A World of Shirts
A crash course on all things shirts...
Shirts used to be underwear - you’d wear the same “body” and change the collar and cuffs each day. And I think they were almost always white (can’t be sure, I wasn’t alive yet).
My point is: men would never be seen in public wearing just a shirt, they weren’t all that special and never the main garment of any outfit. Now, often, they perform the “job” that jackets used to - now they are often the main garment of men’s outfits.
So naturally, the options have become more diverse.
Probably the most common corporate office attire is: chinos, shirt, sweater, or vest (personally, as you all know, I would always recommend a sports coat or blazer, but it is what it is). That combination is not necessarily a bad one, it just depends on how it fits and how it’s put together. Therefore a good, well-thought-out shirt collection will get you a long way, regardless if you’re wearing a blazer or not.
For constant t-shirt wearers, please allow me to make my case for shirts real quick:
A well-fitting shirt can flatter your body and elegantly frame your face in a way that a t-shirt can’t, the collar creates a (sort of) podium for your face; and in a work environment the right shirt can communicate your engagement, interest, and investment without signaling that you’re “too corporate”. There are some beautiful t-shirts out there, and I enjoy wearing t-shirts, but for the most part, they’re best used on weekends.
So let’s look into that for a sec, here’s a little crash course on shirts-
You only need to know two fabric weaves: plain weave and twill weave.
Plain weaves generally breathe more (cooler), are lighter, softer, sleeker, crisper, more transparent. The most common plain weave is Poplin, other variations include end-on-end, pinpoint, and oxford.
Twill is a complex, diagonal weave: it’s more robust (warmer), wrinkles less, and easier to iron. A popular variation of twill is herringbone.
We measure fabric density in grams per meter. On average: the weight for 4 season shirts is around 150gr/mt, 120gr/mt for summer, and 220gr/mt for winter. Pick depending on where you live and if you tend to run hot or cold.
Good general rule of thumb to keep in mind: the thinner the fabric, the less it will last; and heavier shirts tend to wrinkle less.
Cotton is the default material for shirts. 90% of shirts will be made of pure cotton. Buy only natural fibers, synthetics are rough against the skin. Alternatives are linen or cashmere blends.
If you’re starting a shirt collection (or re-vamping the one you have) the best place to start is to make sure you have at the very least one white and one blue - great fit, proper collar, plain, no fuzzy design, no nothing.
Then…after that’s covered, you can look into white with blue stripes (or blue with white stripes). And after that…the rest: checks, pink, lavender….whatever.
That’s all for now. Let this sink in for a bit. I’ll write a some more about shirts on the next one. Make sure you check out the newsletter mood board that I made.
Best,
Simon.
What’s happening in Bogotá?
A good week to start this newsletter because a lot is going on in town - there was Disclosure last night, then ArtBat tonight, and Luis Miguel on both Saturday and Sunday.
Galeria Casas Riegner has Carlos Alfonso on expo and I hear that it’s a must. I will be checking that out next week.
I’ve been hearing a lot of fuzz about a new taco place: Poseidon. It’s at the top of my priority list I’ll report back once I’ve tried it.
The latest thing I tried that’s worth recommending was Pizzardi. It’s really good, no debate. Tiramisu is on point. It’s expensive as fuck tho, just saying.
There’s a showing of a documentary celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, narrated by Iggy Pop. It’s today so it’s a bit short notice.
I’m putting together a Bar list. It’s short because there are not that many to begin with, so far I have: Enano, Tercer Piso, Cocodrilo (still need to check that one out), Atlas, and Continental. If you know of any other bars, send them my way, I’m keen to try some good bars. My favorite restaurants to sit at the bar are Ugly American and Brasserie - but those don’t count for this list.
