How to properly fold a Bourrienne shirt?

Bourrienne or the art of folding your shirt well

We've all been through this. While we are still asleep, we think about the outfit we are going to wear for the day: “Here, this white Bourrienne shirt will go perfectly with this little chinos”. We wake up satisfied with our choice, ready to crunch the day to the fullest, when suddenly, tragedy strikes. The shirt we had dreamed of looks like nothing, crumpled all over because left in a ball in a corner of our dressing room. No time to iron it completely, we have to choose another top in disaster, which totally ruins our outfit. The day starts badly. If only we had taken the time to properly fold our white shirts…

The stage of folding his white Bourrienne shirt is crucial to keep his impeccable fit and an invaluable time saver when, in the rush of the morning, we choose our outfit to go to work. In the best of all worlds, keeping your shirt hanging on a hanger remains the optimal solution. However, it is sometimes necessary to know how to fold your shirt well for several reasons: to optimize our storage space, to slip it into our suitcase for a business trip, or simply to go on vacation. We have therefore concocted a little folding tutorial for you, enough to become an expert in the field.

Prelude: What to do before folding your shirt

Folding the shirt is the last maintenance step just before storing the shirt. Beforehand, your shirt must be washed and well ironed according to the recommendations that we have already provided (link to the maintenance article).

The art of the Bourrienne style fold: step-by-step shirt folding techniques

You don't have to be an origami pro to know how to properly fold your favorite white shirt. By following these different steps, you will see that it is actually child's play. To do this, you will need a flat and stable surface. If you have a folding board, even better.

1. The first step is to make sure that all the buttons on your shirt are closed along the button throat but also at the cuffs.

2. Once the buttons are closed, the buttonhole as well as the bartacks must face the floor, the back of the shirt in front of you and the sleeves flat, well away from the body of the shirt. Make sure with a wave of your hand that no creases remain.

3. Grab the corner of the left shoulder and the reinforcement swallow on the bottom of your shirt. Gently fold this part towards the center of the back. You can take the middle of the collar as a reference to help you. If your shirt has a plastron, as is the case for the model ROMANCIER used in example, it's even simpler: you just have to fold the shirt until you see the seam delimiting the plastron .

4. Place the left sleeve along this folded side of the shirt, taking care to lay the wrist flat.

5. Repeat these two steps for the right side. You should have the same distance between the middle of the collar and the shoulder crease on both sides.

6. Being careful to grip your wrists, fold the bottom of your shirt over 15 to 20 cm for the first time.

7. Fold over again, this time going all the way to the edge between the back yoke and the collar.

8. To further optimize folding and make storage easier, you can fold your shirt in half.Another fold may be needed when folding a long ruffled shirt

9. Flip it over, and voila, it's folded! Your white shirt is folded to perfection, ready to put away.

Depending on the thickness of the fabric of your shirt, it will be more or less easy to fold. For white linen or velor shirts, step 8 is not necessary. This mainly applies to velvet shirts, such as JOUR, or those cut from thick linen such as the SCULPTOR or WORKSHOP.

Speaking of linen shirts, these are more prone to creases than poplin shirts. It is the slightly raw side that we are looking for when opting for a linen shirt, it is part of its charm. Nevertheless, in order to avoid unsightly and persistent folds, it is better to let them hang on a hanger. But in case you want to take it in your suitcase, you just have to follow our folding method to minimize the creases on your linen shirt.

NB: a quick blow of the iron will be enough to remove the crease marks from your white shirt and it will be much less time-consuming than ironing a completely crumpled shirt, trust us on that !

Now you know all about shirt folding, so no more excuses not to. Give it a try, it's a lot more fun than you might think. On your marks, ready? Fold!