outfit
1. A.J. Press Men’s Tuxedo Shirt
Named by New York-based designer Nili Lotan, 69.
Lotan says, “Tuxedo shirting has its roots in mid-century American men’s clothing, and is softer and more discreet (compared to the classic white shirt, which dates back to at least the early medieval period and has been constantly altered and tailored since then).” “I like the tension there is: feminine in its spontaneity and sensuality, masculine in its structure.”
2. En Essenia Maya Guayabera
Named by Stephanie Suberville, 40, a New York-based designer who is the co-founder of womenswear brand Heirloom, which collaborates with Latin American artisans.
“In Mexico, where it is often very hot, the guayabera, also known as the Yucatán shirt, is appropriate attire for formal events such as weddings,” says Suberville. “My dad wore them his whole life.” Believed to have originated in 18th-century Cuba, the shirt consists of two panels of tight pleats at the front and back and is often made of lightweight fabrics such as linen and cotton.
3. A 45R Pima cotton shirt
Named by New York-based designer Tory Burch, 59.
“My father (investor Ira Earl Robinson) worked with a master shirt maker in Philadelphia to design his shirts in the finest pima cotton, which always had unique details – from the epaulets to the delicate embroidery used in place of buttons,” says Burch. Known for its softness and durability, Pima cotton is named for the indigenous group in Arizona who began producing it in the early 1900s. “The only new shirt to compare is from Japanese brand 45R,” she says.
4. Round Collar Zanini Cotton Shirt
Named by South Korea-born creative director Sonya Park, 61, founder of Arts & Sciences, a Japanese clothing and lifestyle brand.
“The heaviness of the fabric and the details make it much more than just a cotton shirt,” Park says of Italian designer Marco Zanini’s creation. “It’s like a blouse, with tuxedo shirt pickup bib detail, side tuck pleats and hidden buttons that let me dress it up or down depending on the occasion.”
5. A Ralph Lauren Oxford
Named by New York-based designer Daniela Kallmeyer, 39, founder of Kallmeyer.
The durability and comfort of Oxford cotton, which originated in 19th-century Scottish mills and arrived in America in the 1890s, made the fabric instantly popular among upper-class men who were tired of the formality and stiff collars of the Victorian era. Lauren introduced its first women’s Oxford shirt in 1971. “It’s a perfectly worn button-down in a heavy cotton that softens over time, with small rips at the seams,” says Kallmeyer.
6. A custom Finolo linen shirt
Named by 47-year-old Italian designer Simone Bellotti, creative director of Jil Sander.
In addition to shirts from Charvet, the Parisian house founded by Joseph-Christophe Charvet in 1838, Bellotti also likes shirts from “a little shop called Finolo in Genoa (Italy),” he says. “It’s over 100 years old, and beautifully preserved. They used to make shirts for (industrialist) Gianni Agnelli. I asked them to make a shirt in linen, which was the original durable fabric used by the ancient Egyptians. bellissimo“
7. A Charvet pajama shirt and an Alaia shirt with ruffles
Named by Paris-based Italian jewelery designer Gaia Repossi, 40.
“I have an Egyptian-cotton pajama shirt from Charvet that is the softest thing I’ve ever owned,” says Repossi. (Egyptian cotton, like Pima cotton, has extra long staple fibers, making it stronger and softer than others.) “I don’t wear it to sleep — I wear it during the day. The other is an Alaia shirt by (Belgian designer) Pieter Mulier. The one I have looks similar to what (brand founder) Azzedine (Alaia) was doing in the 1980s — but again. Thought, what a designer should do: push a classic silhouette to make it look more modern, it has no collar and a cinched waist, with little ruffles, it is simple with Belgian rigor.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
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