I have just counted my shirts. I possess 66. A ridiculous number. Is 66 symbolic – the Mark of the Shirt Beast?
My shirt collection stretches back into antiquity. I have one white cotton shirt which I bought in Silvers, a posh menswear shop in Reading, in the early 1980s. I bought it in a sale. A label - ‘The Paris House Collection - is sewn beneath the collar, and it has a unique feature (unique, that is, to my shirt collection): after you do up the buttons, they are hidden from view. Ancient it may be, but it remains my best white shirt. I wore it a couple of weeks ago at a friends wedding.
That is my oldest shirt, and the fact that it has lasted all these years attests to its quality. My second oldest shirt, and my most expensive, is a Thomas Pink shirt that I bought in an airport tailors shop in the late 1980s. It is 100% cotton and was made in Ireland. I bought it because it is a very nice colour – with a white grid pattern – and because it was half price. I like my shirts to
be baggy, and this one is very baggy indeed. When I tried it on in the shop, the assistant used the word generous to describe the shirts bagginess – hinting that it was a tad too large for me – but I went ahead and bought it. Because it is such a fine shirt, I have worn it sparingly – at work only - and it as good as new today.
Now let me tell you about my favourite shirts. I used to visit Bangkok a lot during my early years in Vietnam and always stayed in the same hotel: The Crown on Sukhumvit Road. Sukhumvit Road is lined with stalls selling all manner of merchandise, including shirts. In 2003 or 2004, I bought 8 ‘100% cotton XXL Polo shirts in a variety of colours. I like shirts that are not meant to be tucked in, that hang loosely around the waist. Well, these were the perfect length and fit; the light cotton was ideal for a tropical climate, and they had a breast pocket. I used to be a fan in my Egyptian and Tanzanian days, but around 20 years ago I gave up
wearing in favour of collared shirts. The breast pocket of a collared shirt makes all the difference to me, because it is so handy for toothpicks and other small items. I have worn these 8 shirts – the Magnificent 8 – ever since buying them, and in 2020 most of them are still going strong. They are particularly good for wearing on holiday because, after a quick wash in the hotel sink, they dry out quickly and do not need ironing. I am wearing the red one today. After hundreds of washes, the cotton is diaphanous and the collar frayed, but I will keep wearing it until it falls apart.
There used to be a department store in HCMC – the Tax Trade Centre on the corner of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi – where I bought trousers and shirts suitable for school. One of my favourite shirts, bought there around 2003, is still with me: a coral red one with a very nice grid pattern. The logo of Ralph Lauren (surely fake) is stitched below the collar, and the shirt was made in the Northern Mariana Islands (a U.S. territory east of the Philippines).
Another favourite of mine - another Ralph Lauren fake bought in the same shop - is a patterned green shirt with very long sleeves. I usually prefer short sleeves, but the long sleeves of this shirt offer excellent protection against the flies of Tan Chau, my wifes home town in the Mekong Delta, where, after sunset during certain months, the flies are rampant. When I am sitting in her restaurant, in the evening during fly season, the long sleeves are a This most practical of shirts is stored permanently in a wardrobe in Tan Chau.
When I buy a shirt, it has to be and made wholly, or mainly, of cotton. I cannot stand cheap synthetic shirts. And I much prefer a shirt with a breast pocket. I also prefer shirts, because the climate of Vietnam is always tropical – either dry and hot or hot and wet. If I happen to buy a shirt, then I invariably roll up the sleeves (except when sitting out of doors after sunset in Tan Chau).
