13 of the best Hawaiian shirts for effortless eccentricity (2024)

No item of clothing says “out of office” like a Hawaiian shirt. Despite a brief period in the noughties, where they were more commonly associated with flip flop-and-jeans-wearing uncles at barbecues, designs of recent seasons have catapulted the Hawaiian shirt back to the top of our holiday wardrobe wishlist, elevated by everyone from Paul Smith and JW Anderson to Jacquemus and Gucci.

How to distinguish a Hawaiian shirt? Broadly speaking, you’ll know one when you see one. At a top line, the mix of a louche, camp collar (sometimes referred to as a Cuban collar) combined with a pattern or print inspired by the shirt’s native landscape or culture will do it. Cast that net a little wider and, while this statement wardrobe piece's sometimes checkered history is shrouded in long, artistic traditions, contemporary takes on the Hawaiian shirt tend to be defined by all kinds of gaudy designs, from cartoonish florals to abstract art prints.

With a summer of undisrupted travel on the cards, the appeal of these more garish shirt designs is stronger than ever. Whether buttoned up with shades and gold jewellery or left to hang open with a plain white T-shirt underneath a la off-duty David Beckham, today’s Hawaiian shirts transcend aesthetics, appealing to hypebeasts and menswear’s most discerning gents alike. So, to get you set for the warm weather on its way, here we bring you GQ’s pick of the 13 big mood button-ups to steal the show in this season.

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