Guy Friday: Retro Leisure Shirts
There’s a renaissance of sorts going on in sportswear. Classic brands have returned with their lean, mid-century tennis and leisure shirts. Bring it on, I say. Get served.
Old school brands are back in a big way. Long-dormant Penguin has returned with their close-cut sport shirts (pictured above). My dad wore these when I was a kid and Ted has one now. These aren’t too fussy and come in great colors.
Lacoste, which makes the Izod imprint, has been slimming down their clothes and modernizing their silhouette to great results. They have a new location off Union Square in San Francisco if you’re the sort who likes to try on clothes.
Fred Perry (not to be confused with Fred Berry) also makes a fine shirt. This U.K. brand honors the English tennis champion. Fred Perry has had many cycles in Brit youth subcultures and their time has come for the U.S. market.
Retro leisure shirts are plentiful on eBay, vintage stores and in off-brands as well. What’s important is a lean cut — not blousy or long. Because these are sport shirts, check for sweat stains or excessive wear. If you don’t like to wear a dead man’s clothes, retailers are copying these looks. Choose solids over stripes and consider pairing the shirt with a simple, retro short or pant. Think country club and plaid, vodka tonics and tennis whites. These shirts are casual and can’t stand in for a dress shirt under a sportcoat. If you must pair them with jeans do so with a classic indigo wash and not some trendy, muddy or whiskery finish.
Style note: Slim men can tuck these shirts in and wear a suitable belt. Those with bellies shouldn’t necessarily shy away form these lean shirts. They can be slimming. Try wearing them out with flat-front pants.
Oh I can’t believe it! The dreaded leisure suit/get-up is making a comeback?! Tell me I’m not sitting up, awake, in front of my computer; tell me, please, that this is a very.bad.dream..
I lived through this god-awful ‘era’ of that look, the one up there, in brown. It looked horrid on all men, without exception! It was the clothing of the so-called lounge lizards who pulled these too tight pants up and cinched it with a WHITE patent leather belt–yes, oh yes, oh god. Then they slithered into a shirt or shirt jacket, way way too tight, and the fabric was shiny, I tell you, shiny! in sartorial competition with the aforementioned reflective white belt and the matching white patent leather shoes, usually faux wing tip style.
This cannot be allowed to happen, Molly. I have no connection with the world of what one should wear, so I beg you, try to get this trend side-tracked until it falls off the track completely and down into oblivion.
Please, do what you can. Do whatever is necessary.
But don’t let the leisure suit in all its polyester awfulness reappear in any way shape or form.
Now I need to go and lie down in a dark room for a bit.
Just the mere thought has given me a headache of monumental proportions.
and
PS: I’m enjoying your website! This one, and your previous one (or other one), too.
Thanks for all of your work in getting these blogs “out here.” !! pbb