Morning:
8°c
Accidentally, I find myself fashionable. For years my chosen garb for work, play and even beach holidays has been a white open-necked shirt. Now everyone's in on the act, from George Osborne to Brad Pitt to Mark Ronson. When influential figures as diverse as these start following your look, you know you're ahead of the sartorial curve.
But then, a crisp open-necked white shirt is the ideal all-purpose male look, immediately communicating a relaxed formality and basic levels of smartness, trustworthiness and personal hygiene. It suggests you know how to iron (or are wealthy enough to employ someone who does) and that you are not the sort of chap who drops food on himself.
The supposedly neutral colour actually prompts a whole host of nourishing associations - white being the colour of angels, medical professionals, bakers and dairy workers. Simultaneously, it signals a distrust of ostentation, such as the dandy's paisley or the City boy's swaggering stripe.
Unlike most menswear - suits and branded jeans spring to mind - a white shirt is a blank canvas where you can paint your personality, whether it comes from Paul Smith, Jermyn Street or George at Asda. You can wear slimfit if you're as dapper and cool as Mark Ronson, or voluminous if you're me.
The undone top button and/or absence of tie, distances the wearer from the uniformed ranks of corporate drones. Buttoned-up and tieless has been Charles Saatchi's way of declaring himself different from both the immaculate admen of Mad Men and the chest-exposing "creatives" of the Seventies. Guy Ritchie eschews neckwear as part of his ongoing battle to prove he's a diamond geezer, not a Windsor-knotted toff.
An open-necked shirt shows you are ready to muck in, whether as a hands-on new dad like Brad Pitt, or a shadow chancellor wrestling with an economic crisis, like Osborne. Indeed, it's the perfect look for politicians. Roll up the sleeves and you're one of the boys, even if you went to Eton. Slip on a sober tie, and you're ready for Newsnight or the death of a major royal.
And finally, something I'm sure Charles Saatchi will back me up on, for living with Nigella must have reminded him what all straight, male, whiteshirt wearers know: a girl looks great when she's wearing yours.
