Recommend casual button-down shirts for sale in NYC

August 1, 2009 12:28 PM

Please recommend good quality button-down shirts for sale in NYC for a slender guy - I'm looking for something casual that can be worn tie-less and untucked if I'm in the mood, but still well made with good fabric and cut, i.e. at the level of Thomas Pink or w/e but casual. Priced up to around let's say $200 a shirt, although if it's less that's even better. Thanks!
posted by Spacelegoman to clothing, beauty, & fashion (14 comments total)

I'm 5'10" and 135 pounds, so I know from slender. You might stop by Brooks Brothers at 346 Madison and look at their slim-fit shirts, which I find are a good fit on me. The old-fashioned NON-non-iron oxford cloth button-down collar shirt is a great all-purpose shirt that can be dressed up or down, or you could look at their sport shirts in various plaids and stripes and such. Shirts run around $75, but are on sale semi-regularly at 25% off or so.
posted by letourneau at 12:50 PM on August 1

Check out the Hugo Boss red label shirts. The cut is nice on a thinner frame, work well tucked and untucked. I think they usually run between $100-$200 w/o discount.
posted by lovejones at 1:21 PM on August 1

There is a price threshold beyond which a tailor-made shirt will always look better on you than a more expensive off-the-rack shirt could ever manage.
Where that threshold lies depends on your location, but I'd suggest that at $200, there is a fair chance you'd just be paying extra to make yourself look worse, compared to finding a tailor.
posted by -harlequin- at 1:31 PM on August 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Brooks Brothers, all the way. Despite the F. Scott Fitzgerald/Collegiate boy uniform connotations, their clothing is quite modestly priced and lacking in built-in-obsolecense, so to speak.

A few years ago my three normally t-shirt wearing sons were expected to attend a three day funeral (great-grandmother). It was not "back-to-school" season here in CA and after lame attempts to locate appropriate clothing, my husband said, "Oh, Fuck it! Let's just go to Brooks Brothers!" (And I'm the one from NY--I dragged him to the SF Brooks Brothers to buy his wedding shirt long ago.)

Anyway, I who hate shopping found the entire experience quite pleasant. The saleswoman was kind and attentive to my bewildered offspring utterly unused to such environments, various adjustments made, and in the intervening years the shirts have passed from one son to another.

They (the shirts) remain in excellent condition--of course the reversion to all t-shirts all the time happened pretty quickly--and at this rate my grandchildren will probably be able to wear them (not to mention the ties--no wear and tear on those!). Good luck!
posted by emhutchinson at 1:37 PM on August 1

Similar AskMe from yesterday. Are you really sure that it needs to be button-down? Because there are plenty of good options for good shirts out there. $200 for a button-down shirt seems like $200 for jellies.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:48 PM on August 1

Most of my professional wardrobe comes from Brooks Brothers. But those shirts are not made to be worn untucked. At least not the dress shirts. For untucked, you want a box cut, like William Shatner was wearing on Conan the other night.

In other news, you're thin, and therefore can show it off by tucking in your shirts.
posted by bingo at 2:09 PM on August 1

Thank you everyone for your responses. For more professional/dressy needs, tailored is indeed the way to go - I have recently discovered Alexander West - but I'm looking for shirts to wear untucked. For example, look at this guy with the green pants on the Bonobos homepage.

My wardrobe has no middle ground right now between t-shirts and dressy shirts.
posted by Spacelegoman at 3:15 PM on August 1

Ben Sherman makes great shirts - their store is in Soho, 96 Spring St at Mercer. Their "Carnaby" fit is the only dress shirt I ever found that fit me right when I was skinny.
posted by bensherman at 3:47 PM on August 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

At that price point, don't buy off the rack. Go bespoke.

An affordable bespoke tailor as a starting point is probably Ally Bespoke Tailors. (11 Penn Plaza New York, NY 10001 646-421-7004) I've put two friends in their bespoke clothes with great success. Fantastic work, fabric, and vision.
posted by dejah420 at 5:51 PM on August 1

Ever-so-slightly OT, but button-down shirts should always be worn tie-less. If you're going to go to the trouble of wearing a tie, a proper point-collar or spread-collar shirt with collar stays is essential!
posted by MattD at 6:10 PM on August 1

And, yes, bespoke. It is really amazing what tailors in upstairs offices in New York can do well-within, and sometimes well-less-than, the department store price range.
posted by MattD at 6:11 PM on August 1

If you want to go a little more stylish I'd head to Ina Men on Mott St first (and then Ina on Bleecker) for couture consignment — I find shirts there from Prada, CoSTUME NATIONAL, Seize sur Vingt, &. for $80 or all the time.
posted by nicwolff at 7:29 PM on August 1

Raja fashions will make great made-to-measure for $50-$100/shirt. Next visit 26th dec.
posted by lalochezia at 12:39 AM on August 2

Oh, I'm a big big fan of these shirts on fellas, and on me too!
posted by thinkpiece at 8:11 AM on August 2