Ask the Strategist: Where Can I Get Geena Davis’s V-neck T-Shirt in The Boroughs?
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The black-tee search reminded me of a V-neck I recently saw on Geena Davis in The Boroughs. It also has the pleasantly rounded, higher V (and it’s wide) and something I love in a tee — more fitted sleeves. I put the image through every search I could imagine and couldn’t find a match. This is my dream tee, and I would want it in multiple colors if I could find it. Can you help?
No wonder you couldn’t find it: It’s a men’s V-neck T-shirt purchased at Santa Fe Vintage, according to the show’s costume designer Cristina Spiridakis (who also worked on the pilot episode of The Bear). Unfortunately, “it was so old and worn out that the tag was washed out,” Spiridakis told me. I know it’s bad news as you wanted an exact match. Spiridakis suggested looking for “tissue-thin, patina’d white tees” at vintage stores like Rugged Road, Quality Mending, and Stock Vintage, if you’re a New Yorker, or Chicago’s Knee Deep Vintage, Atlanta’s Clothing Warehouse, and New Orleans’s Vice and Graft (all locations where she’s done shopping while on jobs). I don’t want you going through bargain bins in vain, though. To help, I did some searching online for you. I believe the T-shirts below are the next-best things to Renee–Geena Davis’s T-shirt. And nearly everything here can be purchased in multiple colors.
The closest T-shirts I could find …
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Reading between the lines of your message, I think the size of the high V-neck (plus the cut of the sleeves) is more what you’re after, less so the texture. Here, you’re getting Kowtow’s 100 percent ribbed cotton instead of the slub-jersey I suspect is in The Boroughs. It’s also half-off on Kowtow’s website (down to $34 from $69).
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Could it be that the most comparable one was under our noses all along? You mentioned our contributor’s MacKinley Jade Lutes-Adlhoch’s perfect black V-neck T-shirt hunt, and this was in the winner’s circle for its V that’s “high, slightly rounded, and not too in-your-face — an approachable starter V for those who remain only V-curious.” It reads totally differently in white than black. I sent it to our writer Erin Schwartz for a second opinion — they’re my soundboard on any fabric matters for their technical knowledge befitting an FIT professor. Schwartz had mistaken it for Davis’s initially, finally agreeing that it’s “very, very close.”
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Uniqlo’s T-shirts are cheap, yet not cheapo. No one would know this is Uniqlo. A bit of a wild card, it’s technically unisex, in Uniqlo’s U line by co-artistic directors Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran. I know the sleeves are longer and fuller, but not by too much.
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I couldn’t help including it here because of the thickness of the collar. It’s good, no?
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Not bad at all, either. Especially as it’s frequently on sale ($16.99 full-price).
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I guessed James Perse might fit our brief. Our former style columnist Chris Black once said something about James Perse and “looking like an aging movie producer going to dinner at Craig’s.” Geena Davis’s Renee was a music manager before coming to the senior community in The Boroughs. Have a casual air about you in this rumpled slub.
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Athleta Breezy Scoop V-Neck Tee
It’s not V-neck; it’s not a scoop-neck; it’s a scoop-V-neck. If only the neckline were a little higher … Consider sizing down to get the right fit.
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Each approximates the insouciance we’re looking for. The Easy V-neck Tee is (affectionately) zhlubby. The Relaxed V-neck Tee is made with a vintage-inspired jersey. They will remind you of a radio-station T-shirt stolen from an ex-boyfriend.
More of our favorite T-shirts …
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Our longtime Best in Class white (and black) T-shirt.
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The wider V “ends in that not-too-deep, not-too-high sweet spot,” says our writer Brenley Goertzen.
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The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
