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Aggressively Printed Hawaiian Shirts Are the New Caftans

By Rebecca Jennings Jun 21, 2016, 4:16pm EDT

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My new favorite look started the same way all great things do: with Harry Styles. While researching how the best member of One Direction was doing the Gucci look — y’know, grandma’s couch-like suits, floral bowties, and paisley button-downs — before Gucci, I wondered, "Why should only astoundingly handsome boy band members get to wear loud, aggressive prints? I have long greasy hair, too! Why can’t I do it?"

But because I can’t afford his glorious Saint Laurent high-fashion version of the Hawaiian shirt, I found a few cheaper options — all in prints that are just as loud, from a cascade of watermelons to full-blown psychotropical. Thanks to the looser fit of a men's-cut shirt, you can style them in any number of ways: tucked into a skirt, tied up above your jeans, or if you're on a beach or anywhere else where partial nakedness is acceptable, as a complete outfit!

I prefer to think of mine as a slightly more masculine caftan — one that allows for the same amount of hot dog-related stomach expansion, but that also encourages me to steal clothes from my boyfriend. Win-win!