The Oxford: Your New/Old Best Friend
One of the staples from menswear pillars Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers is the heavy cloth button-down Oxford shirt in white or blue (or in our case, University stripes!). The problem for our customers is that these traditional offerings never fit right, with sleeves and shirt tails too long to wear in that casual, just-coming-back-from-the-Hamptons look.
Fortunately, we've recreated this classic in the form of our Weekend Oxford. Of course we redesigned it to fit shorter guys perfectly, with sleeves hitting at your wrist and the bottom of your shirt hitting you mid-zipper. Untucked, with collar open and sleeves rolled, this is a classic look that has survived for decades and still works well most anywhere.
Always in style
The more you wear and wash our Weekend Oxford, the better it gets. Broken-in, perhaps faded from the sun, this classic American menswear staple will always be in style as seen in the photos of JFK (pictured above) and Paul Newman in the 1960s, along with the one of Prince Harry in 2016 (pictured below).
During the 1950s when American men started dressing more casually, the button-down Oxford took off in popularity.
The menswear blog Gentlemen's Gazette described the Oxford button-down renaissance as "a focus of weekend get-togethers amongst friends, it was a classic wardrobe choice for men attending holiday parties, barbecues, and even good old-fashioned American sporting events. Young and old, it was a style adopted by everyone from varied demographics. The shirt could be found under a bespoke business suit on a high ranking executive or an auto repair salesman buying a pack of Lucky Strikes at the local Piggly Wiggly. It didn’t seem to matter who wore it or where, but it became a way for men to showcase their own style in a variety of ways and with a broad range of outfits."
When to wear it
What's important to know when wearing an Oxford Button Down Shirt is that it's inherently casual and works well with shorts, chinos, jeans, loafers and classic sneakers. It's a very American tradition to wear it with a sport jacket and tie, and we've turned it into the quintessential wardrobe staple for the well-put-together, but never stuffy guy.
We realize the term wardrobe essential gets thrown around a lot, but we truly believe that our Weekend Oxfords are core components to any well-dressed man's closet.
