Alternate title: “All I Needed to Know about Fashion I Learned From My Cat (and/or sailors)”
I’ve been doing a little experiment recently. Every time I was feeling confused/conflicted about what to wear I would throw on one of my many striped shirts. Turns out stripes are perfect for every occasion. Camping, backyard BBQs, baseball games, office wear, after work drinks, you name it. Stripes can be dressed down with denim cut offs and still feel crisp and clean, or dressed up with a blazer and/or pencil skirt yet still feel comfortable. The perfect short cut to feeling good about your outfit in every circumstance!
My current “A-List” of striped shirts (and bag). L to R clockwise:
1. Madewell baseball t-shirt: I just bought this last night and already love it! On sale for $13.
2. Baggu striped Duck Bag: From the Gap. The perfect weekend bag with a fun pop of pink/orange.
3. LL Bean French Sailor’s Shirt: I originally purchased this just to throw something extra into my online cart for a LL Bean order so I could get free shipping. When it first arrived in the mail I was disappointed that it was more of a thicker material, instead of a t-shirt weight. However after one wearing all was forgotten and this became my #1 All Time A list striped shirt. I love it. And at $29.99 it is crazy affordable. Planning my next color combo to order…maybe “Plum Wine/Bright Navy”.
4. Gap Hot Pink/Navy: Great (unexpected) color combination! I grabbed this from the Gap sale rack last winter/early spring. Long sleeves are great for layering under a sweater. The shirt also has a cute boat neck with buttons. Very fitted, so slighty different from more boxy striped shirts.
5. Zara Striped Shirt with gold zipper: A little different with a round roll neck, and gold zipper on my left shoulder. A heavier material more similar to the LL Bean shirt. A large and boxy fit, so works best thrown over other layers.
6. JCrew Striped Painters Tee (similar): Also fitted, with three quarter sleeves. Great under a blazer for work.
7. Rodarte for Target Striped shirt (not pictured –oops!): Thin tee shirt material, longer sleeves. Sadly the white is started to darken from many washings.
~~~
Stripe shirt outtake picture. Decided these were no longer “A list” so left them out of the above photo, but I still like them.
The inspiration for my stripes: my adorable striped cat Cady!
~~~
Some blog posts about stripes that I have enjoyed recently:
The Working Closet: Mighty Closet: a collection of striped shirts that I can get behind
Les Anti-Moderns: Foundations: The breton stripe shirt: Ms. Sophie writes a through review of breton shirts, including the classic St. James.
