Thursday, March 13, 2014

Two Surprisingly Awkward Woven Shirts

Surprisingly Awkward Woven Shirt #1 -- 3/6/14

As you have gathered by now, I love wearing the color blue.  Robert has a couple of shirts he wears to work that are in that range of periwinkle to French blue, and I always think they look so sharp.  So I decided I wanted a crisp blue woven shirt of my own, with the idea that I could wear it with my black suit and look totally right for interviews.  When I saw this shirt on deep discount at Travelsmith (in a google shopping search; I've never shopped at this store before), I liked the details that made it more interesting than a normal button-up shirt -- the knot under the chest, the curved edges.  When I tried it on, it fit well without feeling confining (as I find stiff woven shirts sometimes feel) so all was good...

Until I tried actually wearing it with a suit jacket.  The same generous cut in the shoulders and arms that made it feel comfy -- and the high-tech stain-resistant fabric that gave it such a crisp look -- made the fabric bunch awkwardly and, yes, uncomfortably under the jacket.  The curved edge also looks weird with the cut of the blazers I have.  I tried wearing it under a cardigan sweater -- hah, that was even more of a joke.  So really, the shirt has to be the top layer (for extra awkardness, the V neck is too deep to wear in a professional setting without a camisole/t-shirt under it).  Which is fine because it has enough nice design features (including that great hemline that begs to be worn untucked) to stand alone, but this means that it will not serve the purpose I originally envisioned.  That's cool.  I've found that blouses in drapey fabrics or knits work better under my interview suit anyway.  This one looks good with my 88 cent pants for a business-casual outfit.


New item:
**Periwinkle blue woven shirt from Travelsmith

Surprisingly Awkward Woven Shirt #2 -- 3/7/14

I was so happy to get this cute striped shirt at Goodwill, and with all those colors in it, I thought it would be quite versatile...

Until I looked more closely at the shirt and realized that the stripes are pink, magenta, light green, purple, yellow, and white.  No blue.  No red.  No black.  No grey.  No brown.  No obvious pants or sweater I own to wear with it.  Sigh.  Well, as I've said, everything goes with denim, and at some point it will be warm enough to wear a woven long-sleeved shirt on its own.  But for now, it's the olive green safari blazer to the rescue.


New item:
**Striped woven shirt (thrifted)

1 comment:

mom said...

The safari jacket looks great with the shirt. Olive green is almost a neutral, too. Does this jacket remind you of Dad's old army jacket he got from Uncle Jim?