Business Dress Shirts – The 12 Essentials

3 medium blue spread collar end-on-end with one FC (end-on-end offers visual texture)
2 Medium/light blue poplin and/or oxford cloth
1 pink end-on-end
4 white spread collar of which maybe one is FC and one a fancy twill or herringbone.
1 Blue and white spread collar pencil stripe
1 Blue and white spread collar slightly wider but not Bengal


I wouldn't do any contrasting white collars unless you go for a lot more than 12 essentials. They are very limited use and look dated IMO.

Wow - not much love for pattern among the Style Forum intelligencia! I'm somewhat surprised at that.

Gotta disagree about white collars on light blue or pink shirts though. Most of my ties have some white and it picks up the collar well. It also adds a dressy dimension to a blue or pink shirt that otherwise would be lacking. They can look dated if you wear 'em like Gordon Geko, John McGlaughlin, or Larry Kudlow. But they can be worn less Wall-Streety if you are careful with the tie and suit.

3 white, 3 light blue, 3 white with blue stripes, 3 of whatever you like

I would go with poplin and french cuffs for all.

That some SF members actually took the time to read through all this and spent the time giving you advice is one of those amazing things about SF

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Yep.

I personally would

-read your question and think: who does this guy think he is, asking people to spend a significant amount of time to answer his detailed mundane questions when they know him from nowhere.

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Umm ... a guy who respects opinions around here about clothes, knows that people around here like to offer opinions about clothes, and who is wrestling with a clothing-related issue and thought he'd get some input?

- before making your post would think why am I requesting strangers to do all this for me

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See above.

but obviously you had enough confidence to put it out there and lo and behold u got answers

congrats

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I'm not frustrated, frosted, or complaining about anything dude. Relax.

Originally Posted by J. Cogburn

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Wow - not much love for pattern among the Style Forum intelligencia! I'm somewhat surprised at that.

I believe there is much love for patterns in Style Forum, and I've seen some great examples in the WAYWT. That being said, that's not what you are asking for because "conservative" normally means solid white or solid light blue shirt. I don't believe we are trying to be mean (except for a few) but it is what it is.

Originally Posted by osborn

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but obviously you had enough confidence to put it out there and lo and behold u got answers

I think that basically sums it.

I guess conservative means one thing to some and another thing to others.

I don't like patterns with more than one color (say, red and blue checks on a dress shirt). And I don't generally like large patterned shirts. Those styles strike me as "not conservative." Small patterns, however, don't seem particularly out-there.

Originally Posted by J. Cogburn

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Wow - not much love for pattern among the Style Forum intelligencia! I'm somewhat surprised at that.
I cannot speak for others, but over time, I've come to identify patterns in the type and weave of fabric more than the design pattern on the fabric itself. This way, I could have 20 shirts in the same shade of light blue, but every one of them could be different albeit in a subtle, elegant way (IMO).

There's a pretty good case for that.

Last month I was in a meeting with the president of my institute and he stopped what he was saying to ask "hey - what kind of shirt is that?" It was simply a white shirt with barrel cuffs and medium spread collar. But it was a pinpoint Oxford. He noticed the texture. He liked it a lot.

Not that I'm a slave to the boss's taste, but it was a useful reminder that texture can provide all the interest one needs and that colored pattern is unnecessary to do the same. Especially in a world in which most shirts in the workplace today have no texture at all unless its a cheap Oxford.

While I don't recommend getting 10 light blue shirts, Foo is correct in implying that those shirts would give you the most utility.

Here is what I would get:

2 plain white
5 plain light blue
1 plain light pink
2 blue stripes
2 checks (a couple of ginghams would be nice)

Certainly no dark colors. And leave the greens and reds for later.

Experiment with collars and cuff styles.

Are the white shirts even needed?

phew, didn't read all the responses but I'd recomend dropping the red bengal and green gingham...
I also didn't see anything about grey in there or yellows. not sure if the coloring works but something like a light yellow bengal or pink with white is probably useful.

Originally Posted by ruben

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Are the white shirts even needed?
Absolutely. He said he goes to formal occasions and speaking engagements. For more formal business dress, a white shirt is the best option. Even beyond that, I think white shirts are quite underappreciated, if not exactly maligned, on SF. Sure, they're "boring" in context of a WAYWRN dandy-off. But they are classic in everyday dress, and they provide a wonderful canvas for just about any tie and suit. Light blue shirts are great, but white shirts have their place as well.

Originally Posted by Don Carlos

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Absolutely. He said he goes to formal occasions and speaking engagements. For more formal business dress, a white shirt is the best option.

Even beyond that, I think white shirts are quite underappreciated, if not exactly maligned, on SF. Sure, they're "boring" in context of a WAYWRN dandy-off. But they are classic in everyday dress, and they provide a wonderful canvas for just about any tie and suit.

Light blue shirts are great, but white shirts have their place as well.

I don't know about that, I see plenty of good looking outfits with white shirts on waywn, it's whe you encounter them in real life that they look off.

Originally Posted by ruben

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I don't know about that, I see plenty of good looking outfits with white shirts on waywn, it's whe you encounter them in real life that they look off.
Most people in real life (a category which we will assume to stand for "all persons and situations outside of SF") can't pull off anything. The white shirts aren't the problem; they are usually incidental to it. Take a typical American businessperson, for example. Ill-fitting navy or even black suit, baggy white shirt, garishly bright blue tie. Of course the white shirt is going to look bad in such a context. But is the white shirt to blame? Hardly. More to the point: are white shirts, in general, to blame? Again, no.

Why is there so much hate on the darker blue? I'm no style guru by any means; however, the compliments I get are when I wear my French blue shirt, while the 3 light blue's I have don't get anything. Plus the gf says I look better in darker colors.