style

About The White Shirt

Wardrobe staples vs fashion trends

The White Shirt: mannish cut, well-tailored, slightly oversized to oversized, pristine go-with-everything garment. Button-down or ribbon collar, it’s perfect for any occasion. And any weather too!
So, is it a trend, as magazines say, or a wardrobe staple?

The White Shirt

Fashion, we all know it, is one of the most inconsistent fields where people say one thing and, the day after, change their minds. Perhaps this behaviour could work in times of abundance when we could carry on our activities while unconsciously ignoring what we were about to expect in the future. But now that the good times are gone, we need to get serious. These aren’t times for joking.

After the pandemic, a debate on how to rewire fashion to current times opened up an evolved set of possibilities: shift towards a timeless style and privileging conscious fashion. That stated the end of fashion trends.

The white shirt: fashion trend or staple

However, after Milano and Paris Fashion Weeks, fashion magazines refocused on trends. Again, we repeat it: the fashion industry is inconsistent. People talk about one thing just to take it back as soon as the new thing comes.

Among the unmissable trends, magazines list the white shirt. And here, the inconsistency is peaking.
What is a trend? A trend is what’s popular in a specific season and which will die soon. Do you think that’s the case for a white shirt? Does it make sense to put among trends an item that is the quintessential representation of timelessness?

Wardrobe staples #formodernhumans

The White Shirt has some of the most stunning style features:
Genderless: anyone can wear it.
Comfortable: it allows the movement of your body.
Seasonless: it’s perfect throughout the year. Underneath a cardi or jacket in winter, rolled up sleeves in summer.
Also, it’s versatile and adds an elegant and classy touch even to your casual outfits. All these features make it a staple for our wardrobe of meaningful garments. So, it’s timeless: never out of fashion. Not a trend!

We are sorry that fashion experts still intend to make fashion a game of transient clothing. That doesn’t work anymore. And, undeniably, that’s not the case with the white shirt.

WhatsApp directly from here to check out our GoodNeighbors Shirts selection!

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Patti Smith & “The infinite”

How to make sense of our world and recharge our spirit

Art helps us make sense of the world. It is beauty, in essence. So, we search for it in any form. Patti Smith & “The Infinite” is one of those forms.

You know life is unpredictable. You make your plans, but life makes its own. And so, because of covid, on the 1st of August, we had to miss Patti Smith’s concert in Milano. 

Her music and poetry are a potent blend. And we are sure her performance would have been so beneficial for our souls.

Also, we really appreciate how she redefined the role of female representation in rock music. Indeed, her androgynous outfits are a big inspiration in fashion. Mannish white shirt and blazer, loose necktie, never pretty but pure coolness. Her style is so iconic that she has created a unique aesthetic. 

By the way, as a homage to Italy in Pompei, Rome and Milan, Patti Smith recited the poem: “The infinite” – by Giacomo Leopardi.

Patti Smith reading Giacomo Leopardi

This is the poem in Italian, but you can listen to the English version directly from Patti Smith’s voice – here

L’infinito

«Sempre caro mi fu quest’ermo colle,
e questa siepe, che da tanta parte
dell’ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude.
Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati
spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani
silenzi, e profondissima quiete
io nel pensier mi fingo, ove per poco
il cor non si spaura. E come il vento
odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello
infinito silenzio a questa voce
vo comparando: e mi sovvien l’eterno,
e le morte stagioni, e la presente
e viva, e il suon di lei. Così tra questa
immensità s’annega il pensier mio:
e il naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare.»

Art, music, and poetry reflect a certain mindset and a specific style. Most importantly, they bring in the beauty we need to make sense of our world. And the peace of mind to get by with life.

In the end, art, music, and poetry are beauty. 
Beauty that heals our souls. 

Hope “L’infinito” will recharge your spirit!

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Style and fashion

The question is: do they overlap?

Style and fashion are not equivalent concepts, they do not perfectly overlap, yet they may intersect sometimes. Fashion is about trends, so it changes frequently and involves your wallet. In contrast, style is timeless and goes deeper than money.

We happen to hear people say: “I’m not interested in fashion.” And the funny thing is that they say it with a deprecatory tone of voice, perhaps willing to show a kind of superiority.

Maybe those people ignore that everything that surrounds them relates to fashion. And not only clothing or shoes. But also furniture, food, music, technology and so on. Fashion is everywhere.

On the one hand, considering how the fashion industry presents itself these days, that disgusted reaction can be understandable. Yes, they aren’t entirely wrong. But, on the other hand, if we dig deeper and see how they present themselves in detail, in most cases, that attitude just reveals a total lack of style.

You don’t need to follow fashion, but style is another thing.

Style, not fashion

And so, style is the concept to explore, to value more.
Style may have something to do with fashion, but you cannot identify it with fashion. Both are not equivalent concepts, yet they may intersect. Where fashion flaunts, style whispers. By the way, they cross each other less and less frequently.

Style is about gestures and manners. How you speak, how you live and what you wear. It’s about taste, dignity, and choices made with an effortless posture. It’s an elegance of thought reflected outside. In the end, style is about who you are.

Cool style is doing things when other people don’t. Those unconventional choices that your attitude puts into place with ease.

Most importantly, you can buy fashion, but you cannot buy style.

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Bukowski: when words are powerful

Capturing the essence of style

The essence of style is not easy to describe and to capture in sentences. But there is someone who brilliantly found the perfect words to frame it.

Thanks to Mary Portas, we have discovered the following piece by Charles Bukowski, which, she says, sums up her feelings on Style.
We found it fantastic! And so, we decided to share it here because Bukowski’s sharp words are really perfect.

“Style is the answer to everything,
A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous day,
To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without it.
To do a dangerous thing with style, is what I call art.

Bullfighting can be an art.
Boxing can be an art.
Loving can be an art.
Opening a can of sardines can be an art.

Not many have style
Not many can keep style
I have seen dogs with more style than men,
Although not many dogs have style.
Cats have it with abundance.

When Hemingway put his brains to the wall with a shotgun, that was style.
For sometimes people give you style.
Joan of Arc had style.
John the Baptist,
Jesus,
Socrates,
Caesar,
García Lorca.

I have met men in jail with style.
I have met more men in jail with style than men out of jail.
Style is a difference, a way of doing, a way of being done.
Six herons standing quietly in a pool of water, or you, walking
out of the bathroom without seeing me.”

Yes, Bukowski definitely captured the essence of style in such a brilliant way.
And we really adore this piece!

Not only has he left us a great word of art, but this also reminds us of the importance of words in a world full of fake images.

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Why Japanese Fashion

The Point on Style & Japanese aesthetic

Making the point on style, examining the international fashion panorama, helps answer the recurring question we hear: why Japanese fashion?

Why is Japanese fashion design relevant?

What is our prerequisite

On an international basis, we look for brands who have something to say, present good design and a consistent expression of their vision. Also, we keep in mind the shift brought in by the pandemic: going to the essence. So we put together a capsule selection of meaningful pieces.
“Less but better” means that there’s a reason for every garment we choose.

A glimpse on international fashion panorama

We are quite perplexed about the designers’ proposals we have seen lately. We noticed that many brands have lowered the bar offering poor quality and meaningless design, also labelled “sustainable,” which makes us laugh. Although some brands show beautiful dreamy lines, these have no context in our lifestyle, at least for now. So, we’ll keep an eye on them for the future.

The Italian situation, specifically, requires a deep analysis.
In short, after the demolition of Italian craftsmanship and after production was dislocated to other countries, Italian fashion is not at its best. Many brands have no soul or remain stagnant, offering no evolution. Those who thrive mainly sell the vision of a sexy woman that sounds so status quo. We would like to see something more than the sexy doll.

Why Japanese Fashion - an image of Japanese style by Plantation1982
Plantation1982

What leaves us perplexed is the direction that many international brands, considered the cool ones, are pursuing. If they aim to design a modern style, they repurpose a Japanese aesthetic. And so, the Instagram images are beautiful, but when you analyze the clothing design, the patterns, you can see where the idea comes from. In the end, there’s a common thread connecting brands from Italy, the U.K., North Europe or US. Despite their significant followings, they all reveal the same specific characteristics that strongly resonate with Japanese fashion design.

By the way, what we find somehow interesting is that those brands sell even to Japanese stores. The Japanese buy their own aesthetic made by someone else. If a Japanese buyer would illuminate us on this, we would be grateful.

In conclusion: Why Japanese Fashion?

Nippon offered a wealth of unconventional and advanced fashion design. What we notice as a commonality between Italian and Japanese cultures is the obsessive attention to detail and style. While drawing inspiration from Italian, European or international brands in general is acceptable, we do not expect exactly the same Japanese designs.

So, why Japanese fashion? Rather than choosing International brands featuring a Japanese aesthetic, we take the original ones!

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