We tend to think of simple shirts – button-ups or even tees – as neutral variables in an outfit, the thing you wear with, or as a base for, another garment that is the star.
This is especially true with suits, since the shirt is just there to go underneath. Once you abandon the suit, however, the shirt becomes the main event.
That can be disconcerting because it seems decontextualised.
That does not mean the shirt is not ready for its close-up, however.
It means (to continue a somewhat strained metaphor) you have to stop thinking about it as a supporting character in your wardrobe, or something from another wardrobe era, and think about it as a star.
In other words, it’s more about adjusting your own expectations than adjusting the items of clothing you already own.
Simply consider the role shirts played in Matthieu Blazy’s much-heralded debut at Chanel.
Often the takeaways from shows are not mere trends or new silhouettes, but styling approaches that are easier (and significantly cheaper) to incorporate into your own life than the clothes themselves.
And this particular show was a treasure trove, especially when it came to shirts.
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Blazy worked with Charvet, the famous Place Vendome shirtmaker (Coco Chanel used to wear its shirts) to create crisp button-ups that he showed untucked over big, fancy ball skirts.
The menswear cuts counterbalanced the frothiness of the skirts, and the casualness of the attitude added a nice throwaway touch to what might have otherwise been a very grand look.
Oh, this elaborate old thing? Pshaw.
This was, by the way, a signature of designer Carolina Herrera, who is famous for wearing a crisp white shirt with a long skirt to almost every black-tie event she attends.
When she retired in 2018, the finale of her last show featured every model in a white shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and a long, jewel-toned taffeta skirt with a wide belt.
Steal the idea, and wear one of your shirts untucked over a more flowy skirt (it doesn’t have to be a black-tie number), and you’ll look very cool.
The Chanel runway was, in fact, just the beginning.
Nicole Kidman showed up in the audience wearing one of the "Chanel x Charvet" shirts untucked with the sleeves pushed up, over a pair of jeans.
It was a look that echoed French actress Camille Cottin’s outfit for Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut earlier in the week: a striped oxford button-up with a rep tie worn loose around the neck, half tucked into jeans.
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For more ideas, stylist Karla Welch noted that simply rolling up the sleeves shifts the attitude.
“Pair it with an oversize blazer like Annie Hall,” she said.
“Or wear it over a thin turtleneck tucked into jeans with ballet flats – very Audrey.” Welch herself loves a button-up and said she tends to buy vintage men’s shirts on eBay.
There’s a reason, after all, that the button-up has been around for centuries (its origins in menswear can be traced back to the 1500s).
Practical and mutable, it’s one of those garments that can serve a multitude of purposes. It’s a keeper. – Vanessa Friedman/©2025 The New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
