This shirt made its presence known in a serious way in the WAMU newsroom.

Rachel Sadon / DCist

It began with a tweet, as these things so often do.

The streets of D.C. are indeed lousy with gingham button-down shirts (Disclosure: your trusted author has one, and almost wore it today). The button down is so popular that, more than a year ago, the Wall Street Journal begged its readers to “Stop Dressing Like Every Other Guy: Give Up Your Gingham Shirts,” noting that the shirt began its trek towards ubiquity more than a decade ago in post-recession 2008, and “endures precisely because it’s safely conformist and has just the right amount of whimsy for most guys (which is to say: very little).”

When the Wall Street Journal is going after your fashion choices, you ought to stop and think. But a mere glance at the streets of Washington makes it clear that District denizens are not taking their fashion advice from the business-minded broadsheet.

For a city with a reputation for taking few sartorial risks, this tweet resonated in a big way, and opened up some space to rib D.C. with stereotypes nearly as well-worn as the shirt.

https://twitter.com/emmaschimz/status/1126284856902680576

https://twitter.com/CarolineMoss/status/1126515832257957894

https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/1126550591415566336

https://twitter.com/pasqualeluz/status/1126884700293718017

So, tell us:

What is your relationship to this shirt?

I own this shirt
I own more than one of this shirt
I am dating this shirt
This shirt is my boss
I loathe this shirt
I have never seen this shirt in my life

Filed Under: editor's picks, fashion, gingham, shirt,