The London Lounge

Without going into a lot of details, I recently was given the opportunity to pick up a several off the rack shirts from a relatively large U.S. men's clothing retailer for free. [Briefly, someone owed me money and had several gift cards from this retailer. He couldn't pay me the way I wanted to be paid (cash) and so suggested this "barter". I reluctantly agreed as this guy has been laid off, I wanted to preserve our friendship and I can look decent in a properly selected off the rack shirt.] I have no dress shirts with french cuffs so I thought I would make that my focus. I tried on two different brands and found they fit just fine. I then picked out three additional different shirts of each brand and left the store without taking them out of the packaging and trying them on. When I got home they all fit just fine and there were no problems except one of the shirts had a "detail" that I have never encountered before and I was left befuddled.
(Keep in mind all these shirts have french cuffs.) One of them I would describe as an ivory or off white color, made from 100% cotton. While it is not color striped, there is an alternating vertical striping where there is what I would call a very modest "brocade" or differentiation in the texture of the material. It looks fine to me and seems to be a bit more "formal" than the usual dress shirt; a look that I was seeking and wanted to experiment with when I am wearing one of my banker/lawyer blue or grey pin stripe suits. However, I found that when I tried on the shirt, where I button up the front, it is completely covered over by the shirt material such that you cannot see the buttons when you are wearing the shirt. In other words, were the area where the front buttons on the front shirt exposed because my tie were askew or I were leaning over without my jacket on, you would not see any buttons: they are covered by the shirt material. (I hope my choice of language makes clear what I am trying to describe.)
I have never encountered this before and am not out and out repelled by it, but am looking for others reactions/experiences. The only real reaction I have is that is seems as if it might be a bit too formal even for a formal business/office suit; i.e. that it might be more appropriate for formal evening wear??? I can return it for another shirt, but would like to hear the reactions of others before I do so as I want to be open minded to experimenting, especially where I am not investing a great deal of "hard cash" in this proposition.
Thanks in advance for the forbearance and patience of folks and any knowledge, experience and advice that you might want to share.
Jack

It sounds as though you have bought a shirt with a fly-fronted placket and this would be more usual on a soft evening shirt than on a dayshirt. However, if the shirt does not incorporate very obvious evening shirt components such as marcella panels at the front or pleats on either side of the placket, there is probably no reason for you not to wear it to work.
NJS

The self-stripes suggest (or recall) the pleats that NJS mentions - a common practice for modern RTW evening shirts (since pleating is more expensive). If you wear a dinner suit every now and then, keep it.

Thanks to both of you for the input.
Costi: what do you mean by a "dinner suit"? Is this different from what, at least in my part of America, we refer to as a "business suit", which we would wear to the office (with dress shirt and tie, of course) and/or out for the evening to a restaurant or cocktail party where we want to dress more formally than a blue blazer, grey slacks and shirt & tie? Or does "dinner suit" mean something different, distinct and seperate. I have, twice in my life (and I am past 50), had the occasion to rent a white dinner jacket, pants, etc. with a bow tie like one would wear with a tuxedo, etc. I am just trying to get precisely in my head what you mean by dinner jacket.
And to clarify the point storeynicholas raised, there are indeed no pleats or panels on this shirt.
I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't go to the trouble of returning the shirt and getting another, more traditional/usual, RTW dress shirt with french cuffs.
Thanks for any and all input/suggestions.
Jack

I'm not Costi, Jack, but I can tell you that in writing "dinner suit" he refers to semi-formal evening dress: what many present-day Americans call "tuxedo". A true "tuxedo" -- double-breasted, peaked-lapelled, etc. -- is just one type (though possibly the commonest in the States) of dinner jacket.

Thank you, RWS, for clarifying - that is, indeed, what I meant. ProfMoriarty, if you think you might ever again rent a tuxedo (or have one made), then perhaps it wouldn't hurt to have at least the shirt.