According to reputable fashion website, Fashion Beans, there are some shockingly bad floral shirts in this world and this might have given floral shirts a distasteful reputation on the fashion scene.
However, a tasteful floral shirt is a perfect way to introduce a bit of color and pattern into your wardrobe. Look for a more subtle pattern in colors you feel comfortable wearing. Yes, the floral shirt is a statement piece, so you need to be confident wearing it to properly pull it off so here are six ways to do it well.
This Friday, Republic Fashion is back to let you in on six ways you can style your floral shirts without looking like a joke.
One print per look
You needn’t be able to tell your hibiscus print from your leafy prints to know that print overkill is best avoided. To ensure you don’t stray off the garden path and into the jungle, stick to a single print and balance it with simpler block-color items.
Layer for simplicity
Menswear florals have come full circle since the Hawaiian shirts of the 1980s. But that doesn’t mean all floral numbers shouldn’t be approached with caution. If you’re alarmed at the prospect of looking like a florist’s shop front, use layering to prune back the statement.
Fit for purpose
A Hawaiian gardenia bloom shirt may look great on a beach escapade, but it isn’t exactly boardroom appropriate. It’s best to reserve your more conspicuous pieces for off-duty occasions, while subtle micro-floral prints can be easily worked into more conservative tailored looks for weekdays.
With Jeans
Is there anything you can’t wear with a handsome pair of jeans? Probably not. Well, apart from a leather holster. But a floral shirt? Most definitely.
Despite the versatility of the most worn item of clothing in your wardrobe, it’s important to bear in mind that the wash and fit of your jeans make them more suited to particular looks, and the consequential need to switch your floral pattern.
Under a jacket
One of the easiest ways to look cool is by going tonal. Mixing and matching different shades of the same colour is a simple, modern way to dress for work or play. And there’s no reason why a floral shirt can’t be part of that.
Look for a shirt in a muted colorway, with perhaps just a single contrasting colour – grey flowers over a blue base, for example. Wear it under a navy bomber jacket with a pair of pleated chino trousers underneath for a sharp but playful look.
With tailored trousers
Business at the bottom, party on the top, this is as close to a textbook definition of high-low dressing as you’re likely to find. Yes, it’s a little bit sleazy, but it’s also proof that you can get more wear out of an obnoxiously colorful shirt than you ever dared dream.
The rules, such as they are: the tailored trousers need to be neutral and free of any pattern. You can either go tonal (greens, creams, blacks) or create a sharp contrast between top and bottom (black and red, say).