There's been a bit of talk of late about
the proper manner in which to wear an Oxford Cloth Button Down Collared Shirt. ( I am not a fan of the text-message driven fad of excessive abbreviation, so I refuse to use the term OCBD. Yes, I am a fuddy-duddy.)It seems many of you feel they should be professionally laundered, starched and pressed, then allowed to wrinkle. If you wear them regularly in a business setting I'll grant you that. But what makes Oxford Cloth so wonderful is its hard wearing versatility. Get an old fashioned, nice thick one and you can on occasion get away with no ironing at all, for the perfectly natural, oh-so-comfortable, soft rumpled look:
This is an old J.Press (I know, you all knew it by the flapped pocket) pink Oxford. The older this shirt gets, the better it looks and the less I iron it.
As for professional laundering and starching, I personally find it a pinch antithetical to the Oxford Cloth Button Down's inherent relaxed and casual appeal. I wash them and iron them myself, and they remain soft as a baby's a**. Save the heavy starch for spread collars and French cuffs.
p.s. this one has a third button at the back of the collar. Anyone know the origin or point of this superfluous third button?
