The Short Sleeved Dress Shirt

I've never been a fan of the short sleeved dress shirt. Without a tie, they look okay, but okay is not the same as good. With a tie, they put the wearer one pocket protector short of being a 1963 NASA employee. Regardless, I've always stayed away from the short sleeved dress shirt, because I just don't think it's ever a good look on anyone. Instead, I wear long sleeved dress shirts and roll up the sleeves if it's summer time and it's hot.

Well, our church is not air conditioned, and the sanctuary is on the second floor. Needless to say, summers are very hot in our sanctuary, and I've been sweating buckets nearly every Sunday so far. Many people have made comments that I need to get myself some short sleeved dress shirts, and I laugh with them and make some joke about them trying to sweat me out of their church, and then ignore their kind (but fashion-impaired) suggestions. Well, last week, one of our older congregants thought she'd be nice and buy me a short sleeved white dress shirt. Rather than exchange it for a shirt that might actually look good (as I wanted to do), I decided to keep it and wear it from time to time. After all, it was a thoughtful gift.

This morning, I bit the bullet and wore it...sort of. I wore it with my suit jacket all morning, then changed into my robe for the service. It definitely kept me a little bit cooler, but I still felt like someone took scissors to an otherwise nice shirt. I'm still not a fan, and I doubt I ever will be, but I guess it does help when I'm wearing my robe for summer communion services. My hope is that someday, no one will wear these atrocities, and Nike will have developed some sort of "cool-flow" dress shirt that wicks away moisture and breathes better than your standard dress shirt. Until then, I'll wear this one -- but only under my robe or under a coat.