When it comes to wardrobe staples, the perfect white tee will always reign supreme. Simple, versatile and synonymous with menswear hall of famers like James Dean, Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando, it's a passionate and often divisive subject within style circles. So it's no wonder that The Bear has caused such a stir.
Out now on Disney+, the show follows a talented, wild-haired chef – Carmy, played by Shameless's Jeremy Allen White – who quits his job in a fine-dining restaurant to help change the fortunes of his family's struggling sandwich shop in Chicago. It's a story about struggle; about masculinity in crisis and kinship. It's also a story about a really, really nice white t-shirt, or at least that's what you'd think from all #TheBear tweets and Reddit threads dedicated to it. Upon the show's US release back in June (why the long wait, Disney?) arguments quickly broke out about where Carmy's form-fitting, heavyweight tee was actually from.
Cristina Spiridakis, costume designer for the eight-parter, has since confirmed on several occasions (a moment of silence for her inbox, please) that the t-shirt worth rhapsodising about hails from Merz b. Schwanen – not Velva Sheen, as several industry insiders initially presumed. The stalwart German marque is renowned for employing original loopwheelers – some over a century old – to form garbs with a vintage feel and appearance. This includes the organic cotton top in question: the Classic Fit 215.
Naturally, Spiridakis’ choice of tee was purposive. There are reasons why an American would elect for a €75 blank t-shirt from an understated European label, many of which are revealed throughout the course of the comedy drama. But what’s instantly obvious from the first few moments of the pilot is that Carmy cares about the quality of his wardrobe, exhibited not only by his affinity for timeless attire but also his mastery of vintage denim – Levi's Big E jeans, in particular.
You can watch The Bear on Disney+ now. As for the white tee, it’s available in five sizes over on Merz b. Schwanen's official webstore. Order up!
