We’re living through some strange times, to be sure. But that doesn’t mean your wardrobe aspirations should be put entirely on ice. Getting dressed for the day is an important morale boost, a moment of calm reflection even if you’re chilling at home—and there’s one recently revived menswear staple that will add a welcome note of insouciance to your attire: the Fun Shirt.
The overarching name for shirts cut from contrasting plain or striped panels of fabric, the Fun Shirt has an intriguing history. Its roots lie in the 1950s and ‘60s, when American menswear stalwarts like Brooks Brothers, and a little later Ralph Lauren, started to sew shirts from contrasting panels of seersucker and Oxford cloth as a lighthearted alternative to a plain-colored shirt. Skip forward to the ‘90s, and the Fun Shirt was derided as the marker of a style-free man, with brands like the unfortunately named Shite Shirts lending Fun Shirts a bad name. Now, driven in part by the renaissance of interest in Ivy League style over the past 12 months, Fun Shirts are back with a modern, clean look. And, they’re easier to wear than you might think.
Here are six of the sharpest we’ve seen, with a few pointers on mixing them into your wardrobe, even if you are working from home.
