The Plaid Dress Shirt

This popular pattern consists of two or more colours of varying widths intersecting each other, creating a slightly random effect that is a more casual take on gingham. Plaid has even gained popularity as a pattern for suits, although few men have the confidence to try pulling it off. At most, they might opt for a plaid blazer atop more conservative attire.

But just because plaid has strong ties to grunge and college style doesn’t mean it has to convey nonchalance. You can up the class quotient of a plaid dress shirt in a number of ways, none more impactful then achieving the perfect fit and simply tucking it in. A solid dark tie will help tone down the liveliness of plaid, creating an aesthetic that could be perfectly at home in a business casual environment. Here, though, a plaid dress shirt in a single colour family is preferable to something with sharp contrast. For something even more dressed up, you can don a solid colour suit that works in harmony with the dominant colour of the plaid.

Sometimes used interchangeably with flannel, a type of weave that has been dulled and softened by brushing, plaid is above all a weekend pattern. Plaid crafted of a flannel weave conveys a distinctly casual look that has relatively limited applications, whereas a broadcloth or oxford cloth weave is considerably more versatile. Glen plaid, most commonly seen in black and white, is a variation characterized by a mix of irregularly-sized checks. This pattern also features in suits, usually in a light-grey or charcoal finish. In a dress shirt, the glen plaid pattern can be bold or so subtle that it only garners notice from up close.