Massimo Alba Genova Shirt

The detail worth buying this shirt for is the crest. It is embroidered small on the body and it is empty, because it is there to be filled in with a set of initials, which is an old Italian shirt-making convention that has almost entirely disappeared. Shirts used to be numbered and marked so a household could tell one man's from another's coming back from the laundry. Nobody needs that now. The crest survives as a place where the garment expects you to finish it, which is a quietly generous thing for a shirt to do.

Behind it sits the bib, a second layer of soft cotton across the chest, which gives the front of the shirt a little more body and a little more opacity than the rest. Here the outer cloth is a viscose and cotton blend, and the viscose is what produces the fluid, faintly cool drape that separates this from the cotton and linen versions. In Laguna, a green-blue, the fluidity shows: the cloth catches light along the fall of it rather than sitting flat.

We selected the Genova once and bought it three times, in three cloths, because it is the only shirt we know of that expects something from the person wearing it. The empty crest is a small piece of unfinished business and we like clothes that have one. This viscose blend is the version with the most movement in it, and the one we would put under a jacket.

Sixty percent viscose, forty percent cotton, made in Italy. Pointed collar, inner bib in soft cotton, embroidered crest for applying initials, mother-of-pearl buttons. Colour: Laguna.

Viscose drapes rather than holds, so this hangs closer and moves more than the cotton or linen Genovas do. The bib adds body across the chest only, so the shirt reads slightly more substantial from the front than the back. The pointed collar is soft enough to lie down under a lapel rather than propping itself up against one. Wear it tucked or out; the Genova pattern is drawn to work either way.

Under the Florida jacket in navy, where Laguna against navy is the better of the two obvious choices. With the Ionio2 in Caffe. Alone in summer, with the sleeves pushed.

Wash cool and hang damp, because viscose loses strength when it is wet and dislikes being wrung. Iron on a low setting if at all. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Genova Shirt in Bianco is cut in cotton voile and the Genova Shirt in Soft Pink in linen. The Noto2 Classic Shirt is the band collar in linen and cotton, and the Florida Jacket is the jacket to wear over it. There is more on the house on the Massimo Alba designer page. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.