Ask us for one shirt to build a wardrobe around and this is the answer more often than not. A pale blue oxford button-down does the same job under a navy blazer on Monday that it does open over a tee on Saturday, and it only gets better looking as the cloth softens. What separates this one from the button-downs you have owned before is the collar. It is cut long, with a soft brushed interlining that floats inside the collar instead of being glued to it, so it rolls into a proper curve under a jacket rather than lying flat and stiff.
Drake's started in London in 1977 making scarves and ties, and when the house finally moved into shirts the button-down was the first thing it made. Sensible, since what good is a tie without one. This version is sewn in Italy on the European collar block: single-needle seams throughout, a box pleat at the back, one chest pocket, and whipped mother-of-pearl buttons that will outlast the cloth. Ice blue sits a shade paler than the standard blue oxford, the colour that reads almost white across a room and blue up close.
The fit is the regular silhouette: room through the chest and body without going boxy, a full sleeve, true to size. Order your usual collar. Sizes here run in North American neck inches; the label inside the shirt carries the European collar number (37 to 45), and the chart below lines the two up.
If you already own one blue oxford, this is the second one. If you own none, start here.