[Boyfriend's Outfit Notes] How should guys choose shirts?
I. Introduction
I wrote an article before about helping guys choose coats, and it was quite well received.
Later, a friend asked if I could write an article about choosing shirts, because he often browses Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A website) and all he sees are recommendations for shirt brands that cost thousands of dollars... It's disheartening...
So, I've summarized some of my own experiences in buying shirts and would like to share them with you, hoping they will be helpful.
II. Table of Contents
① What are the components of a shirt?
② What fabric should you choose for your shirt?
③ Essential styles and recommended colors
④ How to choose the size
⑤ Basic matching methods
⑥ Daily care of shirts
⑦ Recommended affordable brands
III. How to Choose a Shirt
1. What are the components of a shirt?
① Let's first look at the components of a shirt: collar, placket, back, cuffs, pockets, and hem.
The image below shows almost all the styles; many shirts now incorporate these elements. Just take a look.
I marked the common designs used in the basic style with red five-pointed stars.
Please note the following:
▲Choice of collar type: The straight collar (also called Windsor collar) is a common collar type for formal shirts and is suitable for wearing with a tie, but it is not friendly to people with short necks.
Square necklines, button-down collars, and round necks are not formal enough; I recommend these necklines for casual wear.
Wearing a wide-pointed collar would look odd, but it's not commonly seen these days.
The dress is too formal; it's okay to buy if you're getting married.
▲Cuff selection: French folded sleeves require cufflinks.
▲Choice of placket: Shirts with visible plackets are the most common.
▲Back: If you don't want to iron your shirt every day, try to choose one with no wrinkles on the back.
▲Pockets: French shirts do not have pockets on the chest.
▲Hem: Casual shirts can be worn with a flat hem, while slightly more formal shirts should be worn with a rounded hem to make it easier to tuck the shirt into your pants and prevent it from showing.
2. What fabric should I choose for my shirt?
Shirts can be categorized by fabric as follows:
Cotton shirts (pure cotton, or containing polyester, nylon, etc.), denim shirts, long-staple cotton shirts, cotton-linen shirts, corduroy shirts, flannel shirts, Oxford shirts, wrinkle-free shirts, etc.
PS: When it comes to pure cotton fabrics, the best is long-staple cotton. Egyptian cotton, Pima cotton, and Sea Island cotton, which you often hear about, all belong to this category, but most people can't tell the difference. Many Egyptian cotton fabrics on the market now are actually from Xinjiang, which is different from the original source.
▲In summer, you can choose shirts made of long-staple cotton, pure cotton, and cotton-linen blends, while in winter you can choose shirts made of denim, corduroy, or flannel.
▲Denim shirts, Oxford shirts, and wrinkle-free shirts are easy to care for and durable.
Therefore, if you're buying shirts for everyday wear, I recommend denim or Oxford cloth for casual occasions, and wrinkle-free fabric for work shirts.
▲In addition, when it comes to high-end shirts, you often hear that the shirt is made of 100 or 300 thread count. What does that mean?
"Count" is an imperial standard for measuring the fineness of cotton yarn. Explaining it in detail is complicated, but just know that the higher the count, the higher the price, the finer the fabric, and the more comfortable it is to wear.
Most mass-market brands don't specify the thread count, as they're generally around 40-80 threads, with 50-60 threads being the most common. 80-100 threads is considered quite good. Higher-end shirt brands often have shirts with 200 or 300 threads, but shirts with this thread count are very expensive, costing around a thousand yuan.
For the average person, there's no need to be too particular about the number of threads in their clothing.
▲Let's talk about buttons. Ordinary shirts have polyester buttons, while high-end shirts use mother-of-pearl buttons (also known as shell buttons). Shell buttons are shinier and feel better to the touch.
3. Essential shirt types and recommended colors
Men's shirts are like leggings in women's clothing—they seem ordinary, but there are many different types, and they're hard to categorize. If you include various combinations, there can be hundreds of variations.
Broadly speaking, there are four styles: French, Italian, American, and British. We wear American and British shirts the most. However, nowadays, if you buy a shirt and say something like "British," "American," "French," or "Italian," probably not many people will understand.
Therefore, I will give you a summary of the essential types of shirts.
① Formal shirt
▲The formal occasions mentioned here refer to styles suitable for high-end banquets, weddings, and parties. You only need to have one of these shirts, as you will rarely have the opportunity to wear them.
▲The representative style is the French shirt, whose main characteristics are: double-folded sleeves (requiring cufflinks), collar stays, and no breast pocket. French shirts look particularly good when paired with ties/bow ties and suits, creating a very formal appearance.
▲If you're buying a shirt for a job interview, I don't recommend buying a French-style shirt; a regular business shirt will suffice.
▲Be cautious about buying dress collars (wing collars) and pinhole collars (imperial collars). If you do buy them, be prepared to wear them only a few times a year.
For weddings, you can also choose a dress collar (wing collar) shirt, which is suitable for wearing with a bow tie.
Imperial collar shirts aren't widely available online these days, so I wouldn't recommend buying them.
② Denim shirt
With its strong casual appeal and ease of matching, the denim shirt is an essential item in any wardrobe. It's suitable for wearing alone, as an inner layer, or as an outer layer.
We recommend choosing one of the following three colors:
③ Plaid shirt (striped shirt)
When it comes to straight men's favorite thing, nothing beats the plaid (striped) shirt.
However, plaid shirts are really selective in terms of who can pull them off, so I don't recommend trying them on casually (I bought two before, wore them less than five times, and just didn't have the courage to wear them out). It's best to try them on in a store before buying.
Here's a little tip: to judge whether a plaid shirt is good or not, the key is to see if the checks are aligned.
As shown in the picture below, although they are equally ugly, the right side is slightly more aligned, which means that the right side is a tiny bit better than the left side (the left side is Uniqlo, and the right side is Muji).
I'd like to recommend two colors for plaid shirts: one is a large plaid red, and the other is a Japanese-style dark gray.
④ Printed shirt
There are many types of printed shirts; I'll describe some representative styles.
▲The most dangerous are all-over prints and polka dots, a must-have style for pseudo-social youths.
If you could wear a big gold chain, it would be even more classy (and tacky).
Believe me, not everyone can pull off these two models.
If you're going on a beach vacation, then you can buy one to wear. If you'd like to wear it casually... then try to buy darker colors...
Both of the items pictured below are from Zara and cost around 200.
▲Another potentially dangerous type is "small patterns," which many pseudo-intellectual young people particularly like.
It's undeniably sexy, but you need to have a sexy face to pull it off. It's just as difficult to pull off as polka dots.
If you absolutely must choose this type of shirt, I recommend white.
▲The half-body patterned style is a must-have for pseudo-trendy young people.
Honestly, this shirt is difficult to pull off... You have to be very fashionable to wear it without looking out of place.
Otherwise... um... are you the hairdresser Tony at the barbershop?
The two products below are both from Mark Fairwhale, priced around 170.
Wear these shirts with caution! Wear them with caution! Wear them with caution!
Also, whatever you do, don't buy the patchwork style!!!
▲So what kind of printed shirt is the safest choice?
A: The smaller the print, the better; the fewer the prints, the better; the simpler the print, the better.
You can refer to the following three models, all from Peacebird, around 200 yuan.
The first one on the left in the picture below has a small print on the pocket, like it's growing out of the pocket itself, giving it a slightly edgy feel. A similar design is the previously popular cat head print (though I wouldn't recommend it for straight men), but artsy types might want to give it a try.
The second one from the left in the image below has a print on the chest, about the size of the pocket. If you want a more "street" look, you can choose styles with skull or cross prints to show a little personality without being too overt.
The image on the right shows a print covering 1/3 of the body (this is also a safe area for prints). It's recommended that prints be as simple as possible, and prints on the back should be safer than those on the front. For a more trendy look, choose this type of shirt.
⑤ Short-sleeved shirt
Summer wouldn't be complete without short-sleeved shirts, which are similar in style to long-sleeved ones. Here are two points I'd like to share:
1. For many large companies, long-sleeved shirts are required when holding important meetings or meeting important clients, because short-sleeved shirts are considered not formal enough.
2. When choosing a short-sleeved shirt, pay attention to the outer edge of the cuffs; try to make sure they are close to your arms.
As shown in the image below:
⑥ Solid color shirt
For guys, solid colors are the way to go.
The shirt you should buy most is a solid color shirt, because no matter how the season, age, or aesthetics change, a solid color shirt will never go out of style.
Whether it's Oxford cloth, long-staple cotton, 300-count fabric, denim, linen, or flannel, we recommend prioritizing solid colors.
Solid-color open-collar and off-the-shoulder (Windsor collar) shirts can also be worn as business shirts.
4. How to choose styles and sizes
Style issue:
Shirts generally come in three styles: loose, standard, and slim fit.
I recommend buying a fitted style, as it will make you look more capable.
Size issue:
① For those with deep pockets, custom-made shirts are an option. Custom-made shirts will fit better and be more comfortable to wear, but of course, they come at a higher price.
②For most of us, customization is an unattainable dream, so we suggest that you try it on in stores more often.
③ If you are a homebody and want to buy online, you should buy according to your shoulder width, chest circumference and sleeve length.
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6. Daily care of shirts
① First, soak the shirt in warm water for 15 to 30 minutes. If the white shirt is yellowed, you can add some bleach (if it is a shirt of other colors, you can add some color bleach).
② After soaking, first scrub the collar and cuffs, which are more heavily stained. Then you can hand wash them, or machine wash them if permissible.
③ Do not wash white shirts with clothes of other colors to prevent staining.
④ Avoid exposing high-end shirts to direct sunlight; air dry them in the shade whenever possible.
⑤ Long-staple cotton, pure cotton, and cotton-linen shirts need to be ironed after washing, otherwise they will have a lot of wrinkles. I recommend buying a garment steamer, which costs around 100-200 yuan on Taobao.
7. Recommended Shirt Brands
Almost every clothing brand has shirts, with varying prices.
① Young people can try fast fashion brands:
▲Uniqlo, Muji, Vancl, and G2000 offer relatively classic and comfortable styles, so they are recommended.
▲Zara, Peacebird, Mark Fairwhale and other brands have relatively trendy (and cool) designs.
②If it's for someone entering middle age , you could try some domestic brands:
▲ Brands like Youngor (recommended), Seven Wolves, Baoxiniao, Jinba, Heilan Home, Shanshan, Romon, and Hongdou are relatively stable.
③ If you're rich , you can buy any luxury brand you've ever heard of.
In addition, most top luxury brands offer customization options.
Burberry, Tuenbull & Asser, Armani, Zegna, Borrelli, FRAY, Brooks Brothers... these brands all make pretty good shirts... Of course, everyone knows the more expensive, the better...
but...
Ordinary people can't afford it...
I'm not posting this on Zhihu, so I won't try to sound sophisticated. Haha.
④ Summary:
▲If you want to buy a decent shirt for around 400-500 yuan, you can buy Youngor; the fit and fabric are both pretty good.
▲If you prefer comfort and casual style, and have a budget of around 200-300 yuan, consider Muji or Uniqlo. Uniqlo offers a wider variety of styles at reasonable prices. I personally wear Uniqlo most of the time.
▲If you're looking for a work shirt, around 100-200 yuan, you can buy G2000 or Vancl (although I don't like Chen Nian, their shirts are indeed well-made, and the wrinkle-free ones are worth considering).
Hope this helps everyone~ Mwah~