone jackets (e.g. brown tweed and etc). Off white shirts open up more options.

 

[comrade]

I have several ecru dress shirts and a 40 year old
silk pleated evening shirt. The evening shirt is a
treasure which no longer fits. It made an otherwise
unobtrusive Ivy League cut tuxedo a bit more
soigne'.

 

[EliodA]

Ecru shirts make me look like I'm seriously I'll...

 

[sstokol]

I feel like I would totally be down with rocking an ecru shade with tweed or cord ... but I don't actually have any shirts of this ilk. I feel like its a bigger risk to order - that the margin for error of getting a really ugly shirt is much higher than for white or light blue or the "safe" colours.

Get it wrong and I agree you risk the "old man" vibe...

Now because it wouldn't be SF without a mandatory picture of JFK / Duke of Windsor / Cary Grant / Fred Astaire / James Bond-Sean Connery wearing whatever item is being questioned here you go:



http://thesuitsofjamesbond.com/?p=88

An interesting line from that random article
"Properly, ecru should be used to describe a light grey-ish beige. Turnbull & Asser (along with most other British stores) uses the word “cream” on their website to describe their pale yellow shirts, though when I asked what they call the colour an English employee at the New York store said “ecru.”"

I think the risk of "old man vibe" is higher when these veer more towards khaki/dull light brown than if they are really a creamy/slightly yellow off-white. Just my 2¢

 

[archibaldleach]



I feel like I would totally be down with rocking an ecru shade with tweed or cord ... but I don't actually have any shirts of this ilk. I feel like its a bigger risk to order - that the margin for error of getting a really ugly shirt is much higher than for white or light blue or the "safe" colours.

Get it wrong and I agree you risk the "old man" vibe...

I think the risk of "old man vibe" is higher when these veer more towards khaki/dull light brown than if they are really a creamy/slightly yellow off-white. Just my 2¢

I agree on the risk of ordering one (light blue especially is really hard to screw up; worst case you get a shade lighter or darker and it doesn't work as well with a few things vs. ugly shirt). That's what held me back last time, but eventually I'm going to have to give in and just take a chance on something. The creamy / slightly yellow off-white as you describe it is what I tend to prefer too.

 

[kulata]

Not a fan. Anything outside standard white, blue, pink and lilac would be green and red for me.

 

[Naive Jr.]

What's the difference between ecru and cream?