Rick Owens Office Shirt

The name is doing something unusual for this house, and it is not ironic. This is a shirt built to the specification of an ordinary good shirt: a collar, a front that fastens, a hem, horn buttons. What separates it is a single choice about the front, which is concealed, so the placket reads as an unbroken panel and there is no vertical line of buttons interrupting the cloth. In a milk cotton, where a dark button would be the only high-contrast element on the whole garment, removing them from view changes the shirt from a composition into a plane.

The back hem is squared rather than curved, which sounds like nothing and decides how the shirt can be worn. A curved shirttail exists to stay tucked in and looks unfinished out; a square hem reads as intentional either way, which is why this one works untucked and why it is cut slightly long enough to be worn that way on purpose. Horn buttons are used where they are still visible, at the cuff, which is the detail that tells you how the shirt was made.

Why we selected it

There is a customer who wants the cloth and the cutting from this house without wanting to be identified from across a street, and the men’s line does not always serve him. This does. We also think a plain shirt is harder to make well than a detailed one, because there is nothing to distract from a badly set sleeve, and this one holds up to that.

The house’s quieter shirting is where its cutting can be judged without any of its signatures getting in the way.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, made in Italy, in milk. Concealed button closure at the front, squared back hem, horn buttons. From Spring/Summer 2022.

Fit notes

Cut slightly long, which is what makes the square hem work untucked, and it can be tucked without bunching. A concealed placket puts more layers at the centre front than a conventional shirt, so the opening hangs straighter and is less inclined to gape. Cotton shirting relaxes modestly with the first few washes and holds thereafter. Take your usual size.

Styling

Untucked with black trousers, which is what the hem is for. Tucked with a high waist if you want the opposite. Under a leather jacket, where a flat front and a plain collar let the leather sit cleanly over it.

Care

Machine wash cool and hang to dry. Heat is what shortens the life of a cotton shirt and what yellows a pale one, so keep it out of a hot dryer and press it damp. Horn buttons should not be soaked hot or ironed directly. Our care guidance covers cotton in more detail.

Related pieces

For the fastening treated the opposite way, the Camicia Snap Collar shirt. Over it, the F/W 25 Outershirt, and under it, the Basic SS T. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.