Derek Guy over at Put This On wrote a piece about how to get a good white dress shirt in response to a reader question. Must be in the zeitgeist, since I just wrote a short musing on white dress shirts last week.
His piece breaks down fabrics, collars and fit really well. I’d recommend you go check it out (he mentions Proper Cloth and my interview with Chris Callis as well as my post on How to Make the Most Out of Your Proper Cloth Purchase).
Let me also throw in a couple recommendations for white dress shirts while we’re here. I wrote before how I’ve sought the “ultimate white dress shirt,” and while I’ve mostly repented of that point of view (because there are lots of use cases for white button-up shirts, and no single one can do it all, and the fun of dressing comes from variety), I do have an opinion about what the most versatile white shirts you can begin with are.
Anglo-Italian’s spread collar white dress shirt
This is the shirt I’d buy first. It’s got a beautiful spread collar with long points (that tuck under your jacket lapels) and a high band. From my experience, it’s a nice modern fit that isn’t slim, but isn’t super baggy (I’d peg it as similar to Sid Mashburn’s fit, or Brooks Brothers “Regent” fit). It’s made from broad cloth, which will go with literally everything.
Ratio’s custom-fit Oxford Cloth Button-Down in white Oxford
I recently got one of these to review, and it’s my favorite OCBD right now. I wrote a whole article about it, which you can read here, but the cloth is sturdy, the collar roll is phenomenal, and the fit is great. Plus the price is reasonable for a Made-in-USA custom-fit shirt.
Kamakura’s slim-fit spread collar shirts
Kamakura’s quality to price ratio is just about unmatched. Their OCBDs are one of the benchmarks against which all other Oxfords are measured, but they have other really good shirts, too. Their sizing and fits are stupid, but if you happen to fit their “slim fit” pattern, I recommend their spread collar shirts (for some reason, they put collars with shorter collar leaf lengths on their regular-fit shirts, including their button-down design. Nobody knows why). They only make limited runs of certain cloths in certain fits with certain design details, so there’s no one single shirt I can link to. But generally, their broadcloth/poplins are good, as are their royal oxfords and pinpoints. They also make Leno shirts (an open weave for summer) and of course, regular Oxford cloth. I personally like to have smoother and/or more dressy fabric with spread collars and leave the Oxford cloth to button-down collars, but there is appeal to a white Oxford shirt with a spread collar to wear with tweed, flannel and ancient madder.
Nice one. What’s your take, style-wise, on Drake’s Oxford cloth point shirts? They’re nearly identical to OCBDs, just missing the buttoned collar. Would they fit the same bill as the Kamakura spreads?
I love those! I’m not sure I’m ready for a point collar, personally (I just really like how a spread collar looks on me, worn open or with a tie). But when I see the Drake’s point in the look books, there is an undeniable appeal—kind of a no-nonsense, everyday, accessible style there. Since it’s just their button-down collar without the holes cut in it (nor buttons sewn into it), I’m comfortable just wearing my OCBDs (like the Ratio linked above, which has a more traditional pointed expression) unbuttoned. That has a whole Gianni Agnelli insouciance feel that has its own appeal.