The striped shirt as bar-going uniform

[StevenRocks]

Stripey never appealed to me. I'm not sure why, other than the fact the same people I hated in college are the primary wearers of that look. Oh well, it's dying anyway.

 

[montecristo#4]

Two years ago before the Stripey showed up the uniform of choice was the Plain White Shirt (or "Whitey" for those who enjoy consistency in their fashion terminology). I actually had a girl approach me once in a bar and congratulate me for NOT wearing a white shirt. At the time, I was wearing a pale blue shirt with very faint vertical lines woven into the fabric. About as close to Whitey as you could get without being Whitey. But the white shirt was so much the standard back then that any departure was pretty radical. Gingham has already come and gone, BTW -- played out in fall '03. What's next? Lower contrast stripes. White cuffs and collars for the more daring. Woven fabrics. My girlfriend thinks royal blue is due for a reappearance, but I'm skeptical. Maybe something like this shirt I received from Ricky Ho about a year ago: http://www.jantzentailor.com/dobby110.htm Looks like my shirt made his hall of fame. In any case, this shirt went over great on my last trip to Vegas, especially with the Asian girls.

 

[j]

What's next? Lower contrast stripes. White cuffs and collars for the more daring. Woven fabrics. My girlfriend thinks royal blue is due for a reappearance, but I'm skeptical. Maybe something like this shirt I received from Ricky Ho about a year ago: http://www.jantzentailor.com/dobby110.htm Looks like my shirt made his hall of fame. In any case, this shirt went over great on my last trip to Vegas, especially with the Asian girls.

Careful, the ripple effect of this statement has the potential to turn Ricky's last hair grey and send his blood pressure the rest of the way through the roof. I imagine several orders are already on their way through the ether.

 

[benchan]

On the topic of trend, that liliac/purple colour is dubbed to the "next pink" for men in some mag.

I saw some pretty "interesting" shirt in the past few months, from a Savile Row brand no less and I think Polo as well....mixing different fabrics on different parts of the shirt(back, front, sleeves etc), now that's a even tougher task for Ricky.

 

[LA Guy]

What's next? Lower contrast stripes. White cuffs and collars for the more daring. Woven fabrics. My girlfriend thinks royal blue is due for a reappearance, but I'm skeptical. Maybe something like this shirt I received from Ricky Ho about a year ago: http://www.jantzentailor.com/dobby110.htm Looks like my shirt made his hall of fame. In any case, this shirt went over great on my last trip to Vegas, especially with the Asian girls.

Schiele made a great shirt like that from vintage fabrics last F/W. Got it for my brother. Terrific pattern, expecially for a highly textured shirt.

 

[Debaser]

A striped shirt? Nothing inherently wrong with that.

An effeminately-patterned stripe shirt, paired with overly-distressed jeans, black square-toed Kenneth Coles, and a puka shell necklace? Such an outfit can be seen everywhere, yet still warrants the immediate contempt of everyone in the vicinity.

 

[lupin23rd]

I also think part of the problem is that, at a lot of major retailers, the choices are limited by the trends.  As the striped shirt is hot right now (or at least it has been over the past year or two), many retailers load up on striped shirts at the expense of other merchandise.  I was in Banana Republic just after New Year's, and overheard the a conversation between two guys looking at casual shirts that went something like:

First Guy: What do you think of this shirt?

Second Guy: It looks okay, I guess.

FG: Yeah - I'm not really sure I want to buy a striped shirt, but what other chioice do I have in this day and age?

In looking at the casual shirts in BR that day, those loud, striped, "American Jackass" shirts took up by far the most shelf space.  Thus, if you want to buy a new shirt, what other choice do you have?  I doubt this is true of all retailers, but it is most likely true of those which most of us can find at a mall in Anywhere, USA.

Again, this limits the choice for most men who are just looking to buy a casual shirt (and it also reinforces the idea that they should buy TB, since it must be in style because Nordstrom is selling so much of it - then Nordstrom sells more and, as a result, devotes even more space to it).

I totally agree with this post.

Today I went to American Eagle Outfitters in my search for some relaxed khakis (is that two mistakes right there?), and I asked the guy if they had any long khakis because the only non-shorts pants they had out were jeans.

Everything was either a striped shirt, cargo/khaki short, board short, or a striped polo. Not too much selection.

I did come out with a decent pair of khakis for $20Cdn though, haha (first AE purchase ever)

Oh and I liked striped shirts, but nice ones.

m

 

[matadorpoeta]

la guy wrote:

I applaud the hipster who enjoys listening to Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen in a non-ironic way.

i'll give you bruce, but no way is a hip person going to listen to bon jovi in a non-ironic way, or any other way for that matter.

as far as 'stripey' goes, i haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, but i do think some of those shirts go well with a suit. i'd never wear them with denim though.

 

[Brian SD]

as far as 'stripey' goes, i haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, but i do think some of those shirts go well with a suit. i'd never wear them with denim though.

Agreed. I still wear striped dress shirts underneath suits. They look good.