Malcolm Gladwell’s theory on mastery suggests that if you repeat something for 10,000 hours, you become an expert in your craft. My career in fashion has far surpassed that mark, but because I’ve done so many different things, I often ask myself: What have I truly mastered?

At 48 years old, I can confidently say this: I have mastered my practice, my dedication, and my belief in myself, even on the days when staying under the covers feels safer and easier. I still get up. I still choose to commit. I still choose to do the work. And as it relates to where I am professionally now, I know I’m making pieces I believe in and am proud to stand behind and put my name on.

The button-front shirt has been at the center of my wardrobe for more than three decades. I feel most myself in a button-front shirt. So now I make them, and I grow more curious every day about what makes a shirt great. Is it the fit? The fabric? The color? The stripe? Part of the reason I chose to produce my line in Los Angeles is so I can be a hands-on part of the process. The more I watch shirts being cut at my local cutting service, bundled into parts, and then taken to the factory to be sewn together piece by piece, the more I question and become more curious. Can this shirt be better? Should the fuse be heavier? Are the sleeves too short or too long? Is the collar stand too thin? Are the buttons too thick? Are the buttonholes even in the right place? The overthinking is endless.

I’ve made over 10,000 shirts in my career and spent well beyond 10,000 hours doing so. Does that make me a self-proclaimed master shirtmaker, as the rule suggests? While I still have days when I question my ability, there is one thing I never question: my love for shirts, my love for fashion, my love for creating, and my natural curiosity that keeps me moving forward.

So today’s post is dedicated to the shirt: how it has captured my eye in fashion over the decades, how it has continued to evolve over the years as we do, and how it remains my most reliable wardrobe staple.

Here’s to the (great white) shirt and to my continued curiosity about how to make it even better, part by part, piece by piece, day by day.