When to choose a striped shirt?

Every outfit is built from a set of components, one of which is your shirt. As I always write, everything should basically be on a similar level of formality and feel to achieve something that will look harmonious. This formality and feel as I call it it basically a combination of material weight, texture, color and pattern. Now, when it comes to stripes we would normally acknowledge a striped shirt as generally being less formal than a plain shirt, but naturally this is also dependant on materials. For example, a heavily-textured white linen shirt will be considerably more casual than a fine poplin shirt with some light blue stripes.

So, again, everything is related and there really isn't a guide book you could write on this. However, we can identify some instances when a striped shirt is really an exceptional choice. Firstly, when you are wearing only plain pieces of clothing, such as a plain suit or like me in these pictures a plain jacket and plain trousers, a striped or patterned shirt is a great way to add something interesting into the look. Secondly, a striped shirt can be a way you can dress down a suit or a jacket a little bit. For example, a striped linen shirt with some denim will in most cases look more appropriate than just a white linen shirt.

Wearing a yellow-striped shirt

In today's post I am wearing a cotton linen blend shirt with a yellow white stripe pattern from Luxire. It is one of my recent purchases and also one of my relatively few striped shirts. The yellow stripe is certianly something more rare, but still a timeless choice during summer time. The texture and look of the fabric also give the shirt a bit of a faded vintage look that I quite like. To go with the general feel I had this shirt made with a normal height (3.5cm) collar with a fairly wide spread, making it more suitable for use without a tie. My more formal shirts tend to have considerably higher collars than this one as well as longer collar points, creating a fairly different look. These type of more formal collars don't look too great without a tie, so it's nice to have my more informal summer shirts ready for the warm casual days.

Combining yellow color with navy

While the yellow stripe may be a classic choice, it's not the easiest color to combine. In my opinion the best and easiest pairing is with navy or mid blue, but it can also be done with certain types of brown. I would avoid using yellow with grey color however.

In today's look I've decided to liven up my navy and beige vacation look with these faint splashes of yellow. The striped shirt and the patterned pocket square are actually the only patterned parts of the outfit and mean to complement each other. Note that I've also decided to wear a yellow pocket square with a white main color, this way avoiding to use too much color. In fact, I would argue the color yellow works the best when there isn't too much of it. The amount in this look might be quite optimal actually.

A striped shirt is a good choice without a tie

As I said before, a stripe pattern in your shirt is a good way of dressing down your outfit. Actually, I think a striped linen shirt is probably the best shirt choice when you're just wearing a casual sport coat and trousers during summer time. A great way to add a little bit of color and interest to an otherwise very basic combination. Here's a few pics of the same outfit after I removed my tie.

Only wear suede shoes with yellow-striped shirts

Or don't. It doesn't really matter what shoes you wear. Again, it's all about harmony and the general look, not about abiding to some specific rule.

Next up

So, I've been doing some picture editing and will publish a part of my Japan trip review quite soon. This will be perhaps more interesting to some of you and less for some, but it feels good to have a bit of variation in my content. The more there is text though the more energy it tends to take to complete which is why it has been postponed a few times now. On the sartorial pipeline I aim to finish fine-tuning my old article on washing one's suede shoes and also perhaps making some kind of a summary on this summer's outfits and trends in menswear in general (or how I've experienced them).