Normcore: a bland portmanteau that spelt the end of fun in fashion. Turned out, that after years of being a bit mad, menswear of a simpler kind worked too. Because of course it does. Nobody ever denied the staying power of a good white T-shirt, or a classic denim jacket, or even whiter-than-white sneakers. But many believe that such pieces should provide the base, not the sauce, too. We say that a bowl of white rice is not best-topped with salad cream.

You can count Oxford shirts within this mix. Classic, durable and versatile, the good-mannered boy in cotton form can trace its roots to the 19th century, when polo players of the British Raj needed something light but smart for long, blissful afternoons spent exploiting subjugated peoples. Buttons were fastened to hold collars down, and the Oxford shirt's defining characteristic went mainstream, with the piece soon transferring from India – upon its long-delayed independence – to the Ivy League, where bookish boys traipsed Yale and Columbia in their own Oxford shirts, while presumably talking revolution and neo-Malthusian economics.

Very warm men in very early Oxford shirts Outsons

A sensible shirt for serious things, then. But just as you were about to discount the Oxford shirt as another staple byproduct of varsity culture, it seems things are set to be a little different in S/S '20. Fewer structured, sexless 'basics', more big and billowy menswear – the fun kind, before the new yawn of normcore.

Look to the runways, and a reinvention of the Oxford shirt ran the gamut of fashion. On one end, Etro and Sacai punched up the prep with varsity blues and patchworks and a rethinking of the old diktats, as stripes sat atop other stripes above more stripes. The other side saw panelled, oversized length (at Prada) and boxy, double-fronted left-fieldism (at Chalayan) as well as long, lurching sleeves (at Liam Hodges).

Sacai, left, and Prada Getty Images

Even Versace, the baby-oiled lothario of fashion's elite, had deep thoughts on the conservative buttoned-down shirt. Which, rather gloriously, means a military-esque black oversized piece with a smattering of golden Medusa heads. If Donatella had an armoured, round-the-clock queen's guard, they'd probably dress in this. And let's be truthful: it wouldn't be all that surprising if she did.

The addition of ritzy buttons, or, indeed, a few inches to the hem, doesn't subtract from the Oxford shirt's greatest asset: structure. Where all those future academics favoured the Oxford shirt for its polish and prudence, the same qualities are there, in the neat lines of Chalayan's really great origami-type iteration, and in the school dropouts of Liam Hodges. You can, literally, rebuild the Oxford shirt from the ground up and still retain the easy smartness that every wardrobe requires.

Of course, Instagram catnip of the #menswear variety isn't for everyone. That is totally fine, reader! But small changes to the traditional model were available long before the current moment, and will likely continue to thrive. Take Thom Browne. The American designer's almost satirical approach to country club and scholastic fashion has resulted in what may be his signature: an infallible white Oxford shirt, complete with navy-red grosgrain armbands (a uniformly touch that inducts each Browne collection into the madcap graduation class of nineteen-twenty-nuts).

Aimé Leon Dore SHOP Striped Oxford Shirt, £240, mrporter.com Ami SHOP Smiley Company Oxford Shirt, £160, mrporter.com Burberry SHOP White Logo Oxford Shirt, £390, mrporter.com Versace Buttoned Down Shirt, £970,

The variations grow simpler and cooler still. As part of the prep 2.0 wave, New York outfit Aimé Leon Dore amped up the Oxford shirt with stripes in a distinct shade of Saved By The Bell. In Paris, Ami stitched the universal symbol for narcotics (a yellow smiling face, for those on the right side of the law) upon the front of a clean blue Oxford shirt. And Burberry managed the loudest noise with the quietest touch: four black stripes to the front, pocket and sleeves.

Not so dull after all, then. Of course, the Oxford shirt is still very much a staple. It works best in tandem with other staples too. But after a long, dull summer (and spring and autumn and winter) with its normie pals, it seems the the most buttoned-up menswear mainstay is, finally, letting loose.

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