Simon Crompton’s new guide to plackets, pockets and buttons is a compact bit of menswear literacy. A regular placket adds structure and an Ivy/casual note; a plain front is cleaner; a breast pocket makes a larger difference to formality than most buyers realize; and button material, thickness and contrast can quietly move a shirt from business to decorative. Permanent Style guide
This is more useful than another generic list of “best shirts.” It gives you a way to diagnose why two otherwise similar cloths behave differently under a jacket or with denim. The practical move is to look at the shirts you already reach for and note those three details before the next purchase. Fit still comes first; these are the decisions that make the correct fit feel like your shirt.