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My late father was violently prejudiced. He detested any shirt with an open collar, insisting on a button-down collar at all times. The only exceptions he made were for tux shirts and fishing shirts, and if he could have gotten away with a button-down on the former he would have.
Open collars, he explained, were only fit for "crooners and lounge lizards."
For years I adhered to my father's views, even as I rejected his opinions on other matters, such as the saxophone, broccoli and drinking in the morning.
But as I near age 60, I have come around to open collars for sport shirts.
It's been a gradual process, largely confined to the LL Bean canvas shirt. (The shirts are now referred to as "lakewashed." I doubt the veracity of this description, although the image of LL Bean workers trooping down to the nearest lake or pond with armfuls of shirts is pleasing.)
The other frequent use of open collars has been fishing shirts, ranging from somewhat expensive bush shirts made by Filson and Orvis to high-tech synthetic shirts made by a bunch of outfits.
Over the years I occasionally picked up a vintage shirt here and there, usually a wool/cotton mix like Viyella, and these usually had open collars (and dual chest pockets, the other distinguishing feature). I gradually came to like them more than their button-down counterparts.
My feeling now is: If you're going to go casual, go for it.
This is an inversion of the Flusser hierarchy of degrees of dressiness, of course. But that applies to, well, dress shirts. Not something you wear in a canoe.
Which is a long way of getting to the LL Bean shirts I just received:
https://imageshack.com/i/pnIgdYIXj]
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The red plaid is "slightly fitted," which I worried about, needlessly. The XL is plenty roomy.
The greyish one is lighter and in the traditional (that is, voluminous) fit
And I include the "lakewashed" canvas for reference.
The one scenario in which I defer to the buttondown sport shirt is for use under a sweater. I do not like collar points outside the sweater. (Or jacket for that matter.) To me it looks too 1950s undergraduate (on a good day) or lounge lizard/wannabe gangster (on a bad day).
https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/123600?moe=ordhistory&csp=a
https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/123794?moe=ordhistory&csp=a
Open collars, he explained, were only fit for "crooners and lounge lizards."
For years I adhered to my father's views, even as I rejected his opinions on other matters, such as the saxophone, broccoli and drinking in the morning.
But as I near age 60, I have come around to open collars for sport shirts.
It's been a gradual process, largely confined to the LL Bean canvas shirt. (The shirts are now referred to as "lakewashed." I doubt the veracity of this description, although the image of LL Bean workers trooping down to the nearest lake or pond with armfuls of shirts is pleasing.)
The other frequent use of open collars has been fishing shirts, ranging from somewhat expensive bush shirts made by Filson and Orvis to high-tech synthetic shirts made by a bunch of outfits.
Over the years I occasionally picked up a vintage shirt here and there, usually a wool/cotton mix like Viyella, and these usually had open collars (and dual chest pockets, the other distinguishing feature). I gradually came to like them more than their button-down counterparts.
My feeling now is: If you're going to go casual, go for it.
This is an inversion of the Flusser hierarchy of degrees of dressiness, of course. But that applies to, well, dress shirts. Not something you wear in a canoe.
Which is a long way of getting to the LL Bean shirts I just received:
https://imageshack.com/i/pnIgdYIXj]
]
]
The red plaid is "slightly fitted," which I worried about, needlessly. The XL is plenty roomy.
The greyish one is lighter and in the traditional (that is, voluminous) fit
And I include the "lakewashed" canvas for reference.
The one scenario in which I defer to the buttondown sport shirt is for use under a sweater. I do not like collar points outside the sweater. (Or jacket for that matter.) To me it looks too 1950s undergraduate (on a good day) or lounge lizard/wannabe gangster (on a bad day).
https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/123600?moe=ordhistory&csp=a
https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/123794?moe=ordhistory&csp=a
