After the Big Winter Sweater, we're tackling a new iconic piece in your wardrobe: the shirt.
Why the shirt ?
It is the versatile piece par excellence, the chic and casual essential that adapts to all looks and all situations. It’s a piece that seems simple to make. However, we know that it is not easy to find the ideal shirt, the one that will fit you perfectly and that you will never get tired of.
In reality, it is a technical piece which — to be at once elegant, comfortable and easy to wear — requires a clever mix of talents and know-how.
With The Poplin Shirt, we sought to create a timeless and practical shirt that you won't need to change for years.
And we're going to tell you exactly how we did it!
The 2/3 things that make a good shirt
We started by asking you what were the 2/3 important things that you think make a good shirt. And here are the top 3:
1. The cut. The ideal shirt is neither too short nor too long, nor too loose nor too tight. It has a good length of sleeves, a perfect fit without unsightly creases, a collar that is not too wide and not too tight either. You must be comfortable in it, be able to move and raise your arms... In short, it's a subtle balance to find!
2. A quality fabric with good hold, soft, fluid, resistant and comfortable. It must be thick enough, not too transparent, iron itself and resist washing.
3. Attention to detail : a feminine collar that stays in place, which is neither too big nor too small, beautiful solid and well-placed buttons, neat stitching, beautiful finishes, and as a bonus a signature that makes the shirt recognizable among many others.
The ideal shirt
Thanks to your 558 responses, Alice our stylist was able to quickly draw up the robot portrait of the perfect shirt.
- White color at 83% (spoiler: we still have a surprise for you.)
- Rather ample at 76% like that of your boyfriend, your brother, your father. In short, a guy!
- Which hits mid-butt at 81%
- With a French collar at 57% vs Italian at 32% and officer at 11%
- Without pockets at 64% compared to 29% for one and 7% for two
- In 53% cotton poplin vs. 29% for a twill and 18% for an Oxford fabric
After that, we organized a workshop with around fifteen of you.
During this evening, we identified together the details that we liked on vintage shirts. This important step allowed us to refine the design and design an exceptional shirt.
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The canvas
But who says exceptional shirt, says exceptional designer. That's good, we know one in the person of Michael Gunther, our former teacher at Studio Berçot, modeler for eminent luxury brands and in the profession for over 25 years.
Michael's job consists of transforming the stylist's 2D drawing into 3D. He puts the design in volume with pattern canvas and shapes this canvas on a mannequin to try to respond as closely as possible to the desires and desires of the stylist. For now, your desire and ours!
It was Michael himself who cut, pinned, molded, sewed and brought The Poplin Shirt to life. It is largely thanks to him and the magic of his hands that it is so successful.
After several back and forths with Alice to find the right proportions and perfect the piece down to the smallest detail, Michael sent the canvas to our workshop to make the first prototype . But we will tell you about that in the next article.
You can get to know Michael better by listening to this recording below. He speaks to us in simple words about his passion and his collaboration with RÉUNI.
Okay, enough talking. Now let's see what it gives!
Like a boy
A big trend emerged from your responses to the questionnaire: you were looking for a loose and comfortable shirt, like the one taken from your boyfriend, your brother or your father, but more feminine.
Suddenly, we plunged back fully into the Roaring Twenties (1920-1930), an era of flapper fashion which saw women take over the white male shirt, clothing symbol of the emancipation of women and their fight for gender equality.
We went back up the thread and remained hypnotized by the beauty and androgynous style of Greta Garbo, Marlène Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. They inspired us a lot for this piece.
Result: a feminized men's shirt, suitable for everyday life, with an elegant collar and an original cut — notably thanks to the details of the placket buttoning, a real folding system, like origami (we'll tell you about it below).
At ease, Blaise
To add even more comfort, we created a comfort pleat in the back. So, you can move freely, whatever your activity. Yes, you can dance too!
For the length, we let Michael speak: “ We made a shirt which is located around the pelvis, which is the strongest place of the buttock, which seemed to us the most appropriate place to find the right balance between long, short, comfortable and so that the shirt can be worn with all types of pants".
So, you can:
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either leave it outside your jeans, it covers your buttocks without being too long
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or tuck it into your jeans without feeling embarrassed.and without it giving a bouffant effect. It won't come out every time you raise your arms either. Oohlee!
You will also notice that the back panels are longer than the front ones, which gives a nice “boyfriend” style. The bottom of the sides is rounded. So the drape is prettier and more feminine.
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The rest is in the details…
The killing details
Our aim, as you know, is to make essentials, timeless pieces made to be worn often and for a long time.
For that, you need sobriety. But to not get tired of a piece after 6 months, you also need a little fantasy, a discreet detail that makes all the difference, which means that it is not a basic piece.
For The Poplin Shirt, we created a slightly special button placket with what we call a flat pleat on the right front and the front left, which brings originality, a slight twist, the RÉUNI key.
Another size clarification: the front buttonholes are both horizontal and vertical to prevent the buttons from moving and the shirt from sitting awkwardly on you . And above all, we carefully placed them in order to have a beautiful neckline: neither too high, nor too plunging.
The icing on the cake, beautiful unbreakable buttons, 90% organic resin, a blend of natural biosourced resins. They have a beautiful pearly effect but remain discreet.
They are above all well hung: hand-sewn with 4 passes, a technique generally used for work clothing, such as the jackets of starred chefs.
And of course, we have made you a beautiful, balanced and feminine collar with solid and durable support.
Finally, we added a reinforcing gusset to prevent the seam from tearing or coming undone. A small triangle placed on the rounded hem of the shirt which will extend the life of your shirt even further!
And after ?
We hope you enjoyed this little behind-the-scenes tour. If this is the case, do not hesitate to tell us in comments on our site or on our social networks. Ask us your questions too, we will be happy to answer them!
Next week, this time we will take you to our weaver and our manufacturer. We'll tell you all about the incredible poplin we found and the sublime hand that will make our Poplin Shirt.
We can already tell you without spoiling anything that the material we found, in addition to meeting all your criteria, is 100% naturalreal, pesticide-free and woven not far at all!
Until then, take good care of yourself.
Alice, Adrien & Julien
If you don't want to miss the launch of La Chemise en Poplin, sign up right here (we'll send you an alert)