Retro Casual Colorful Plaid Long-sleeved Shirt

Fabric: Cotton

Description

Plaid as we know it, emerged in Scotland in the 1700s. Geographically separated weavers produced different patterns based on which dyes and materials were available. The specific associations with families and clans came much later—and after that they grew to have political significance, too.

1850: Pennsylvania-based Woolrich Woolen Mills creates the first buffalo plaid flannel shirt. Workers instantly love the warm, practical button-up and its red-and-black checked pattern.

Plaid is a staple of any anti-establishment wardrobe. Judd Nelson’s character wore a plaid shirt in The Breakfast Club, and as the grunge scene started to grow in places like Seattle, loose-fitting plaid flannel shirts became the designated garb of the “slacker” generation. In a way, plaid was the perfect antidote to the excess of the 1980s. It’s ubiquity and history have made it a classic.

It’s remarkable for anything in fashion to have longevity, but plaid is a special kind of enigma. It’s a pattern that can be simultaneously subversive and mainstream—working both for Johnny Rotten and the Queen of England. It’s somehow loud and garish, yet sophisticated and understated.