Nicholas Daley Abstract Truth T-Shirt

The Blues and the Abstract Truth was released by Oliver Nelson in 1961 with a sextet that included Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Evans, and Roy Haynes, and it is one of the records that decided what a certain kind of arranged jazz would sound like for the next twenty years. Daley named his autumn 2020 collection after it, which tells you something about how he works. The music is not a soundtrack laid over finished clothes at the end of the process. It is where the collection starts, and by the time the garments exist the reference has usually been metabolised into cloth and cut rather than printed on the surface.

This shirt is the exception, and it is honest about being one. It is a long-sleeved cotton jersey with the collection's name on the chest and its artwork across the back, made in England. If you want to carry the reference plainly rather than have it worked into a tartan you would have to be told about, this is the piece that does it.

We took this because the jazz is not decoration in this house and we wanted one piece in the store that says so out loud. It is also the simplest thing Nicholas Daley makes that we would still call a proper garment.

Every Daley collection is built around a musical idea and presented with live performance, and the Abstract Truth pieces are the ones that name the source rather than absorbing it.

One hundred percent cotton, made in England. Long sleeve, screen-printed logo at the front and artwork at the back. Colour: Black.

A relaxed jersey cut, worn on its own or under a shirt. Cotton jersey at this weight will relax slightly through the body over the first several wearings and draw back with washing. If you intend to layer it under a two-pocket shirt or a cardigan, take your usual size rather than sizing up, because the extra fabric is what bunches at the arm.

Under the Three-Pocket Cardigan or the Zip Cardigan. On its own with the Pleated Trouser in black. It is a printed shirt, so let everything else be plain.

Wash cool and inside out, and hang to dry. Heat is what cracks a screen print, so keep it out of a hot dryer and off the ironing board face-up. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

The Stepping Razor T-Shirt is the named-collection tee cut in Japan, and the Crew Neck Waffle in black is the knit that goes over either. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.