SHIRLEY | Classic houndstooth shirt

I have made enough mistakes with prints that looked modern for about eight months.

The prints that go wrong are never the ugly ones. They are the ones that looked current in the shop, and then eighteen months later the photographs give the year away and you cannot wear it again. You learn to be suspicious, and being suspicious mostly means buying plain, which is safe and also a little dull.

Shirley is houndstooth, which has not needed updating in a century. The scale is the part that matters: kept wearable rather than blown up large, so it stays sharp from across a room and calm when you are sitting next to someone. The shape is boxy through the body with a gently curved hem so the pattern lies flat and unbroken, in a light matte weave, with a point collar and a full button front.

Why women our age keep coming back to it

• A pattern that cannot date. Houndstooth has outlasted every trend that arrived after it, so the photographs from this year will not give it away.
• Scaled to be worn, not displayed. The check is kept small enough to stay calm up close, which is where an oversized houndstooth goes wrong.
• Boxy, so it lies flat. No shaping to bend the pattern out of line across the front, which is what keeps the check reading straight.
• It goes with four things you already own. Black, white, gray and indigo, so nothing has to be bought to make it work.

Buy more, save more

• Buy 2 and save 10 percent
• Buy 3 and save 15 percent
• Buy 4 and save 20 percent

The discount is applied automatically at checkout.

How it fits

Shirley runs on the small side, so size up rather than ordering straight. It comes in 8 through 22, and these are UK sizes, not US ones, so go by the measurements rather than the number you usually buy. The chart gives bust, waist and hips as body measurements in inches, so measure over a light top with the tape level. Between two sizes, take the larger one, because a check shows pulling more plainly than a floral does.

30 days to change your mind

Send it back within 30 days for a full refund. There is no restocking fee and no questions about why.

A few recent reviews

The check is the right size. I have bought houndstooth too large before and looked like a chessboard.
Cordie A., Mesa

Over black with the cuffs rolled, exactly as described. I wear it weekly.
Luella M., 72

It lies flat across the front and does not pull at the buttons. That is rare for me.
Retha W., Tucson