Nicholas Daley Classic Two Pocket Shirt – Madras

Madras is one of the few cloths named for the place that made it. The term belongs originally to the lightweight cottons woven around the city now called Chennai, carried into the Caribbean and then into British and American dress, and it has come to describe a family of bright, irregular, often bleeding checks rather than any single fabric. It is a check with a completely different history from a Scottish sett, which is what makes it interesting that Daley designs his own version of it. Most of his check work runs through Scotland. This one runs through the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean.

What it is put on is the plainest shirt he makes. An open collar cut to lie flat rather than to stand around a tie, two patch pockets on the chest, and nothing else at all. No yoke detail, no placket trick, no contrast. On a corduroy that emptiness lets you look at the pile. On a red-led check it lets you look at the check, which is doing quite enough on its own and needs a garment that will get out of its way.

Why we selected it

We took this because it is a shirt that goes to the Caribbean rather than to Scotland, which is rarer in Daley’s work than you would expect. The block was already proven to us in corduroy, so the only question was the cloth.

The two-pocket shirt is where Nicholas Daley’s cloth work is easiest to read, because the pattern gets out of the way and leaves the fabric to do all of the talking.

Fit notes

The same block as the corduroy versions, cut easy through the chest and shoulder with a flat open collar. This one is a lighter cloth and will hang closer to the body than the cord does, so it reads as a shirt rather than as an overshirt. Take your usual size.

Styling

A red check is the loudest thing in any outfit, so everything else goes plain: the Pleated Trouser in black, or the plain navy 2-Pleat Trouser. Worn open over a black tee it settles down considerably. Do not put it near the tartan pieces.

Care

Wash cool and hang to dry. A red-dominant cloth can release colour in the first washes, so wash it alone until it stops. Press on the reverse if you press it. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Classic Two Pocket Shirt in beige and the Classic Two Pocket Shirt in black are the corduroy pair. The Field Shirt is a yarn-dyed check woven in Japan, and the Pleated Trouser in black is the plain trouser under it. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.