LEFT A sexy white shirt on the runway at Frankie Morello’s spring show.RIGHT We found our fitted knockoff for $85 at Aritzia (www.aritzia.ca).
To tuck or not to tuck is an eternal conundrum in my household, where the kids find tucking the height of nerdiness. (And after all the lectures they've endured, they still don't get how sexy I find nerds. A tucked shirt and heavy-framed glasses? My Kryptonite.)
White shirts themselves are sex with buttons, for men and women both. The secret is not in expensive fabrics or big-name labels; it is in a snug fit.
Shown above, the Frankie Morello original from the spring/summer runways of Milan need not be slit to the gizzard to be steamy, though this is done really well. The stylist here has built a tasteful camouflaging breastplate of pendants in soft organic shapes and intriguing colours on leather cording. It's a look I'm loving this season.
The Morello shirt has two other key attributes we sought in our knockoff: cropped rolled sleeves (as in not full-length sleeves rolled up) and, more critically, an extra-long, snugly fitted shirt body to get good tuck.
In fact, I have seen many pros (as in male models) go to extremes to get a firm tuck. The trade trick is to basically shove your shirttails into your tighty whities, your slingshots, your bikini briefs.
But this shirt and the terrific knockoff we found for $85 at Aritzia ( www.aritzia.ca) is extra-long and thus won't blouse unbidden or paunch unevenly when you stand up after sitting down. I also love the Aritzia version for the clever cotton-ribbed panel under the arm, which allows the fabric to cling just so. (We left it untucked to highlight the length.)
And while we are on Aritzia, I have to give a shout out to the sales staff at every single one of the Vancouver-based chain's stores I have visited of late: It is really a pleasure shopping there. There is no too-cool-for-the-mall attitude - just a warm, pleasant, polite and efficient team.
The Aritzia effect was reinforced this week when a dear friend volunteered this trenchant observation: "They must have some super-duper training program. The women were outrageously helpful. Seemed like there were a dozen smiling helpers around us holding up blazers."
And there you have it, out of the mouths of middle-aged tuckers.