Hello, this is Mr. Linen.
The iconic Basque shirt from Saint James — the OUESSANT.
I’m sure many of you are fans as well.
They also make solid-color versions, but especially the classic striped models — if you’re into clothing even a little, you probably own at least one.
Heavyweight and durable, they never seem to lose their shape no matter how many times you wash them. They also resist wrinkles well, so ironing is practically unnecessary.
Timeless, versatile, and easy to pair with almost anything.
The only unfortunate thing is the price, which has climbed to around ¥15,000 including tax (approximately $100 USD), but aside from that, it’s difficult to find any flaws. It’s close to a perfect product.
The strengths of Saint James are already well known, so this time, I’d like to intentionally focus on the negatives instead.
(To be clear, I’m a genuine Saint James fan, and if anyone is unsure whether to buy one, I would absolutely recommend it.)
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The Neck Opening Is Quite Wide
The classic Saint James OUESSANT model is what’s known as a Basque shirt.
Traditionally, Basque shirts were worn by sailors in the Basque region between France and Spain.
The defining features are: striped patterns (to improve visibility at sea), slightly shorter sleeves (so they wouldn’t get in the way during manual work), and a boat neck (a wide neckline designed so the shirt could be removed quickly if someone fell overboard).
First, I’d like to focus on the boat neck — specifically, how wide the neckline is.
A wider neckline naturally exposes more of the neck and collarbone area.
If you wear the Basque shirt on bare skin with nothing underneath, it can end up looking unintentionally “sexy” in a bad way, so wearing an undershirt becomes almost essential.
The difficult part is choosing the right undershirt. If you wear a regular crew-neck T-shirt underneath, too much of it sticks out. Ideally, you need a shirt with a slightly wider neckline — not as wide as Saint James itself, but close.
I personally think a tank top works best. As long as the shoulder straps aren’t too thin, the amount of visible undershirt looks just right. If the straps are too narrow, too much bare skin shows through, and especially for men, it starts looking unintentionally sexy again.
Another option is wearing a polo shirt or button-down shirt underneath. It can look great on the right person, but for some reason it never feels quite right on me, so I’ve never worn collared layers under my Saint James shirts.
People With Broad or Sloped “Military” Shoulders May Get Extra Wrinkles
The next drawback only applies to people with pronounced sloping or broad shoulders.
Please take a look at these photos.
You can see horizontal wrinkles forming around the base of the neck.
This is a photo of the back of a tailored jacket, but you can see similar wrinkles forming below the collar.
In tailoring, these are sometimes referred to as “collar drag” wrinkles.
The horizontal wrinkles on the Saint James shirt are created through a very similar mechanism.
If you lay a shirt flat on the ground, hold the neckline in place, and pull both shoulders upward, you’ll create the same kind of wrinkles.
When someone with strong, sloping shoulders wears a top, the shoulders pull the garment upward. But because the neckline stays fixed around the neck, excess fabric gathers and creates wrinkles in the same way.
Normally, a few wrinkles wouldn’t bother most people. But for someone overly detail-oriented like me, it’s hard not to notice them.
The Sleeves Are Short
Next, let’s talk about sleeve length.
The sleeves are slightly cropped — roughly around 7/8 or 9/10 length.
Short sleeves create a few inconveniences. When putting on a jacket, it’s harder to grab the cuffs of the undershirt. Also, because the sleeves don’t fully reach the ends of the jacket sleeves, the inside of the jacket cuffs may come into direct contact with your skin and get dirty over time.
Those are the downsides.
That said, when wearing the Basque shirt on its own, the shorter sleeves create a lighter, more relaxed look. You also don’t need to roll the sleeves up, so in some ways it’s actually an advantage.
Possible Solutions to These Drawbacks
So far, I’ve talked about the wide neckline, the incompatibility with certain shoulder shapes, and the short sleeves.
Now let’s think about possible solutions.
As for the wide neckline, aside from carefully choosing the right undershirt (specifically, a tank top), there isn’t really much you can do.
More importantly, that wide neckline is exactly what makes Saint James feel like Saint James. There are other Basque shirts on the market with narrower neck openings, but to me, that misses the point entirely.
The same goes for the shorter sleeves. There’s not really a “solution,” because that detail is part of the identity of the shirt.
As for the issue with broad or sloping shoulders, the only real solution is… not to worry about it too much.
Sorry — it turns out I didn’t come up with any genuinely effective fixes at all.
But perhaps that simply proves how wonderful Saint James really is. Even after recognizing all of these flaws, I still keep buying them.
That’s all for today. Thank you very much for reading.
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