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Where have all the coloured show shirts gone

This weekend I saw a relic of a show jacket… a beautiful grey coat with windowpane detail and light pink lining… it had me reminiscing on when we would wear a soft pink shirt and our dark khaki tailoreds to complete the look… or the soft blue shirt/dark blue coat… While I love the look of the white show shirts, and even those with the black body and white collar, it had me thinking, why haven’t colours resurfaced yet?! Don’t trends cycle in and out? Do I need to just give up hope that it will ever be trendy to have a softly coloured show shirt? I can’t possibly be the only person missing some old trends? What were your favourites, and do you think those coloured shirts will ever come back?

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I actually saw an RJ classics washable GREY PLAID hunt coat the other weekend. I love the fun plaid coats from 20+ years ago and would love to see some flair come back in the hunters.

https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/rj-classics-monterey-orange-label-show-coat-11120

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Oooohhhhh yes!! I love this! This reminds me of my days in rust breeches, light pink shirts with a gray monogram on the collar and a gray coat just like this.

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That gray coat is amazing, and those Monterey styles by RJ are really comfy and lightweight. Really nice mix of classic and modern, and it would look great with this light blue shirt… https://rjclassics.com/product/aerial-ladies-short-sleeve-show-shirt/?attribute_pa_color=blue-oxford

I think they’ll come back eventually. If the right brand did a limited collection of long sleeved colored show shirts in tech fabrics to test the market they’d sell like gangbusters.

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I just wear them still, lol. There are some tech fabric show shirts from the early days that are a good mix of old school/new school. I also wear the old school jackets, found two gorgeous NOS ones at my local used tack store and I pair them up with a blue and a pink shirt. :slight_smile: Just do you!

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Me, too! I have bought so many older (ya know, with a CHOKER) shirts used since the new ones started coming out that I have a collection way bigger than I will ever need. At $10 apiece bc no one else wants them and I like them, I can’t ever pass them up!

I, too, love that gray plaid coat. Maybe :crossed_fingers: that will be the start for more!

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Where have you been finding them? My local tack shops don’t seem to be carrying those older styles anymore - it’s all white shirts!

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Tack exchanges, second hand tack stores. I don’t know that I own a shirt with my own monogram on it

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I like white show shirts because bleach

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I love this thread. I was going to start one on this same topic!

While I appreciate the tech fabrics, especially in show shirts, why not offer at least a few options in subdued colors or (gasp!) tone-on-tone prints? The tech fabrics are available in various colors. Are the manufacturers so afraid of rejection that they’ve simply gone all-in on white? Is the mindset less inventory = less risk? :thinking:

I will say that on the AQHA and Paint circuits, colored and discreetly printed show shirts are still popular. Unfortunately they’re made from old style fabrics, insufferably hot, and the price from vendors is about $150. Of course, for less than half that you can buy a dickie (like a bib) to wear under your show jacket. But I’ll shoot myself before doing that. :face_vomiting:

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Now THAT is old school! :rofl: But yeah, you’d have to glue one to me, too.

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I have a light blue shirt that is one of the FITS shirts with the crinkly fabric that I still wear. It’s probably 10 years old, but there have been some gaps in my showing.

I saw a few people in hunters last week at Temecula that were wearing shirts with visible non-white parts, but non-white was black or maybe very dark navy.

It’s not uncommon to see people in the jumpers wearing various colors of regular sunshirts with a coat, safety vest, or both. So that’s one route a hunter rider desperate for a bit of color (and no heatstroke) could take. I don’t know that anyone would notice that the zipper goes all the way up, but I realize that some people won’t go there.

Photo of aforementioned blue shirt paired with a vest. And one with one of the shirts with colored parts, but only white that sticks out of a jacket.

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Poshmark and ebay, my friend.
I’m finally going to start showing again after a long, long break and am making up for lost time, hoard-buying up shirts and jackets in colors that I’m pretty sure are out of fashion now. Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care. And now that everyone’s getting washable and mesh jackets (modern miracles, I do agree), you can build a fat, dream wardrobe super cheap. I will also be busting out some greenish TS, too. I’m in the hinterlands so not too worried about about looking a decade or three behind.

And if I see some old-school shirts in checks, ginghams, and stripes (remember those?!), I will fight y’all for them.

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Go on with yo’self, @HipNo34!! And it’s not “behind,” it is CLASSIC! While I love my new washable coat, I, too, love my old shirts and impossible-to-kill TSs. If you need any, PM me bc I have a lot of sizes I will prob never wear again.

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Oh my god, if my mother had any idea of how hard-wearing TS are, she would’ve been an easier sell when I was a kid. I’ve loaded up on vintage ones, and granted, I’m not running amok all day every day like I was then but, they seem to pretty well repel dirt and hold up like nobody’s business.

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My very favorite. Rust breeches, gray windowpane coat, pale yellow shirt. On a yummy bay horse. I’m happy to lead the charge in bringing this back.

image

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Ha! Just said this to one of my barn buddies today. My next show (Paints) isn’t until August. Peak humidity and monsoon season. I’m a sunshirt hoarder. How will the judges know I’m wearing a solid color, zip-up sunshirt? Of course, my hunter under saddle canter is slow enough for them to notice, but that’s another thread topic… :laughing:

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I hate the monotone look but I do like the technical fabrics. I wish color and pattern would come back IN the technical fabrics.

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I love that outfit! Very nice picture :heart_eyes:

Coincidentally, I was at a show last week that was unbelievably hot, and I was amazed at the fact that only a few people ditched their jackets once they were waived due to the temperature.

It did occur to me that maybe some of the people were wearing the mesh jackets. But still.