Otavalo Mountain Shirt

Otavalo Mountain Shirt.

What’s so good about this shirt is what it is not.

It’s not this week’s fashion statement.

It’s the real thing: the actual cotton work shirt actually worn by the actual mountain people of Otavalo, Ecuador. For about the past four centuries.

The tiny wrinkles and creases in the fabric guarantee that you will look neither starched nor disheveled. You will look merely at ease.

You will also look just a tiny bit interesting, a little more so for every mile more distant from Otavalo you happen to find yourself.

(A dozen pleats on either side of the four-button front placket, gathers at the back yoke and cuffs. Faintly swashbuckling.)

Men will look broad shouldered, brave and secretly kind. Their female friends will encourage them to go without shaving for a few days.

Women will look narrow waisted, innocent (but with a hint of wildness) when wearing it with trousers. Worn with a soft skirt and a wide belt? That’s another matter entirely. I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Imported.