The white T-shirt that's so perfect our fashion editor bought five
The first time I tried Cos’s clean cut regular T-shirt, I ordered it in white. It fit so well, I immediately bought another in a gentle shade of cream that the brand calls “light beige.” A month or so later, I realised that both tees always seemed to be in the wash, so I ordered two more. Then it got cold, and one day it hit me—I absolutely needed the shirt in the long-sleeved version, too. I now own five iterations of this white t-shirt, and if I lost one, I would be bereft.
The magic of the clean cut regular T-shirt is that the fabric is exactly the right weight. It’s thick enough to hold its shape, but not too thick to move when your body moves. It tucks nicely under a jumper, but if you had to remove that jumper because you were, say, at parents’ day in your child’s overheated classroom, you wouldn’t feel like you were suddenly appearing in public in your pyjamas.
Cos clean cut regular T-shirt
The proportions are ideal. The tee is slightly cropped, with sleeves that are wide and long enough to feel cool without being at all exaggerated. It’s boxy through the body, but not so boxy that it makes you into a square. I find that it’s the perfect length to wear with slouchy work trousers because it hits right at the top—just high enough to show off the tailoring but not so high that you’re bringing your midriff to the office.
Also, the crew neck is somehow precisely engineered to sit a centimetre above your knitwear. You know when you see a girl wearing a dark jumper and she has the perfect sliver of white t-shirt peeking out at the neck, which somehow makes her outfit look 30% cooler? This shirt is the shortcut to that look.
Then again, I’m five feet tall. Wondering if perhaps this was just a short-girl top, I asked my colleague Jaclyn Alexandra Cohen, who is 5’10” and a Cos aficionado, if she’d ever tried it. “I have this tee and I love it!” she told me. “It tucks the perfect amount into my more fitted jeans, because it’s not too long, so it looks sleek. It also sits right at the waist when I wear my vintage Levi's, and it makes them feel coolest because it looks more relaxed that way.”
So there you have it: Somehow, Cos has created a t-shirt that’s the right length whether you’re the same height as Sabrina Carpenter or Taylor Swift. “I love that it fits both of us,” says Cohen in conclusion. “Sisterhood of the traveling t-shirt!”
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