I had to have some headshots taken and the photographer said: wear a Crisp White Shirt. I've never owned such a creature - not sure why, probably because I'm too lazy to iron. Speaking of which, one of my Kiwi "chuck" friends in London used to iron everything, even her white t-shirts, and she was the first of us to hook a husband (for years and years and years) so there you go. Anyway here is my rundown of a few of the less pricey white shirts - because why would you spend loads of money on white?
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| The best fit and brightest white was Halogen from Nordstrom: rests well on shoulders and slight curve at waist |
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| Most unscrumply was Banana Republic, nice double stitching but shoulders slightly too wide |
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| J Crew, Boy Shirt was thin, strange on shoulders and scrumply. I guess Jenna loves to jooj everything and you need to on this. The non-iron one hopefully is better |
The headshots came back ...I slid into deep depression. I am so used to I-phone and Instagram snaps and now I was faced with cold hard wrinkled reality of the old school camera shot. Praise be for photoshopping. Anyhoo...here's some Classic Crisp White Shirt moments:
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| Sharon Stone famously grabbed her then-husband's Gap Shirt to wear with her Vera Wang skirt |
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| A pensive Grace Kelly in the South of France |
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| Blake Lively |
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| Audrey...of course |
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| A model |
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| Some bloke who just walked past our house |
Just kidding about the last photo. Oh, I may be old and wrinkly but I can still have fun with it.
How do you wear your white shirt?
I've dreamt of a crisp white shirt but have never been able to a) find the right one or b) pull it off. It's an unrequited love.
ReplyDeleteI haven't worn one since they were part of my school uniform. Just yesterday, of course.
ReplyDeleteI always wear a shirt (not often white though) with a safety pin! As I'm a little curvy the ones that fit at the shoulders, arms and waist always gape at the boob buttons!
ReplyDeleteI managed to find some small safety pins on the floor the other night to get my DVF dress together.
DeleteI did a post recently after finding the softest white cotton voile shirt from Whistles this year. I kind of fell in love with it very unexpectedly because like most people - white shirts are not that friendly a wardrobe item and I really wasn't in the market for one. Mine's quite a casual style and I found it strangely liberating - nicer and easier to wear than I thought. But if it had been a more tailored and structured style, I know I wouldn't have bought it.
ReplyDeleteSo what are you going to do with yours now that you have one? The Halogen one does look good on you.
Totally good question because it is quite worky-y and I don't work in an office. Looks good under shifts (don't have shifts) or that look of under short sleeved vests - don't have those....so?? suggestions? I have found that the more casual and less fitting the item, the most i will wear it, so probably this shirt does not fit into that category. Keep it for next year's terrible photo??
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ReplyDeleteI have a collection of just-missed white shirts, you did a great thing finding one so fast!
ReplyDeleteI don't photograph well with bright white next to my face. Envy those who do.
sorry about repeating post, autocorrect is not our friend this morning.
I have a thing about white shirts - always drawn to them in shops. My favourite for many years was a neat Hobbs one but now I have two from Sandwich that I wear a lot.
ReplyDeleteI love white shirts and badly need a new one!
ReplyDelete~Anne
Not easy to find the perfect fit and a clean looking white. The Halogen one is a good find. I only wear mine with skinny jeans - a perfect outfit for travelling too.
ReplyDeleteI have a white shirt, though I hate ironing, so it's always wrinkled crisp ;) Though, I will press it when I wear it. Unless it's going underneath something and then I just leave it & if I take the sweater off and people look at my wrinkle shirt, I have an excuse of it being under a sweater ;) You look great in the white shirt, suits you :)) x
ReplyDeleteI like white shirt and it can use in different occasion, it's so good!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.ofweek.com
Love your white shirt, and I bet you looked youthful and lovely in your newspaper pic.
ReplyDeleteI had a photo taken for a newspaper last year - it was a story they were doing on the heating system we have in our house (the glamour). When the photographer turned up, he decided photos of the heater on their own were boring, so coerced me to appear in the photos. The resultant photo of me, posed against our grey wallpaper, dressed in a knee length grey cardigan, black knee high boots, dark jeans and top looked very Morticia Adams at home. I should've known it wasn't going to be good when the photographer set up no less than 6 flashes around me, and lay on the floor photographing me from below... cue horrendous shadows. Of course they chose the photo of me where I had a slight smirk on my face (my smile having faded after posing stroking my heater for 30 minutes). I am haunted by the fact that should I ever disappear climbing Mt Everest (for example) the paper will of course pull up that photo and caption it something like "Heidi, in warmer times".
I have nothing to add on the white shirt thing. I have one, it's 14 years old. I don't see the need for another. But apparently Carolina Herrera is now doing a range of 8 white shirts (as she is known for them). xx
Yes! A friend of mine on Facebook said she wished she could wear them like Carolina H. Collars and fresh as the day. She always looks very coiffed though I read an interview with her the other day and she says she never needs more than 10 mins to get ready, even for red carpet, must be the wee elves ironing the white shirts for her.
DeleteI don't like ironing and white stays white for about 5minutes on me, so I've never really got to grips with a white shirt. I also don't like that fact that they are mostly without lycra so constrict movement around the arms and shoulders. Give me stretch cotton any day!
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny Jody! At the end of last season, I bought a new white shirt from Jones New York - I am always on the search for one that holds the girls in, has no frippery and skims the side. When I pulled it out of the back closet I thought "I wonder how frightful this will be", but it actually looks pretty good (though I need a scarf or jewelry or bright red lipstick as white can wash me out) and then I thought: "damn, I should have bought 6 of them! Have a great day! Will we get to see the headshots?
ReplyDeleteNooo. Actually I'd be fine with it - eps one where i am trying to look fripolously and look instead taken by the Zombies - don't think the photog will allow me to post it. I think even with the PS-ing they are damned and there will be a re-take.
DeleteLove that shirt. Wait, you're wearing white after Labor Day????
ReplyDeleteYes I'm a total rebel that way!
DeleteI have a collection of 'crisp white shirts' and not one of them is "the one". They're all either too tight somewhere (they have a tendency to shrink in the wash unless you're very careful) or they're too starchy. Two of my fave white shirts however, are very floppy. One is soft cotton (which needs a damn good iron all the time) and the other is an ancient Marks & Spencer crepey thing and I love them both.
ReplyDeleteFunny your photographer said to wear white; a lot will tell you to avoid white as it gives too much glare.
Love the Blake Lively blouse.. You look great in a crisp, white blouse Jody:) I think the Halogen would get my vote!
ReplyDeleteWith jeans or a linen skirt.......and I would only wear an AUDREY type white shirt........a bit longer then what you were featuring!
ReplyDeleteHmmm not even sure I have a white one
ReplyDeleteI think i may have one old one under my sun
Shows how much I wear it though
At my show lol
T-shirts always good
Deletewhen you're rhyming snood with hood
I have one white shirt a very crisp cotton from Talbots. I like to wear it as a jacket sleeves rolled up just a bit overtop a white tank top and pearls...the more the merrier.
ReplyDeleteWhite shirts need not be ironed if they are hung to dry.
Love the sound of that look!
DeleteEmail from Judy T. of PA: "Coincidentally, last Friday, I bought a NON-IRON very handsome white shirt at Chico's. Chico's isn't my favorite store but they do come thru when I don't expect to find some decent clothes!!"
ReplyDeleteEmail from Rina, London: "oh gosh, i do lurve a crisp white shirt, i have countless ones, and in london with the pollution and the tube and all the newspapers we read they don't stay white for long,
ReplyDeleteanother pitch perfect delivery, (uk vogue did a programme once on what to put on cover and yes it was the perfect white shirt!"
I always have one in the closet. Currently it has a large double collar and big cuffs I loved it best under a slim tank style cocktail dress (worn to Hubby's company Holiday dinner). BUT it is already beginning to yellow from dry cleaning just twice!!
ReplyDeleteDaughters best friend came over yesterday and needed help (asked me to do it) in ironing her all white stretch cotton fitted paneled blouse for her professional model kit. Made me smile that I'm still the Mom at home, but what a pain! I could've used a doll iron.
I LOVE white crisp shirts!!!
ReplyDelete... and based on what I can see, you look MARVELOUS in yours!!
~shoes~
Nothing more classic than a classic white man's shirt!! These photos are iconic! Was't Sharon Stone so daring and confident when she wore hers?!!!
ReplyDelete(='.'=)
Lauren at adorn la femme
Jody, Love white shirts. You look terrific in all these. I agree the Nordstrom one is the best. I like the J Crew ones, but they tend to be sheer and I don't want to have to worry about another layer. I bet you took great photos! We are all so harsh on ourselves..You have good bone structure and always photograph well.
ReplyDeleteI find tailored shirts so flattering and wearing them with something like distressed jeans is fun otherwise they can be a bit worky.
Great post and pics!
xxKim
If I wore a white shirt around the Napa Valley I'd look like a waiter!!! And it's unfortunate because I do like white shirts.
ReplyDeleteThe Halogen shirt (from Nordstrom) is my fave of this bunch, but "less pricey", really?
yes the waiter effect in Napa, can see that!
DeleteI don't own a white shirt, but you are convincing me that I should!
ReplyDeleteTomato sauce or Jam stains as a rule.
ReplyDeleteOh yes you can still have fun like that! ;) I love the collection of photos you showed. I was so impressed with that look on Sharon Stone years ago. I hate to iron but invested in a Rowenta floor steamer last year, store it right in the closet, and that helps with my wrinkles. If only they had one for the humans.
ReplyDeleteGreat look on you gorg!
xx, Heather
I love white shirts and wear them quite often , usually with jeans.my favorite ones are the linen ones from jcrew, I even wear them instead of robes around the house.
ReplyDeleteLike you I am allergic to ironing so don't own many white things that require it. You, as always, look great in them all and I love your mirror! How have I never noticed that before?!
ReplyDeleteit's a reproduction of something or other, painted glass. I usually don't like repros of anything but this 'juxtoposed" with the modern shite in the rest of the room
DeleteYou look seriously perfect in that top pic, who cares about a headshot.
ReplyDeleteSurprised re: what the photographer asked you to wear, I've always heard pure white (or black or other intense dark colors) were no good for film.
I collect white shirts like I do chambray ones but I gave up on crisp a long time ago. My favorite one is still the one my dad gave up on because it was frayed from years of wearing.
Currently wearing my white shirt with a little bling, of course. ;)
yes I heard that too!
DeleteOh dear confession I do iron my t-shirts. I love to wear my white shirt with jeans I think it is the freshness and crispness of the shirt against the blue of denim that works so well. When I went to my first discos in the rugby club all the girls wore white shirts because they looked so good under the lights and made you look tanned although a coloured bra was not a good look.
ReplyDeleteDiscos in the rugby clubs - takes me back!
DeleteYou'd never get me in anything white. I look fat enough as it is. It works well for you though!
ReplyDeleteHi Joe, thanks for popping by!
DeleteThe husband does the ironing or else it'll never get done. I love that Halogen shirt on you. I very rarely put on anything white being a dirt magnet and all but even I can't deny the chicness factor of a simple white shirt.
ReplyDeleteMy husband enjoys ironing too!
DeleteJody you look great in all those white shirts. I think I have one--a J Crew which always needs to be ironed, which may be why I've only worn it once. They do look great and are so classic.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'm thinking is going to happen to this one, back of the wardrobe
DeleteI've always been a white shirt girl - cotton, linen, silk, broderie anglaise and fortunately ironing is therapy - specially now its just me.
ReplyDeleteYou look great in them.
Pat, I love that photo of you in the white shirt
Deleteomg i bet you looked stunning in your headshots .... i dont own a white shirt but everytime i see a woman in one i love the subtle sexiness it gives off ..... oh! and Daniel craig ..... butter on my toast!!!
ReplyDeleteButtah, more buttah
DeleteThe first one looks best from the photos. I don't do white shirts either. It would almost immediately get something splashed on it or make up on the collar. It does look sexy though (when clean!)
ReplyDeleteyes I always end up at dinner out scratching away at some stain or other...
DeleteI'm a sucker for a crisp white shirt. I even love to pop a collar ala Sharon Stone. I have not, however, figured out how to pull of a blanket as a ball gown as Ms. Stone has also done with such flare!
ReplyDeletePop a collar - love that!
ReplyDelete