Is it Weird?

I came across these popovers while looking for a summer shirt at J.Crew. We all know that popovers have been popular for quite a few years now and they are a pretty common find these days. My question is, “does the hem make this popover look weird?”
J Crew Popover Shirt                                                                          J.Crew Popover $75.00

I am no expert when it comes to popovers, but most of the ones that I have seen had tails like a button-front shirt. The only popover that I ever owned was from Ralph Lauren and that was about 14 years ago so my memory is a little fuzzy. To the best of my recollection it was short sleeved in a muted madras with tails and it was great. The vintage popover below is finished like an ordinary button-front shirt, but these two occurrences would make for an awfully small set of data to draw a conclusion from.
Vintage Popover PatternIn my opinion, yes it looks weird. If you are wearing the shirt tucked in it won’t matter unless there is not enough shirt there to tuck in. However, I have a suspicion that the square hem was designed with “un-tuck” in mind. This is what makes it weird. The straight hem reminds me of scrubs, a nightgown, or at best a windbreaker. Needless to say I didn’t pull the trigger, but it left me wondering if I was alone in thinking these looked off which would not surprise me either.

oxford cloth button down
Jerrod Swanton is a simple man interested in simple, classic, and traditional style.

7 Comments on "Is it Weird?"

  1. Jerrod,

    I think you made the correct decision. It looks exactly like my daughter’s nightwear when she was younger.

    If any of your readers are newly arrived to the sartorial world, please let them know that we have a great chapter on shirts in the Ask Andy About Clothes Encyclopedia.

    Your friend,

    Andy

  2. Erik says:

    I get the idea, as straight hems are more typical of shirts meant to be untucked, but the shirt now looks like a hybrid of an oxford and a bowling shirt. I prefer mine to have a standard hem and just be cut a tad bit shorter, if I’m going to wear it untucked. I really like a popover button-down when they’re styled appropriately.

  3. Joe says:

    I’m not a big fan of popovers. To me they always look like the love child of an OCBD and a rugby shirt. As far as the hem, since I rarely wear my shirts untucked that probably wouldn’t be an issue for me, but if it was untucked, I’d prefer the square hem. The tails looks to much like a nightshirt.

  4. Gary says:

    I am probably in the minority but I like the long-sleeved oxford-style popover. When I first saw these getting some attention, I thought they were coming out of left field, but then I started finding photos of kids wearin them in some 60s ivy league photos. Oddly enough, Mick Jagger is in some mid-60s photos sporting one, and later in the 70s, there’s a shot of him by Hiro in a horribly oversized bastardization of one. Overall, I think it’s just a nice, relaxed option for off-duty. Sure, it looks hybrid, but for me that’s also some of the charm.

  5. fxh says:

    If its gunna be square then the back should be longer than the front by a fair bit. Or more correctly the front should be shorter than the back.

    With these I suspect if they are long enough you could get them “normalised” or curved easily.

  6. Mitchell says:

    I hate popovers’s. I put them in the same category as Henly’s.

  7. Mitchell says:

    I also put them in the same category as Henly’s unless you’re a lumberjack with a plaid shirt mover it..
    Please forward to “From Squalor to Baller”
    Cheers,
    Mitchell

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