A Blue Striped Shirt Is the Quiet Workhorse Your Closet's Missing

If you ask me, there is a perfect button-up. It's not the crisp white OCBD that menswear classicists and forum-roving fashion nerds hold in particularly high regard (though yes, those are great too). Nor is it a final boss-level joint from a master maker like Emma Willis or Charvet (though it could be). Instead, it’s both broader and more specific: the humble blue striped shirt.

Blue is famous—and famously beloved—for complementing every skin tone (there's a lesson on color theory there, I'm sure). And stripes work with a kind of chameleonic superpower, transforming you from an ‘80s Wall Street banker to a post-punk frontman to a rakishly relaxed art director depending on how you wear them. Paired with a knit tie and a suit, a blue striped shirt will make you the star of every wedding you're invited to without stepping on the happy couple's toes. Oversized or rumpled, and worn with billowy vintage jeans (or jorts!), it can take on the carefree charm of a ‘90s sitcom heartthrob. 

Like a plain white tee or a pair of trusty dark jeans, the blue striped shirt is a sartorial skeleton key you can use to unlock any outfit. Those new pants you bought without thinking about how you'll style them? The funky jacket you can't seem to layer correctly? The right blue striped shirt will help all the pieces fall into place—and stand by your side as you puzzle through countless stylistic head-scratchers down the line. And when you're running late and only have five minutes to get dressed, you can throw one on without maxing out your pre-coffee brain and rest easy in the knowledge that you'll look more than half-decent. 

To prove it, here are 15 objectively perfect versions—in a myriad of stripes, shades, and price points—to help kick off your blue period in high style.