The poplin shirt — best known when striped in blue and white — is a cornerstone of summer dressing and is well-adored worldwide. Below, Men’s Folio rounds up the best ones to buy, just in time for the season.
If the white tank top and trusty pair of jeans combination have had womenswear in a chokehold for its off-duty appeal, menswear retorts with the ever-enduring poplin shirt. And while fashion history has recorded countless interpretations of the famed cotton-blend button-ups, one can still stand to find the simple blue-and-white striped original reigning supreme; especially in the context of summer dressing.
Popularised by the lightness of its tightly woven fabrication, poplin shirts boast a crisp, smooth texture, which elucidates the very formality that lends it its versatility. Beyond its handsome exterior, is its aura of easy-breezy relaxation and quantifies the staple to be as temperature-friendly as it gets. Compounded by the range of silhouettes that design houses now have to offer — there are the triple-XL oversized ones by Balenciaga, avant-garde ones a la Kiko Kostandinov, and classic mainstays thanks to Dior Men — one will be hard-pressed to find another staple that ranks as high on the versatility index.
Which is why poplin shirts have been endorsed by celebrities around the world, no matter how high-octane their dressing may be on the daily. One will find the summer staple in the frequent rotations of Doyoung of NCT 127, Apo Nattawin and Cha Eunwoo of ASTRO — all of whom have been noted to be big proponents of the “boyfriend” aesthetic. But on the flip side, the laid-back look has been documented on the stylistically experimental: see Juyeon of The Boyz, Yeonjun of TXT and PP Kritt.
Below, shop the Men’s Folio curation of poplin shirts to shuttle off to your next summer vacation.
Dior Men Blue Striped Cotton Poplin Shirt
$1,550, via Dior Men.
Valentino Cotton Poplin Shirt with Metallic V Detail
$1,710 via Valentino.
Celine Logo-Embroidered Striped Cotton-Poplin Pyjama Shirt
~$1,218, via MR PORTER.
Balenciaga Patched Shirt
$2,374, via FWRD.
Miu Miu Light Blue Poplin Shirt
$1,550, via Miu Miu.
Fendi White Cotton Shirt
$1,290, via Fendi.
TH Flex Poplin Shirt
$139, via Tommy Hilfiger.
Simone Rocha Relaxed Short Sleeve
$930, via Dover Street Market Singapore.
Loewe Crystal-Embellished Cotton-Poplin Shirt
~$10,766 via MR PORTER.
Versace Barocco Sea Striped Shirt
$2,160, via Versace.
Marina Yee Origami Shirt
~$561, via SSENSE.
Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our May 2024 issue.
RELATED ARTICLES
