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Marrakech, Morocco –– Our silk camp shirt is repurposed from hand-selected, deadstock silk fabrics and sewn by hand at our Marrakech atelier. Our one-of-a-kind collection is now available online and at our stores in Aspen, Vail, Nantucket, and Los Angeles at Platform (Culver City), Larchmont Village, and Malibu Village.
Featuring a boxy fit, straight hem, and short sleeves, our silk camp shirt is comfortable and breezy. Shop our silk camp shirt collection below and read on for a brief history of the camp shirt style.
The camp shirt styles dates back to the 19th century in Cuba, the Philippines, and Mexico. In Cuba, the camp shirt style was related closely to the the ‘Guayabera’, a relaxed work shirt with a loose fitting collar. The lightweight work shirts were worn by farmers to keep cool outdoors and through warmer conditions.
In the 1950's and 60's, Cuban immigrants arriving in New York and Miami introduced the style to North America. At the time of its introduction, the camp collar shirt was so unlike other dress shirts worn by Americans.
The key components of a camp shirt are what differentiate it from other shirt styles. The camp shirt features:
- an unstructured, two tiered, lay-flat collar as a opposed to a stand-up collar
- a lower top button and lower cut v-neck shape as opposed to a top button
- a boxy, loose-fitting silhouette
- a straight bottom hem, worn untucked
From bowling teams to World War II vets to pop-culture legends, the camp shirt cut across social class lines in mid-century America. The style led men to dress more dress casual than ever before in American history and truly embrace the spirit of travel & leisure previously withheld only for the most privileged in society. The style fit perfectly into warmer weather conditions for vacationers on Cape Cod to the California coast. The style became the go-to vacation shirt.
Not quite as formal as a button-up shirt nor as casual as a T-shirt, the camp shirt was a perfectly elevated leisurewear look. At the time in pop-culture, the camp shirt was worn most famously and idealized as a comfortable, laidback look by the likes of Elvis, Martin Luther King Jr., and of course, Sean Connery.
As decades passed on, the camp shirt was widely adopted across genders and offered by prominent fashion brands in many new styles. The shirt evolved with bold patterns (think solids, stripes, florals, tie-dyes) and fabrics (think silks, cottons, linens) as well as different cuts (short-sleeves and long-sleeves), all while keeping its wearers comfortable and cool. In modern times, the shirt can often be worn dressed up with a suit as well as worn casually with shorts, jeans, chinos and linen, and all well beyond just the peak summer months – throughout spring, summer and fall. The camp shirt style transcended the niche, travel-inspired American mid-century menswear vacation attire into a globally adopted, modern luxury leisurewear that is unisex, versatile, iconic, and effortlessly cool.
Res Ipsa Silk Camp Shirts
More than half a century later, our silk camp shirts add a sustainable, international flair to this classic style. Each shirt is one-of-a-kind and designed by hand in Morocco. Our silk camp shirt is retro style reimagined and repurposed – each shirt is sewn together from deadstock silk fabrics at our atelier in Marrakech. Shop the collection online.
Travel in style and travel with us.
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