Oxford shirts! Where does a shortie find herself some?

August 18, 2014 8:34 AM

I wear buttoned-down, collar shirts everyday, for work and for leisure. The last couple of seasons I had tons and tons of options in stores like Old Navy and H&M as a rather small woman, but the shelves this season signals that shirts are no longer in. Where can I look for affordable but stylish shirts?

I live in Toronto. Second-hand, vintage etc are totally fine, as long as they fit properly, although I am also looking for brand/store recommendations. For women's shirts I wear S or XS at Old Navy and 2-4 at H&M. I think $20/ shirt is pretty reasonable provided they are durable and look good. And yes, I am totally going for an Ellen-esque look i.e. not gonna do the thing where I wear a "boyfriend" shirt with belt as a dress.

p.s. I have no qualms wearing men's or boy's shirts, but I swim in men's small or XS; and boy's shirts are typically cut too short and too wide.

posted by atetrachordofthree to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

I see that there are Ann Taylor stores in Toronto. I have had good luck with their petite sizes.
posted by desjardins at 8:47 AM on August 18, 2014

Joe Fresh just got some in. Plain and simple ones - quite nice.
posted by Lescha at 9:03 AM on August 18, 2014

Ann Taylor petites are what I wear as well. There are a lot of styles to choose from so you don't have to go with plain old oxford cloth unless you want to.
posted by jessamyn at 9:07 AM on August 18, 2014

American Apparel's unisex oxford shirts are twice what you want to pay new, but if you could get them secondhand they might work. I'm about 5'3" with a 32" full bust and their XXS fits me. Uniqlo's XS is a little boxy with some extra fabric in the back, but I don't swim in it and the sleeve length is fine.
posted by clavicle at 9:35 AM on August 18, 2014

Seconding (thirding?) Uniqlo. I'm a small, non-girly woman, and I love their oxford shirts.
posted by the_blizz at 9:50 AM on August 18, 2014

If you're in Mississauga for any reason you could check out the outlet mall in Halton Hills - I picked up a bunch of shirts for work in the Banana Republic and Brooks Bros petites sections there for about $25/each on sale in june. I think they have J.Crew out there too which usually works out for me as a petite. The stuff I bought is pretty good quality, work appropriate, all that good stuff.

You might want to call them and see what current sales they have going on before hoofing it all the way out there especially though. I had never been there before and am not sure if those were typical discounts or I lucked out.
posted by jamesonandwater at 9:57 AM on August 18, 2014

Seconding American Apparel's oxfords. I'm wearing one now (XXS) and they're some of my favourites for work, really heavy and lovely. You can buy three packs on their website and I consider them a good deal. Again, a bit more spendy, but thoroughly worth it imho.
posted by nerdfish at 11:08 AM on August 18, 2014

There's a Banana Republic factory store opening soon in the Stockyards shopping centre on the north edge of the Junction (Keele / St. Clair). No opening date given, but they are listed on the company web site as a current location and you can definitely see construction going on within.
posted by maudlin at 11:10 AM on August 18, 2014

Try Brooks Brothers boys shirts. They have a good range of OCBD sizes.
posted by radiocontrolled at 1:54 PM on August 18, 2014

Another recommendation for Uniqlo. My local store has some shirts in Japanese sizings, which are slightly shorter in the arms and possibly slightly shorter altogether, so those might be a good option. Otherwise their regular women's shirts are nice too
posted by kinddieserzeit at 8:52 PM on August 19, 2014