Try a Shirt-Jac, Jack! : They’re Cool Once Again--but Only on the Right Guy

It takes a man of style to wear a shirt-jacket. It’s a utilitarian garment, a hybrid of shirt and jacket, but it is not for the average Joe. It takes the right pants, stance and attitude to look icy cool. Without them, you look like a dweeb dressed for washing the car. Tall, eccentric sidekick Kramer on the NBC comedy “Seinfeld” wears shirt-jacs, and pudgy, whiny sidekick George does not. John Stamos on “Full House” wears ‘em; the twin tots don’t.

Shirt-jacs resurface every decade or so. They were first spotted in American menswear in 1938 and have since been modified and customized into a thousand different styles, but they’re always worn untucked. A largish collar, zipper front and contrasting stitching or fabric are the tip-offs.

Designers use shirt-jacs in spring and summer collections because their light weight makes them a feasible top layer. And when winter styles take a turn for multiple layers, shirt-jacs prevent thermal meltdown while looking cool.

Vintage shirt-jacs are considered quite a prize. They often sell for as much as the new ones, even more. A ‘40s gabardine zip-front shirt-jacket goes for more than $100. A two-tone version costs even more. And two-tone, reversible, gabardine from the ‘40s or ‘50s--well, take out a third mortgage.

“Shirt-jackets always sell. They are probably our best commodity,” says resale-shop owner Pamela Holdrige. In her Sherman Oaks store, ReRuns, the most popular version is “the two-tone with a stripe down the front. It’s the ‘La Bamba’ look.”

Designers Wallace Muroya, Ermenegildo Zegna, Nino Cerruti and Dolce & Gabbana have shirt-jackets in the stores now. John Richmond did a take on the old two-tone versions and paired a butter-colored vinyl body with black crocheted sleeves on his newest one.