De Nimes

Surely there are worse ways for a city to be immortalized rather than partaking of a name of an item of clothing that is ubiquitous to the point of absolute necessity.  Although applied originally to the type of cloth, the word denim has come to be primarily associated with pants. That said, who can forget Britney & Justin in that atrocious head to toe denim?

For the sake of all that is precious to you, please stay away from the Canadian Tuxedo!

Warning heeded, lets venture bravely into the world or denim. NK asked about denim shirts, and seeing as these are early days and one wants to be a responsive blogger, here goes my take. As a side note denim shirts are often referred to by another type of fabric – chambray (colored, smooth and light fabric) and more often than not they are indeed fashioned out of a much lighter weight cloth. 

What makes a perfect denim shirt?

-          Slim fit

-          De-saturated hue

-          ABSOLUTELY no embroidery. Any embellishment on a denim shirt sends it straight into the world of Dallas (in its original iteration)- as illustrated handily by Barneys:

The two things that can vary therefore are button plackets and collar styles. Lets break it down and discuss:

Collars:

Since I cut my hair I’ve been avoiding traditional spread collars -

 - for fear of excessive – for me – gender bending. The aim is to look boyish but not masculine. Even with longer hair, however, I think there is something too American about the traditional collar and personally prefer alternatives. A peter pan collar, when rendered in other fabric can work for that 60s inspired, Twiggy look, but hard to pull off in denim. My preference and recommendation, you ask? A small mandarin collar – for an otherwise almost colar-less look. Somehow, the combination of denim and mandarin just works.

Button plackets:

Now that the collar debate has been settled, the button placket is easy. There are two options: Henley length and full length. Given the collar, I tend to lean towards the half length, resulting in a pull on, slightly blouse-ier cut. I suppose that the contradiction of a workman-like cloth with a dressier cut appeals to me.

And so, a post that originated with a rumination on JCrew ends with the same retailer. Yes, I still think that the best basic denim shirt is to be found there: 

COLLARLESS POPOVER IN INDIGO OXFORD

Pair it with colored jeans (NEVER blue) and your favorite chunky faux cocktail ring and you got yourself a hot little look that you will be able to work anywhere and any time (depending on heel height, bien sur!)

And it is on sale!

P. S. A timely illustration on how denim still can look tacky courtesy of Elle Mag: