Style is constantly evolving. The pace can vary from ‘fast fashion’ – items that are made to last one season – to the ponderous adjustments of classic menswear that can show small changes over the decades.
I often say that it’s unfortunate that the general public are locked into the view that Mod style consists of cheap two-tone suits, jam shoes and parkas. Those of us who may have been guilty of that look in the days of our callow youth during the late seventies revival but remained dedicated to Mod-influenced gear have certainly modified – and hopefully improved – our personal style since those days.
In the early days of this blog I mentioned that I didn’t like button-down collared shirts and that I didn’t like open necked shirts. The first may have been my reaction to the ubiquity of pale blue OCBD shirts, worn without any hint of stylish awareness, by office drones throughout the US. The second might have seeped into my psyche by osmosis from my Dad. As a career officer in the RAF, it may have been a result of his military background that he very rarely left the house without shirt and tie, and even for a casual event such as a road trip with the family he would probably wear a knitted polo, or a crew necked sweater over a collared shirt.
I’ve often thought that an open necked shirt – besides showing the missed opportunity of picking out a tie to complement the outfit – looks a bit ‘unfinished’ and I never liked the way a semi spread collar can collapse in on itself if the material is not stiff enough to hold up, or if the second button is placed too low. George Clooney is one of the better-dressed celebrities out there but he is egregiously guilty of this crime!
Nevertheless it’s impossible to stand in the way of the inexorable shift to more casual gear in almost every environment these days, and I have to admit that this evolution has had some effect on me. I’m still in collar-and-tie whenever I’m on a job site at work but for travel I will sometimes succumb to going tie-less. To that end I have acquired a few button-down collared shirts and popovers, as the buttoned collar helps it to stand up inside a jacket collar and avoid the aforementioned collapse. I have a couple of semi spread collar shirts that can work OK too in this regard, as shown below worn for travel on a recent work trip to Miami:
Sunglasses – Jacques Marie Mage Herbie in cobalt
Blazer – Brooks Brothers in dusty navy cotton
Shirt – Tyrwhitt
Pocket square – eBay!
Strides – Levi’s 511 Sta pressts
Chelsea boots – Arthur Knight
Rod's Mod Blog 