The open collar shirt is doing more work in modern menswear than it gets credit for. Worn properly it sits somewhere between relaxed and considered, which is exactly where most of our actual lives happen. The problem is that most shirts designed to be worn this way are either too casual to take anywhere interesting or too stiff to look like you meant it. We’ve been looking specifically for shirts that earn the unbuttoned collar without looking sloppy, fabrics that move well in warmer weather but still press up nicely when the occasion asks for it, and cuts that work tucked and untucked without a fight. Linen that doesn’t crumple into chaos by midday. Oxford cloth that softens without losing its shape. Patterns that read as considered rather than loud. These are shirts you actually reach for rather than shirts you keep just in case. The kind of piece a well edited wardrobe gets built around.