The Gingham Shirt

Each month Maxim comes up with a must-have item of clothing for any style conscious reader - this month it's the gingham shirt.

What is it?

A navy-and-white gingham check shirt, with button-down collar, double-button barrel cuff and curved hem.

What you need to know…

Gingham is Indonesian in origin, and when it was first brought back to Britain in the 17th century it was striped. Once Manchester’s mills started making the dyed cotton yarn fabric a hundred years later, it became the check, or plaid, pattern we know and love today.

Ralph Lauren started out as a salesman for Brooks Brothers. He never attended fashion school and, in 1967, opened a tie shop, where he sold his own ‘Polo’ label silk ties. The famous Polo logo shirts launched in 1972 and came in 24 colours. The Polo shirts were an overnight success, and the gingham shirts are a perennial top-seller, worn with jeans or flat-fronted stone chinos.
Price £95