Comme des Garçons Ruffle Top

Ruffles on a shirt front are normally regimented. They run in even rows down either side of the placket, they are the same width from top to bottom, and the symmetry is what makes the garment read as formal. Here they are abstract: placed rather than repeated, so the eye cannot find the rule they were made by and stops looking for one. That single change moves the shirt out of one category and into another. It is still a long-sleeved button-up with a placket and cuffs, and it is no longer a blouse. White is what makes it legible. A ruffle is a shadow before it is anything else, and on white the shadows are the only thing you see, which is why a white version of this shirt shows you more construction than a black one would.

Why we selected it

The white shirt is the garment people replace most often and think about least. This is one that rewards being looked at closely, which is not something we can say about many of them.

Taking a garment with fixed rules and breaking one of them is the main line’s most reliable method, and on this shirt the broken rule is symmetry.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent polyester. Made in Japan. Long-sleeved button-up with abstract ruffles across the front. Color: white.

Fit notes

A button-up is sized at the shoulder and the chest, and the ruffled front adds a little depth there, so allow for it if you are between sizes. The ruffles sit on the front only, so the shirt tucks cleanly and the back is flat under a jacket.

Styling

Tucked into the Pleated Trouser or the Ruffle Skirt, so the front is uninterrupted from the collar down. Under the Sweater Vest Hoodie, where the ruffles come out at the neck and the cuff and nowhere else.

Care

Polyester holds a shape well and hates heat, and on a ruffled front that matters, because an iron pressed across the ruffles will flatten the thing you bought. Wash cool, hang to dry, and steam rather than press if the front needs reviving. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Ruffle Chest LS Button Up carries a shredded ruffle panel on a sheer black shirt. There is more on the house on the Comme des Garçons designer page. Everything we carry from Comme des Garçons is listed together.