Today, we’re going to talk about how a tall guy can take a plain and unremarkable article of clothing, like a T-shirt, and replace it with a stylish and classic alternative that is simple, inexpensive, and flattering for the tall body. This alternative is the Henley shirt, a simple banded, collarless pullover shirt with a placket and a few buttons, that can be either short or long sleeved.
History
A nice article about the Henley at Racked sums up its history perfectly:
“The Henley was what the poor wore for work and the rich wore for play”.
The Henley started out as an English 19th century men’s undergarment, made quickly and cheaply due to advances in Industrial Revolution cotton manufacturing. Hard working manual laborers liked the ability to open up the collar for ventilation, which is the same reason that the leisure class adopted it for wear while engaged in sport. In fact, the Henley shirt received it’s name from being associated with rowers in the Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames, an event that started in 1839 and continues today.
Henley manlieness
GQ gushes about this simple shirt in multiple posts:
“The staple shirt women love the most”,
“Henleys: The shirt that gives you sex appeal in three seconds flat”,
“A Henley will make women rip all of their clothes off and jump on you” (I made that one up)
“The spring shirt that’ll make you look swole” (I did not make that one up).
Praise for the Henley is well deserved. This is a piece that has real heritage masculinity built into it. To the observer, the wearer is going to look like a rugged working man, a gentrified man of sport, or something in between. More interesting than a T-shirt, it is simple in construction and details. At the same time, it is sophisticated, but flies under the level of a trying-too-hard preppy polo shirt. (No offense to the polo shirt, which can be a great look for tall guys that we’ll be exploring in the future.) A well fitting Henley shirt shows off a man’s anatomy. In particular, it displays bare arms and allows glimpses of bare neck and chest.
Tall friendly features
Many great style choices for the tall man are going to involve features that break up long vertical lines or interrupt large expanses of monochromatic color. For the tall guy, the features of the Henley that do the trick are a couple of buttons under the chin and the “V” that extends down the chest.
As an example of this effect, let’s take a look at 6′ 5″ American actor Joe Manganiello wearing a simple crew neck T-shirt, a V-cut T-shirt, and then the Henley.
Joe’s a good looking guy and he’s in good shape. His T-shirt fits him well in the shoulders and across the chest, but his shirt isn’t doing anything for his tall, powerful proportions, is it? All I can see is the big, uninterrupted white movie screen underneath his chin. I don’t see any of his chest and his shirt isn’t flattering to his upper body musculature.
Maybe all Joe needs is a V-neck shirt?
OK, that’s better. My eyes are drawn to the chest opening, and the fabric on the chest is broken up a little by the V-neck. Now let’s see what a Henley can do.
Now there’s a perceptible interruption to the structure in the chest area. His upper chest is split in two by the shirt, and to add to the appeal, the loose collar opening around his entire neck has exposed more of his shoulders, trapezius muscles (aka “traps”), and clavicle bones. These are all manly features that a guy like Joe wants to show the world.
Big, tall Joe has learned that the Henley is a good look for him (or more likely, his high priced stylist has made him aware of this), and there are lots of examples of him wearing both short sleeve and long sleeve Henleys in the streets and on the screen.
More tall Henleys in the wild
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Joe Manganiello isn’t the only tall guy to learn that the Henley works for the long body. As will be the case often in this blog, we turn to professional athletes, and in particular NBA basketball players, for observations and inspiration.
A look at some NBA Henleys.
Your Henley
If you’re tall, try a Henley. If you’re going to buy or wear a short sleeve T-shirt, a long sleeve T-shirt, or sweatshirt, it won’t be much of a financial stretch to upgrade to a short sleeve or long sleeve Henley, and it shouldn’t be much of a style risk either. You really can’t lose here.
Tall sizes of Henley shirts are available from Eddie Bauer, Land’s End, Westport, DXL, LL Bean, and others.