How to wear a shirt under a navy sweater
Games of collar, cuffs or bottom of the shirt, the shirt worn with a navy sweater allows a range of styles.
Open collar, raised, sleeves that protrude ... There are as many ways to wear the navy sweater over a shirt.
The shirt is probably one of the oldest garments worn in human history. The oldest shirt found is Egyptian and dates back to 3000 BC. It is in the Middle Ages, in Europe, that the shirt as we know it today develops. Used as nightwear or underwear, it was worn under rough clothes by peasants and under formal clothes by nobles. The invention of the removable collar made it possible to space out the washings while wearing the garment underneath. Popular with men's fashion, the shirt was equipped with removable ornaments that showed the status and wealth of the wearer: ruffle, strawberry glue, lace or sleeve ...
The materials were natural: linen, cotton and then silk for the richest from the eighteenth century. It is from this period that the expression white collar would come, because only the richest people could afford to wear a white and clean shirt with a nice white collar. The puritanical and bourgeois 19th century saw a disappearance of ornaments in the male shirt. This is how this garment took the formal aspect we know today.
In the 1920s, when women's emancipation accelerated, women reappropriated the shirt and began to wear it as a garment in its own right. Synthetic shirts appeared during the Second World War due to shortages of cotton used to make military uniforms. Even if the shirt keeps its shape, we can play with its materials, the length of its sleeves, the type of collar, the colors or the prints. When we associate a shirt with a sweater, the question that arises is that of the visible parts: the collar, the bottom of sleeves, and the bottom of the shirt. Here are all the possibilities to wear the shirt under a navy sweater.
WHAT TO DO WITH THE COLLAR?
There are several shapes of shirt collar and depending on the collar you choose you can have fun letting it protrude or not from your navy knit.
The Mao collar, for example, cannot be tucked into the shirt. Classic collars, like the French or Italian collar, can be tucked under the neckline of the sweater. It is also possible to make the collar stand out slightly. For button-down collars like the American collar, it is better to put the collar inside the sweater. The more whimsical collars like the Claudine collar or the "pie plate" collars should be put over the neckline of the sweater. Such collars are real ornaments and it would be a shame to hide them.
A closed collar button adds a formal touch while an open collar button will immediately make you look more casual.
The closed collar under the knit sweater is usually the most popular proposal for going to the office.
But women's shirts are more fancy than men's shirts and allow you to show off some nice collars over your sweater: like lace stand-up collars or lavalieres.
PLAY WITH THE SLEEVES
When wearing a sweater with a shirt, there are two schools. Those who let the sleeves of the sweater protrude and those who prefer to hide them. At Le Minor, we like to let the bottom sleeves show. Especially since women's wardrobes often feature shirts with a very elaborate cuff: with lace, elasticized, slightly puffed... A trend that appeared four seasons ago also gives pride of place to shirts with very long sleeves that brings an oversized side and balance the silhouette by exceeding your wool sweater close to the body.
THE BOTTOM OF THE SHIRT
Tucking your shirt into your bottom brings a very formal look to an outfit. While leaving the bottom of the shirt hanging out gives you a casual and cool look. We think that whether or not to tuck your shirt bottom into your sweater depends mostly on the bottom of the garment you're wearing, for the sake of proportion. For example, if you're wearing your sweater with a full pleated skirt, it's best to tuck the shirt into your bottom to avoid weighing down the hips. On the other hand, the combination of sweater and pants close to the body supports very well a shirt that protrudes because it creates a visual game of proportion very interesting.
The navy sweater becomes a kind of modern corset highlighting the shirt and its formal side.
