It Girls Are Ditching Button Downs For Elevated Tuxedo Shirts RN Leave a comment

It’s rare that an item as simple as a cotton shirt makes as much of an impact on a runway as the shoes, handbags, or outerwear. Typically, a piece like that is forgotten—used as a layering tool rather than a garment worth talking about at length. At Matthieu Blazy’s debut show for Chanel last October, though, that’s exactly what happened. To the naked eye, the top half of Look 13 was just a shirt, but when you look closer, it becomes much more than that. The shirt—a crisp, white tuxedo-style button-down—was the first item of clothing Gabrielle Chanel borrowed from menswear, the French fashion house lists on the product description for the viral item. Blazy teamed up with heritage French shirtmaker Charvet to make it, adding Chanel’s signature chain, pearl-button details, and the brand’s name in subtle red, cursive stitching in the process. As a result, they made an heirloom out of a basic that’s long been an afterthought—and kick-started a trend that’s almost too easy to get in on.

On Nicole Kidman: Chanel shirt, jeans, shoes, and bag; Omega watch

Funnily enough, the first time we spotted Chanel’s tuxedo shirt wasn’t on the runway when Blazy’s debut collection was unveiled—it was a few minutes before that, when the brand’s then-newest ambassador, Nicole Kidman, arrived at The Grand Palais in Paris for the show wearing one of her own. In her effortless way, she styled the untucked shirt with the sleeves rolled up just so and perfectly matched her quilted flap bag with the red “Chanel” embroidery on its front. From there, she added ultra-light-wash trouser jeans and black, pointed-toe pumps, and an elegant Omega timepiece on her right wrist completed the ensemble.

With Chanel’s version of the tuxedo shirt finally arriving in U.S. stores this past week (and starring in the window display at the 57th Street store in New York City), the shirt style has, overnight, taken the top spot in fashion from standard poplin button-down shirts. Suddenly, they no longer feel interesting enough, sending everyone I know at least on a hunt to secure a tuxedo shirt (of five) before spring officially arrives. The unexpected ways they were styled at Polo Ralph Lauren’s F/W 26 presentation during Paris Fashion Week have only added to the craze.