Camiel Fortgens Big Shirt Blockprint

Most printed shirts are printed on the front. The back is left plain, because a print costs money and the back of a shirt is not the part that sells it. This one is printed on both faces, and that small decision has a large consequence: the shirt reads as a printed object rather than as a plain shirt with a panel on it, and it does not go quiet when the wearer turns around. The cloth is cotton and the shirt is made up in Portugal. The cut is oversized rather than merely roomy, which is a harder thing to combine with a pattern than it sounds, because volume and print usually fight each other. The answer this shirt takes is the right one: keep the pattern flat and even, and let the volume do all of the moving.

Why we selected it

We wanted one shirt in this house’s larger cut that was doing something with its surface rather than relying on proportion alone. A print carried on both faces is the version of that we would wear.

Camiel Fortgens builds almost everything from ordinary garment archetypes, and an oversized button-up is one of the plainest of them, which is why the surface has to earn its place.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, made in Portugal. The design is a block print, carried on the front and on the back. We cannot give you a settled color for this shirt and we would rather say so than pick one. Two different color descriptions attach to it and they do not agree, so we are not going to state either. Ask us and we will look at the shirt with you and tell you exactly what is in front of us.

Fit notes

Oversized through the body and the shoulder, so it wears as a light layer over a tee as readily as it does on its own. It runs in three sizes, and the size decides how far past oversized you want to go rather than whether it fits. A shirt cut this way sits away from the body, which is what keeps a printed cotton from reading as a uniform.

Styling

Over the Big Tee LS, worn open. With the Suit Pants when the shirt should be the loudest thing. With the Normal Jeans for the plainest version, which is the one most people will actually reach for.

Care

Wash cotton cool and gently, and dry it flat or on a line rather than hot. Press on the reverse rather than directly on the print, which is true of any printed cotton and is worth doing from the first wash rather than after the print has gone dull. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Boxy Shirt is the same cotton in a short sleeve and a square cut, and the Inside-Out Basic Shirt leaves its seams on the outside. Everything we carry from Camiel Fortgens is listed together.