Woven Shirts: From a Dinner Date to a Formal Function

From Thomas Dean, this soft blue and green gingham check sport shirt adds a pop of color to your Saturday night out. Besides jeans, this will be great with neutral cotton pants or twill jeans. The cut away collar adds a bit of dressier touch to take your style up a notch.

Blue is another important summer color (we’ll be talking about that more next week) and this micro-check solid from Vince is just the perfect shade of blue. Yes, let’s say that again. It’s a micro-check (click the “shop it” button to click through and see the detail). It’s so subtle, you might miss it, but you won’t miss what it does for your cotton and linen suits and sport coats, dress trousers and all your casual bottoms. The fabric is lightweight and super soft.

The picture does not do this shirt justice. Really, click the “shop it” button so you can zoom in to see the great detail of this berry and blue geometric print on the product page. It’s from Sand, known for their luxurious Italian cottons, and they’ve left no detail behind on this one – like the navy stitching around the button holes. It’s a modern fit making it a great choice when you are looking for something with a little pop to wear with your dark jeans or dark dress trousers on a Saturday night.

J. McLaughlin calls this linen shirt “high casual”. It’s the perfect way to describe this dressier linen shirt. We advise every gentleman to have a dressy linen shirt and a casual version in their summer wardrobe. With this shirt you can check “dress” off your list. It is also available in sky blue, chambray and aqua but white is a must. You’ll wear it with all your linen or cotton blazers and trousers.

Navy and white is always fresh looking in the summer. Robert Graham has really saturated the navy, giving it a level of sophistication that will elevate your look when you are heading out for the night. The pop of orange in the collar and cuff though, gives it just enough whimsy. Of course, it works with dark jeans, but we like it equally with cotton twill flat front pants.

This may look like denim at first glance, but Billy Reid has actually designed this contemporary fit, retro-inspired shirt from 100% linen. It’s perfect on those hot summer nights when you want to stay cool and look dapper. To truly complete the look, we’d wear it with stone or tan linen jeans.

For those Saturday night weddings and charity parties, a French cuff white dress shirt is a great match for your dark, dressier suit. This spread collar, cotton twill from Robert Talbott is one of our favorites. The cotton is luxurious and the quality impeccable. Add these David Donahue sterling silver cufflinks to finish the look.

A key to a dapper tux is the shirt. It should be white and it should be classic. Period. We like this simple diamond weave front with a straight collar from Hugo Boss. It goes without saying that you need to wear it with a real bow tie or long formal wear tie. You can do it. Remember, for a bowtie, just tie it like you would bow your shoelaces. Can you imagine James Bond going without one?