“I feel like I’ve been auditioning my whole career for this,” says Michael Bastian of his new job as creative director for Brooks Brothers, the 203-year-old stalwart of American preppy style. Indeed, with his eponymous label, launched in 2006, Bastian often seemed to be riffing on a sleeker, sexier, more adventurous version of the Brooks Brothers world. No surprise, then, that his first order of business was to rework the mothership’s most iconic and beloved piece, the oxford-cloth button-down shirt.
With its just-under $90 price tag, you can spend more on socks from some labels, but the appeal of the brand’s OCBD, as the style is known in menswear circles, is authenticity, since Brooks Brothers invented the category.
That’s a lot of history to draw from, but Bastian’s version is…
