The Basic White Shirt

Let's borrow a page from the men's closets, shall we?

 

Although these images are   few years  old, the white button down shirt is one of the most useful pieces you can have in your closet, because you can dress it up and dress it down.

I will be showing you some different ways to wear the button down shirt in some upcoming posts, so stay tuned!

Who wears it?

Well, everyone!
It has been a classic for a while, with Katherine Hepburn

(Image from Tribeza)

And with celebrities today!


(Image from Fabsugar)
But I guess our favorite is still this look:

Get the piece

Although white is more flexible, colors work great too.

How do you wear the white button down? 

Finding inspiration

Hi,

I was hoping to write a post every week, but unfortunately, my latest projects were not working as I expected, I was very unhappy with the pictures I was taking, nothing seemed worthy of a post. I was feeling completely uninspired and a little upset.

Then like magic I stumbled upon a marvelous book and I feel like inspiration is starting to come back. The book is called "In Pursuit of Elegance" - by Matthew E. May. It talks about what makes certain designs so elegant and desirable. The author brings in aspects from film, painting (from Da Vinci to Pollock), fractals, and even some interesting concepts in business and urban planning. Amazing!

Maybe what I thought was really striking, breaking a paradigm of mine, was the concept of "less is more" as it applies to rules. I was always a sucker for structure and clear rules, clear expectations, planning, tracking... So much so, it stops me in my tracks sometimes.

As May says: "The counterintuitive dynamic at work is this: the more we try to control and regulate our risk, the more exposed and at risk we are, because the more protected from hazards we think we are, the less conscious of potential dangers we become. We actually disengage our brains and disconnect from what’s happening around us. That can be disastrous." May, Matthew E. (2009-05-09). In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing (p. 67). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

As I was reading that and thinking about all the (unachievable) expectations we set for ourselves, the to-do lists, the calendars, the protocols. With that, it seems we are just stopping life from flowing freely. It brought me back to Dr. McDaniel's classes, in which he asked us: "how do we get people to do what they know how to do?" Managers are always putting so many rules, controls, and metrics in place that the employee is more concerned in following than actually doing what they know how to do.

Coincidently enough, I chose a very clean and simple outfit for work today.

Shirt and pants: Banana Republic
Shoes: Aerosoles
Broche: unknown (Thanks, Mom!)

 I added the bright lipstick for a little bit of fun...

I hope you like it!

Love,

Sam