Jan
Hey Kyoshi, Do you mess with button-down shirts when wearing a suit? Cheers!
Generally speaking, no. When I wear a suit, it’s usually because the situation requires a certain amount of formality (business, something at a church, etc.) and I go with a standard spread collar (blue for the daytime and business, white for formal and evening).
Now, that’s mainly just for my worsted wool suits. When it comes to casual and seasonal fabrics, I think that perhaps allows you to go with a button-down collar. I could see someone wearing a bowtie with a seersucker suit and button-down collar. I could see someone wearing a OCBD with a donegal tweed suit and a v-neck sweater layered under the jacket.
Jan
Can't recall if you spoke about this long ago but did Brooks Brothers re-size their ESF shirts? I bought a bunch when they first came out then went in to get re-sized last week and found them much slimmer than the ones I own. Either way, they're fantastic.
Not sure. They may have in their most-recent batch. Their OCBDs seem the same though (they’re still made in the United States). The rest of their shirts are made overseas, so the specs might be slightly different. Regardless, they have a great return policy at Brooks Brothers.
Jan
Hey man - Great post on adopting a uniform. I've got an off-kilter question on oxford shirts I'd like to hear your thoughts on. I've got a few nicer OCBDS I reserve for blazers and sportcoats and a few "beaters" I wear on more casual occasions. Is this typical, or do folks treat their OCBDs interchangeably? I ask because I'm also looking to simplify and slim down my wardrobe.
Thanks, glad you liked it. As for what you wear when, it sounds like you’re doing it right. Most days to work I could and do wear whatever. Mine aren’t in “beater” territory just yet, so it’s a wash. I do, however, make it a point to wear nicer (often meaning “newer) things on special occasions.
Jan
For those of you who were wondering what direction my wardrobe is heading after my giant purge, here’s a clue. A post on this is forthcoming.
Dec
what's an ocbd and where can I find some good ones? =/ sorry, I'm new to this menswear thing. everybody has to start somewhere, right?
OCBD = Oxford cloth button-down. Oxford cloth is a bit heavier and coarser than say a broadcloth shirt. Google it up for more information. Button-down refers to the collar buttoning down to the shirt.
You can find them pretty much anywhere that sells menswear. My favorite off-the-rack ones come from Brooks Brothers.
If you’re on a budget and are “regular” sized in your proportions, then I’d check out Lands’ End Canvas. Their collars are a bit flimsy and small for my tastes to be worn with some ties, but they’re fairly cheap and often on sale.
Dec
Hey so I 3 BB ESF OCBDs about a month ago, white blue and pink. Love them, thanks for the recommendation. I had a question about them. When I wash them the pink and blue I can just hang up after drying and they are barely wrinkled, but the white is super wrinkly and I have to iron every time. The material on the white seems to be heavier. Any suggestions so I don't have to iron the white one every time?
Sorry, I don’t have an answer for you. It’s probably the nature of the fabric to wrinkle that much.
Nov
I bought a few BB ESF OCBD from their two for $120 the other day. Love the shirts, thanks for the recommendation. Any tips for taking care of them? Last longer? Prevent shrinkage?
If you really want to prevent shrinkage, you could just cold-water wash them by hand and then hang dry.
I usually throw mine in the washer on cold and then dry them on low for about 15 minutes because I’m lazy.
Still, if they shrink and don’t work out, Brooks Brothers has a pretty good returns policy. They’ve been helpful in the past for stuff like that.
Nov
Would you recommend sizing up on the collar and sleeve? I've heard they shrink significantly.
RE: Brooks Brothers ESF dress shirts
Non-iron: True to size.
Iron: True to size.
OCBDs: Sleeves tend to shrink a lot on the white shirts, so I’d maybe size up one in the sleeve. I sized down though in the ecru and university stripe ones. Went TTS on the blue and pink ones.
I haven’t had collar issues, personally.
Sep
What do you recommend for a workhorse white OCBD?
Brooks Brothers extra-slim fit line. I feel that the price/quality ratio is pretty good there and I’ve got several from them.
May
On sale: Brooks Brothers dress shirts, 2 for $109 plus free shipping on orders over $200 — It doesn’t get much cheaper than this for your staple shirts at Brooks Brothers. I’m a fan of this spread collar white shirt and their OCBDs and my roommate swears by their non-irons. Some of their sport shirts are on sale, too, however, not their madras or linen shirts (bummer). Regardless, for $54.50 a shirt I think they’re a decent deal. Sale ends May 27.
Feb
It’s on sale: Brooks Brothers Extra-Slim Fit Oxford Sport Shirts: $39.75 — While these sport shirts never seem to fit me (thanks to my stupid, long-ass arms), they might be of general interest to those of you who are lucky enough to be of “average” frame (or just roll your sleeves up). All sorts of sizes, colors and styles.
Jan
True enough but I haven't worn a tie with an oxford since prep school.
(RE: This shirt’s troublesome —but cool-looking — collar)
If you’re not a person who wears ties with oxfords, then it’s a nice shirt to have (also a fan of the locker loop, too). But I almost universally wear a tie except during the hottest of summer days, but at that point I’m not wearing a jacket either. My personal preference is to always wear a tie/jacket, but I get that’s not for everyone and lots of folks do casual style much better than I do.
Jan
In Re: to style "staples", I find that a lot of them are more or less "these things look good on most people" instead of "you absolutely need this". White dress shirt? That's a staple. Desert boots? Pretty awesome, but I wear mine rarely. Even though it's a giant "staple", I don't have a navy suit because it's not THAT necessary.
Blue OCBD, though, that's just crazy, bro.
I largely agree with you that “staple pieces” are rather generic and not individually universal to everyone. For me, a white dress shirt is pretty essential for work, same with a navy suit. For others, it’s probably something they should own, but won’t wear much for their job and everyday use.
OCBDs fall into that category for me, although I admit it’s got a lot of utility. Regardless, yes, I do need to purchase one, but I keep finding other stuff I’d rather get more.
Jan
Well, I rarely wear oxfords to work, so it’s not a high priority for me and I’ve got a few others in different colors.
Another “style staple” confession: I don’t own desert boots or penny loafers.
I’m noticing that my wardrobe seems to lack a lot of the weekend/business casual items. I guess I feel like I’m really comfortable in my work/dress clothing that I don’t mind wearing it all the time. At most, I usually just swap out my slacks for jeans.
It’s kind of interesting, because a few people have commented that I’m always dressed up — which I guess is hard to argue with when I wear a collared shirt, tie, square and jacket 90% of the time — but it’s more or less because I edited down my wardrobe dramatically in the past few months. I got rid of all my ironic graphic T-shirts, hoodies, baggy khakis, “hybrid” shoes, ill-fitting sport shirts, etc., and then chose to only buy professional “work” clothes as a priority. So, it’s what I’ve been wearing most of the time, everywhere I go, because it’s just made sense financially.
Oct
Review: Brooks Brothers Extra Slim Fit Oxford Dress Shirt
After ordering the incorrect sleeve length (more on that in a bit), returns/exchanges, waiting for the FedEx guy to come and a bunch of really unrelated issues, I finally got a chance to do an hands-on review of the much buzzed about Brooks Brothers Extra Slim Fit Oxford Dress Shirt.
In a nutshell: I like it, but with some reservations.
First up, the positives. The fabric feels great and is probably the nicest oxford I’ve worn so far. It looks great, too.
The fit is definitely slim and the armholes are high. Given my frame and prior issues with finding ready-to-wear shirts that don’t have massive bunching when tucked or arms that turn into windsails, this shirt does the best job so far.
As for my reservations, they’re more like warnings when you’re deciding on what size to buy.
I typically wear a 15.5 neck and 34/35 arm. Because of my experience with all-cotton, must-iron shirts shrinking on me, I prefer to buy 35” arm lengths. (For reference, I’m 5’11” and 150 lbs.) However, in this particular fit, I had to size down in the arm to 34” and probably should have sized up to 16” in the neck.
The 35” arm length’s cuffs came up almost up to my thumbnail. I figured even with shrinking, it’d be too long. After a washing/drying cycle, the 34” worked out perfectly.
For the neck, it almost shrank too much, making it a bit of a tighter fit than I’d like. Hence my suggestion to go up half-an-inch neckwise.
The oxford has a box pleat in the back and a one-piece yolk. This is a bit disappointing, to be honest. Also, the sleeves don’t have a gauntlet button, which even a lot of the cheaper-made RTW shirts have. I found this to be a surprising lack for a shirt Brooks Brothers intends to charge nearly $80 for.
The overall shirt length could be longer. I feel like it’s a compromise length to work both tucked in and tucked out. I actually link the fit of it looks better untucked as you can see in the photo below.
So, despite all these complaints and such, I’m a fan of the shirt. It’s comfortable (as long as I don’t button the top button) and works great for a weekend, non-work shirt to wear casually.
I don’t think I’ll be looking to the BB ESF line for dress shirts to wear with a tie, however, given the length of the shirt. For those, I’ll still be turning to the Nordstrom Smartcare Trim Fit line, which are a bit more roomy, but longer.
But if you’re of a shorter torso, or looking for a shirt you can wear tucked out, I’d give these a look.
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