I have an ice breaker for your next social gathering, thanks to a meeting I was in last week in Chicago.
“What’s your all-time favourite shirt?”
Good one, isn’t it? I’ll go first. Then your turn.
My response was this one.
Bought in a market in the Andes in 1992, it is still in (limited) rotation. Rolled up, it served as a pillow over two days on the Inca Trail after we left our tent and sleeping bags on the train. In 26 years, it was only briefly out of action when 30-40 washes were required to remove the toxins from a mild chemical weapon attack.
But then I got home and saw this photo on our mantelpiece. I specifically asked for this pink shirt (and tie) for my 5th or 6th birthday. And I wasn’t disappointed. As you can see. (Red corduroy trousers, model’s own).
Mary Chapin Carpenter wins the prize for best song about a favourite shirt.
Chapin Carpenter (perhaps just Carpenter, I’m not sure) awarded extra credit for the level of detail on the history of her shirt. Haircut 100 docked points for Favourite Shirts being woefully short of actual shirt references, until the very end and a half-hearted: “Your favorite shirt is on the bed, do a somersault on your head”.