Form Meets Function
David Coggins sporting an overshirt and tie at the Masters.
As a writer and stylist, I don’t need to wear a suit on most occasions. Beside holidays and events, I can dress as casual as I please. While many might consider this a blessing, I find that it’s freedom, which Janis Joplin and Kris Kristofferson have reminded us is “just another word for nothing left to lose.” Suits are the simplest way of acknowledging and reinvigorating decorum, and they make layering easy. For those of us without a tailoring budget or who have no obligation of following a business casual dress code, where can we turn?
Unlike most men who care about style, I don’t own a blue blazer, which is the traditional answer to this question. I have my eye on a few, but choice is the enemy of smart shopping. When I moved to New York two years ago, I bought three overshirts at Uniqlo for $14.95 each. Based on the OG-107 Fatigue shirt issued to soldiers in Vietnam, they’ve proven durable for an inexpensive garment. All three still get regular wear since I moved back to Minnesota. I don one four or five days a week. Sometimes I wear them like blazers, other times as standalone shirts or under sweaters. Dollar for dollar, I’ve never gotten as much use out of a garment.
Bill Cunningham substitutes a French chore coat for a blazer.
The differences between shirt jackets and overshirts are minimal. Merriam-Webster defines the former as “a jacket designed in the style of a shirt,” and the latter as “a shirt usually worn over another shirt without being tucked in.” In essence, they’re cut from the same cloth, though shirt jackets are a little less rugged, a little more refined than overshirts, a touch longer in most cases. The two have similar designs, though, and are worn in similar manners. While the shirt jacket lends itself better to tailoring and overshirts complement rugged Ivy or workwear outfits, all it takes is a little imagination to upend these connotations.
I wear my Uniqlo overshirts as I would a blazer, over a striped, tartan, or denim shirt anchored by white Levi’s or brown five-pocket cords. In winter I’ll wear them with Red Wing Iron Rangers, in summer unlined Alden desert boots. It’s a simple look that’s almost conservative, yet because these garments have utilitarian roots, it’s unexpected. By accident, the way I wear my overshirts follows in the footsteps of the inimitable Bill Cunningham, who would wear his patinated French chore jackets with crisp white dress shirts and printed silk ties.
Robert Rabensteiner shows how to make a shirt jacket a shirt.
Overshirts and shirt jackets are excellent warm weather layers, since they’re derived from safari jackets and military wear made for withstanding extreme conditions. You can wear either without overheating when it’s ninety-two in the shade, and there’s a broad range of seasonable styles worth considering. Drake’s has a whole section dedicated to overshirts, though their linen models are nicest as summer makes its presence known. Beams F — the tailoring arm of Japan’s Beams group — has finally come stateside, thanks to the good folks at Mr. Porter, and they offered a handsome denim shirt jacket that is sold out right now. Though it’s designed like a true jacket, it can be worn as a shirt, too, as Robert Rabensteiner shows us. For those whom authenticity is paramount, head straight to the source and pick up an OG-107 Fatigue shirt. Me? I’ll keep wearing mine from Uniqlo until they wear out.