The shirt nobody buys#
The Henley is the most underused thing in menswear. Collarless, round neck, a placket of three to five inches running down from it, which pulls the eye to the chest rather than the face.
It also flatters a wider range of builds than a t-shirt does. Thinner men roll the long sleeves up. Anyone carrying weight around the middle sizes up slightly and it drapes rather than clings.
Worth knowing where it came from: it was the rowing kit at Henley-on-Thames in 1839, then sat almost entirely ignored for well over a century until American fashion picked it up in the 1980s.
The t-shirt spec#
Simple garment, still mostly done wrong. The measurements that matter:
- Shoulder points aligned with your actual shoulders.
- About an inch of extra room at the chest and midsection. Not five inches. Not zero.
- Drape — a little stretch, sits smooth, doesn’t hold creases.
- Weight — opaque enough that nothing shows through.
Black, red, and dark blue are the colours that keep coming out on top. White works and only if it’s spotless and fits properly, which is a much higher bar than it sounds.
The rest of the list#
- Dark jeans, minimal distressing. Dark blue or black, not oversized, not painted on, a bit of stretch. Heavy distressing and pale washes both age badly.
- A white Oxford button-down. Oxford is the fabric — thicker and heavier, a casual work shirt rather than a dress shirt. Worn without a jacket it does ask something of your build.
- A vest. It works partly because it’s rare. Fit it close, because an oversized one fails at the shoulders, and either zip only the bottom or leave it open. Good over a contrasting long-sleeve Henley.
- A sport coat. Builds the shoulders and narrows everything below them, which does more for a bigger man than any diet advice on the internet.
- Something touchable. Cashmere, good wool, suede. Soft fabric invites contact in a way that’s fairly hard to argue with. Suede needs care, which is a fine trade.
- Better shoes, in three parts — upgrade the material (leather sneakers rather than canvas), add a detail (contrast panels, some broguing), and take the free height. Brogued leather boots manage all three at once.
Three rules that outrank the list#
Fit your own build. Every item above assumes this and none of them survive without it.
Rehearse before you debut. A new piece worn for the first time somewhere that matters is a costume, and you’ll feel like you’re in one. Wear it around the house, then to the shops, then out. Being unfamiliar with something is not the same as being uncomfortable in it — a few wears usually settles which one you’re dealing with.
Trust your own compliment history. You’ve been told which colours suit you since you were a child. That data is better than any general finding.
Where the framing is doing too much#
The premise of a list like this — here’s what women love — is mostly a delivery mechanism. Read the actual items and there’s no secret in them. It’s clothes that fit, in good fabric, in colours that suit you, worn by someone who isn’t fidgeting.
And the best evidence against the framing is inside it. Red apparently attracts. But someone whose colours are maroon and green should wear maroon and green, because a researched colour you feel odd in loses to a familiar one you don’t, every time.
A few small things to try:
- Buy one Henley and see whether you reach for it.
- Check the inch of room at your chest in your best t-shirt.
- Get one genuinely soft thing into your wardrobe.
- Wear anything new twice at home before wearing it out.
