3Sixteen Resort Shirt

Two-colour patterns behave differently from every other kind, and this one is the clearest example. Black and white at small scale does not read as black and white. From across a room the eye blends the two into a soft mid grey and the shirt reads as a solid; walk closer and the pattern resolves and becomes the thing you are looking at. That is why a black and white shirt sits against indigo, olive, black, and cream without any of the negotiation a coloured pattern demands, and it is why this is a patterned shirt that behaves like a plain one.

The buttons are worth a sentence. Mother of pearl is cut from shell rather than moulded, so no two are the same and each one carries the shell’s own banding, and against a black ground the nacre catches light in a way a plastic button simply cannot. It is the cheapest expensive detail in shirting and almost nobody bothers with it. The cut is the house’s Resort shape: boxy through the chest, short in the body, with a pleated back yoke for room across the shoulders, drawn to be worn out rather than tucked. Made in Portugal.

Why we selected it

We wanted one patterned short-sleeved shirt in the store and we did not want a print. This is a pattern in the cloth, in two colours, at a scale that keeps it quiet, and it solves the problem of what to wear on a hot evening that is not a plain shirt and not a costume.

3Sixteen makes its shirting in India and in Portugal, and the Portuguese pieces are the more finished side of the line.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton in a black and white pattern. Made in Portugal. Boxy cut with a shorter body, a pleated back yoke, and mother of pearl buttons.

Fit notes

Boxy through the chest and short in the body, drawn to be worn untucked. The pleated back yoke adds room across the shoulders without width at the waist. Cotton of this weight will move a little in the first washes and then hold, so take your usual size.

Styling

With the Drawstring Short and a canvas shoe. With black denim, where the pattern is the only thing happening and that is enough. Over the black Pima tee, open, which turns it into a light overshirt. Black and white goes with the whole store, which is most of the reason to own it.

Care

Machine wash cool and hang to dry. Wash it separately for the first few washes, because a black and white woven pattern is the one place a little colour transfer shows immediately, and keep it out of a hot dryer, which is what dulls a white ground. Our care guidance covers cotton.

Related pieces

For a plainer collar, the Club Collar Shirt. It works with the Drawstring Short and over the Pima Cotton T-Shirt Pack in Black. Portugal also makes the Work Blazer in Tobacco. Everything we currently hold from 3Sixteen is listed together.