From your first day on a job to your last day on a job, your graduation to your wedding day, a white dress shirt is pretty much the uniform to every conceivable event in the game of life.

Like a well-fitting suit and freshly shined shoes, a good one, two or ten to a man’s wardrobe will separate the red-carpet heroes from the workaday city commuters.

When it comes down to it, there are just a couple of rules by which the perfect white dress shirt needs to abide.

First is the structure: unlike an Oxford shirt, the collar should be stiff and tall to stand out above the lapels of your suit jacket.

Then there’s fit: unlike the summer-friendly trend for billowing, oversized men's shirts, a good white dress shirt should be slim-fitting enough to tuck without ballooning, but not so tight that it’s uncomfortable for nine-to-five wear.

Nail those and the rest is more about personal preference. Bib or no bib? One hundred per cent cotton or something with a little stretch incorporated into the fabric? Thankfully, our selection leaves no white dress shirt unironed. Shop GQ’s pick of the best below…

Eton

When you’re dealing with tradition, formality and discipline, Eton is a useful word to have by association.

Thankfully, Eton, the shirtmaker, though younger than the school, has a good 90-year history of, as they say, being “obsessed with shirts”. We love the unique straight-point collar of this shirt, giving it an unctuous, refined quality.

Reiss

This is a shirt that embraces its history (taking its name from the traditional Marcella bib style – diamond texture) but does that cliché thing of tying it in with modernity.

But, unlike a worn cliché, this shirt, well, actually works.

The elegant fit is complementary enough to bring out the best of your body, whatever the shape or size. 

Paul smith

A shirt with a tailored fit ensures you look as refined as you feel in your eveningwear.

This number comes with a pleated bib, mother-of-pearl buttons and, more importantly, a multicoloured striped inner sleeve.

We expect nothing less zany at PS. For your absolute convenience, the shirt is also machine washable. 

Hackett

There is something undeniably magisterial about a wing-tip collar.

It suggests an elegance, balance and decadence that a standard collar just can’t.

When taken in tandem with the classic pleated front and quality cotton construction, this shirt becomes an all-around dependable dress shirt.  

Hawes and Curtis

Famed shirtmaker Hawes & Curtis is a mainstay for quality shirts. This one in particular comes with an elaborate weave and a unique diagonal line of raised fabric. Also, it's cotton twill construction means it is thicker, and with a smoother, silkier finish than other materials, refined and luxurious springs to mind. 

Turnbull and Asser

The sharp collar and elegant pleated bib allow this shirt to stand out from the crowd.

With a white dress shirt being a wardrobe stalwart, this one will be your eveningwear companion for decades to come, thanks to the brand’s commitment to Sea Island cotton.

It’s one of the rarest and highest-quality cottons currently available.  mrporter.com

Burberry

When the decadence of black tie or the simple act of wearing a tuxedo just doesn’t cut it any more, you need a shirt cut from a different cloth – or rather a cloth embellished with a cut stone.

Crystals were a strong feature of Burberry’s SS20 show, so at least there’s some context to the madness that is crystal buttons on a dress shirt.

Yep. Unrivalled eveningwear glitz from Burberry.  matchesfashion.com

Brunello Cucinelli

This exquisite Brunello shirt achieves its elevated status thanks to the supreme materials used.

Twill fibres in 100 per cent Giza cotton are extremely fine and strong, giving a slightly shine on the finish.

The result is a lightweight, soft-to-touch shirt that will last a lifetime.

Produced in the hamlet of Solomeo under the brand’s strongly humanistic principles of respect for people, the dignity of work, and in harmony with the land, it’s a shirt of solidity and solidarity. 

Pink

The “Dobby” stripe pleat veers towards a chunkier, (arguably) more sophisticated design than the traditional thin pleating. Four of the mother-of-pearl buttons are replaceable with studs, if it’s stratospheric levels of formal elevation you wish to achieve.

Renowned for making shirts, it’s no surprise Pink made a very respectable white dress shirt.

Favourbrook

This is the shirt you need for black tie or cocktail dress in the summer.

The more porous linen fabric will keep you cooler than cotton, while the pleats and slim-fit figure keep it firmly in the formal department.

Here Favourbrook has produced a shirt light on weight but heavy on style.