Everyman knows the white and blue collar shirt, but this power duo is not the only option available. The ranks of the classics have room for cream and grey shirts as well, these suitably distinguished but gentler colours. Lend me your eyes for a while, I shall explain. Where white is usually raw and bleached to near striking, and light blue is sure but dull, cream and grey shirts broaden the wardrobe palette nicely. It is true that white shirts are fine for most all men, but it’s equally true that the colour won’t flatter the lightest of skins — men such as this will only look paler in white. The heavily tanned man, in turn, will look browner and roasted still against the shining whiteness. What’s more, the white shirt is a piece of business or occasion clothing that’s usually too dapper with off-time apparel. To top this paragraph, I will say that the white collar is easily soiled by the neck and skin that sheds oils or flakes, and smart shirtings have a way of disliking bleaching with chlorite.

Products from Pukimo Raivio

Kiton, grey sports jacket, size 50EU
Ralph Lauren, Black Label suit, size 52EU

When the challenges set by white shirts are summed up correctly, the light blue choice rises in value. These problems can also be thwarted with the colour cream, which finds a niche somewhere in the peculiar landscape between white and yellow. The same is true for grey that’s not as devoid of colour shades as pure white is. Cream dinner shirts have been part of high-brow dinners on both sides of the Atlantic for closer to a century now, and it does indeed look kinder in flashlights than its whiter-shade-of-pale cousin. Colour makes a difference. Consider cream and grey.