04-08-2025
A ‘feel-the-breeze' shirt is a men's style staple this summer. These are the best to buy
'Sweet days of summer / the jasmine's in bloom'. Such lyrics are an instant access to this most sunshiny high-season as we battle a momentous heatwave. The 1972 original version of Summer Breeze by Seals & Croft is gentler, lighter and more wistful than the Isley Brothers cover, and I prescribe it as the mood enhancer for a new, easy breezy men's shirt trend that is light, leisurely, open in places and sheer in others. This new zephyr of shirt style has such potential for August's blazing heat, a like that we haven't seen before.
Summer camp collar
A recent return of camp collar shirts on catwalks and as worn on certain celebrities – Ryan Gosling, Jeff Goldblum and Jonathan Bailey – heralded the arrival of a new resort-esque mood. Let's take the camp collar as a starting point, because it's quite literally 'widespread' and an easy step to take for most men. A fully blown camp-site of options is available. Critically, camp collars lie flat on your chest/collar bone without a rigid stand, divesting them of any formality, affording better air flow and announcing a cool, relaxed stance. Sunspel's 'Riviera' models in open weaves and lightweight seersuckers make for quality staples. Also take a look at re-styled collars of its jersey shirts and open-weave cottons for wearable examples of this easier style of shirt, if you're heading to foreign climes this month or just sweltering at home.
Speaking of seersucker, it's a material that's worth considering for its aeration. Seersucker versions of camp collar shirts are classic preppy; clean, neat and smart for occasions where you need to look more polished in warmer temperatures. British swimwear brand Orlebar Brown finesses summer style very well across all categories, including shirts, so it's worth looking at the brand's Maitan shirts in crisp, striped linen or palatable, muted hues.
Dressing for hot sojourns and holidays in the old days was a dignified affair. Less of the nasty sliders, football shirts, board shorts or muscle vests and more of the quiet refinement of the likes of Alain Delon 's (original portrayal of) Tom Ripley in an idyllic Riviera setting for Purple Moon. This is pretty much the archetype (especially once he's raided his victim's wardrobe of Sixties pattern cheesecloth shirts and washed-out chambrays of pink and blue. See also Sean Connery as Bond in Goldfinger and Thunderball for his neat, clipped resort ensembles. This golden epoch so richly evoked by the likes of Slim Aarons and images of Valentino Garavani in Capri in the 1970s with Jackie O was about dressing up in the heat, without being stuffy.
Split hems and silk routes
Look at something as simple as split hems on shirts, which prompt wearing them out and open, even entirely loose and easy over a white vest. Geometric printed silk numbers also evoke a vintage Cuban feel. Also dubbed 'Cuban' collars, the camp collar format usually employs single-looped fastening for the top button, a characteristic of the Guayabera shirt from Mexico adopted in Cuba.
All this camping it up splendidly declares clear leisure-time intentions, and particularly the printed numbers are devoutly non-work attire, which is pleasing when you spend your life in crisp white shirting for office purposes (unless, that is, you're actually an on-duty Latin gigolo, Costa Rican crooner or cinematic cartel boss – hey, we're not judging). In which case Parisian brand Casablanca's silk prints represent potential workwear. I'm so digging Casablanca's international Latin playboy verve, from finessed, strikingly unique prints to its crochet tennis shirts, as if Benicio del Toro or Javier Bardem took to Centre Court. That's what I channel when I'm wearing the look, though with my Anglo-Saxon/Celtic complexion I'm probably looking more like captain of the pub darts team. They're worth considering for continental weddings too; pop the camp collars out of the suit jacket.
Crochet creations
And while it might sound like the stuff of grandma's living room, it's also worth considering the crochet trend that's become so prevalent across summer shirting in recent years. Crochet was pretty much unheard of, now it's a consistent part of men's shirting as the mercury rises. E-tail website Mr Porter's own label specialises in well-made crochet tops with a Gabicci-like retro cool, nodding to the brand that defined Northern Soul style. Portuguese Flannel's crochet shirts are also effortlessly wearable. More ornate swagger is in the air at New York brand Bode, favourite of Harry Styles, which is pretty deft with lace too. Its exquisite hand-taped lace shirts constitute sophisticated evening-wear for balmy evenings on holiday. Some pieces are in antique lace cutwork tablecloths, others are inspired by 1950s lace curtains, and they're elegant alternatives for men who want something nuanced, particularly the black or vintage ivory versions. Yes, lace is effectively sheer, but it looks and feels super cool. This baroque style of shirting operates easily as refined evening attire, as teamed with shorts or battered jeans.
If you're remotely concerned that you're not the right side of svelte for sheer, go up a size and wear it pleasingly loose and flowing. It's also worth deploying a tonally harmonious vest beneath, tucked in. White can be a stark, jarring visual jump, but using the same hue stealthily hides a multitude, and fine-tunes the colour balance.
'Embroidery English' was how Paris label Paul & Joe's creative director and Frenchman Adrien Albou described his new elegant, lace white shirt, paired with a faded blue denim suit in the manner of a heyday Seventies Rod Stewart. A potent reference, lace and sheer on atypical masculine fellas actually works tremendously well, mixing up different modes of man. In short, a touch of flounce and delicacy can look rather racy on men.
Daring to go sheer
The trend feels yet more bohemian in the hands of Indian brand Harago which channels a hippy 'Balearic DJ' look, using airy, washed-out cottons with self-coloured embroidery. Vintage sari fabric is also embellished with partially sheer panels, if you're keen on something particularly outré for your Formentera break this month. Fabric aficionado De Bonne Facture presents simple, nuanced perforated versions of its 'holiday shirt', but its semi-sheer 'voilee' printed designs inspired by vintage scarves are also excellent. Independent London label King & Tuckfield is also streaks ahead in this trend. Alongside crocheted merino and sheer 'point' collar shirts, its short-sleeve kimono wrap shirt hybrids are effortlessly cool and soft, and easy to wear in slinky cupro fabric.
Creative director Stacey Wood is part of this new shirt zeitgeist. 'The right summer shirting instantly shifts your mood. A lightness comes not just from the way it moves, but from how it makes you feel. Breezy and unrestrictive, it hangs with ease, flows and floats in the breeze, catches the air as you walk.' Wood has even applied kimono wrap shirts in sheer floral velvets, and they've sold out – it seems her customers can't get enough of the easy, breezy new mood. Wood goes on to say these shirts even slow your pace down in the heat, 'soften' your day and make you feel freer. Back to those Summer Breeze lyrics while eyeing up the prospect of yet more searing temperature forecasts. 'July [OK, August] is dressed up and playing her tune'; time for a new riff on shirting of your own.
