Plenty has been said about the boyfriend shirt. It’s a romantic movie mainstay. Sienna Miller did the look in Alfie, Dakota Johnson followed suit in Fifty Shades of Grey, and Angelina Jolie threw one on in Mr & Mrs Smith. It’s a big, billowy button-up, slipped on for a cheeky morning-affter breakfast, worn with tired eyes and just the right amount of bedhead. It’s insouciant.
Sexy. And it’s led to many women stealing their other half’s work shirts. But yesterday, Harry Styles proved that the boyfriend shirt can and should also be worn by… well, the boyfriend—or in this case, the fiancé. A clear example of why you should get some mileage out of the thing before it makes its way into your partner’s wardrobe. Out and about in New York this week, a few days before his major run of Madison Square Garden gigs, the 32-year-old wore a classic Harry Styles outfit.
Up top, he sported his beloved “Techno is my Boyfriend” cap from the British bookstore Idea, covering some classic black sunnies. He wore a pair of lovely wide-leg dress trousers high on his hips, secured by a svelte black belt. On his feet were a pair of low-profile boat shoes. But it was his oversized white shirt that really caught our attention. Firstly, the fit is a leading lady’s (or man’s) dream.
On Styles, the shoulder seam sits further down
On Styles, the shoulder seam sits further down the arm, which, with the cuffs being buttoned up, flatteringly balloons the sleeve. The slouchier seam allows for an even wider spread on the collar, too, exposing a little more of those chest tattoos. The shirt slightly skims his torso but is still airy at the back, hinting at the extra bench presses without being too obvious about it.
But it’s also the way the shirt is styled that makes it look so good. At the front, the “Aperture” singer has done a half tuck to show off the top of the trousers, which also shows off how the shirt’s hem is longer at the back than at the front. It’s a classic styling trick that’s recently begun to die out; Gen Zs started shunning it for being a telltale sign that the wearer was a millennial.
But don’t let the opinion of a few folks on TikTok stop you. Pairing it with other slouchier fitting pieces is a nice touch, too. As the clothes are purposefully oversized, rather than him just going for a few sizes up, they still manage to hold a shape. Opting for a slim-fit trouser might make the shirt look too big—and a little bit silly. It’s natural with shirts to want to lean towards something a touch more fitted.
It’s been ingrained in us that anything too baggy isn’t “dressy.” But Styles shows that going oversized the right way certainly isn’t sloppy. Consider this is a modern take on smart-casual. Take it as a sign to steal back your own boyfriend shirts from your partners. Good bet we’ll be seeing this on Zoë very soon. This story originally appeared on British GQ.
Source: www.gq.com
