Kuon Zip-Up Cotton Shirt

The placket is the part of a shirt that goes wrong. It is a doubled strip of cloth carrying the buttons, and it is what gapes between buttons, what pulls at the chest, and what has to be lined up with the collar band and the hem for the shirt to look right. Take it out and put a zipper in and the whole front of the garment changes: one continuous line, nothing to align, and no gap. Two zippers rather than one is the useful part. A double closure opens from the hem as well as from the neck, so the shirt can be released at the bottom over a wide trouser without being unfastened at the top, which is a thing a buttoned shirt cannot do at all. The body is cut wider than a shirt usually is, which is what makes the released hem read as intentional rather than as untidiness.

Why we selected it

It is the plain one, and every house needs one. A white shirt that solves an ordinary problem in an unusual way is worth more than a decorated one.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, made in Japan. Collared, with a double zip-up closure. Wider body. Color: White.

Fit notes

Wider through the body than a standard shirt, so it stands away rather than following the torso, and it is meant to. A zip front does not gape but it also does not give, so the fit at the chest is the fit at the chest. Cotton relaxes across a day and comes back with washing.

Styling and care

Tucked into the Aizome Slub Wide Trouser or the Denim Hakama Trousers, which uses the wide body without letting it look loose. Untucked over the Seersucker Single Pleat Pants with the hem zipper open, which is what the second zipper is for. Under the Fanage Corduroy Blazer. For care, wash cool and hang to dry, and close both zippers before washing, because an open zipper is what abrades the cloth beside it. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Aizome Sashiko Shirt is cotton with stitching worked across it, and the Boro Jacquard Wide Trousers are cotton cut straight and wide. There is more on the house on the Kuon designer page. Everything we carry from Kuon is listed together.