The anatomy of a button-up shirt
the devil is in the details and I'm here to go through allllllll of them.
If you read my No-Buys for 2025, you know that I’ve sworn off buying any more of the “classic” button-up shirt. It’s one of my stubborn “love to buy, hate to wear”s (credit to Allison Bornstein for teaching me this concept). I’ve bought countless button-ups over the years in an attempt to round out a wardrobe that could be considered “classic”, “minimal”, and “timeless” (none of which are my style words by the way) which is what every capsule wardrobe told me I needed to be. Specifically I was led to believe that without a crisp, white, classic shirt, my wardrobe would be hopelessly lacking a critical staple that “goes with anything”.
My "No-Buy"s for 2025
We all have them - as the queen herself, Allison Bornstein first pointed out for me, they are the items we “love to buy, hate to wear”.
Today I wore: a button-up shirt.
I’ve decluttered my wardrobe of most of this crisp, preppy offender, but have a couple that I haven’t been able to part with yet. And lo and behold, as I was getting dressed this morning, I found myself reaching for *gasp* a button-up.
The particular shirt I picked up today is not of the crisp OR white varietal. It’s a satin, navy blue shirt I got in an Abercrombie sale a couple of years ago and haven’t worn yet this winter. But as I fastened the buttons I realized - this is a shirt I can love.
But why this shirt? Hanging in my closet it’s not THAT fundamentally different from the other shirts that are sadly collecting dust on their hangers. It’s also in no way the best quality - the fabric looks nice enough but is about as breathable as a plastic bag.
And as I was analyzing my shirt and becoming increasingly late for work, I realized that there’s something it has taken me far too long to learn, and that is that with fashion, like with art, the devil is in the details, and specifically, how those details come together to make a masterpiece or a mess.
There’s something about the specific anatomy of this specific shirt that works, and THAT is what I wanted to break down here.
So if you’re a little bit crazy like me, let’s dive into the specific anatomy of a button-up to consider before welcoming one into your closet.
Colour: most of the advice out there tells us we need specifically a white button down for maximum versatility. This is BS. For me, crisp white shirts always felt like they belonged in someone else’s closet. A dark navy, on the other hand, fits much better with my vibe. It’s understated but with a touch of richness, versatile without screaming “basic.” Trust me, it really doesn’t need to be white to be “classic”.
Button Placement: Ok this might sound crazy, but I’m begging you - pay attention to the specific placement of the buttons on your shirt. I realized that I prefer shirts with more open necklines, but on most of my button-ups, I’m either feeling way too buttoned up (the button is too high) OR it’s showing a little too much cleavage for me (button too low). The shirt I wore today has almost perfect button placement so that I can have an open neckline without flashing my coworkers - win/win!
Collar stiffness: the first of my 3 words is “casual” so a super stiff collar (especially paired with poor button placement!) just makes me feel like I’m wearing the clothes of some businesswoman who is not me (although I suppose I am a woman in business..but cool!). For you, maybe that stiff collar actually adds that touch of polish or classic that you need. The point is - it matters.
Fabric: This is a good one because it’s one of the few that you can kind of suss out if buying online. Take a minute to think about how you want to feel in this shirt. How do you want it to fall and hang on your body? Do you want to feel dressed up or super casual? For me, I like the juxtaposition of casual + polished, so a silk (or satin) fabric is perfect because the finish offers an elegant texture while the flowy-ness of the fabric means I can style it in a way that still feels a little bit casual and undone.
Fit: This one sort of encompasses many of the points above, but if there’s one thing I’m doing differently these days is to never compromise on fit. This is probably the fastest way to never wear something in your closet. Keep in mind that in my books, a “good fit” just means a fit that you love - not anything about how it hugs (or doesn’t) your body.
If you made it this far, congratulations! I hope you enjoyed my musings on the very specific reasons I like the shirt I wore, but more importantly, it’s a reminder that the details matter!
This is me, love the idea of a white shirt but never reach for it. I then discovered With Nothing Underneath’s shirt, and I’ve not looked back. The weave fabric and linen shirts are my favourite. They’re based off men’s shirt, so to me button placement is really good.
I too have fallen into the same trap of feeling like I “need” a white button down in my closet but never wearing them. Then I realized that I really love when a button down is worn in a super casual almost sexy open way but the buttons don’t always hit where I want them too. Enter fabric tape! It’s a game changer for getting that effortlessly cool/sexy I threw this on vibe