I went out yesterday specifically seeking an oversized blue men’s oxford shirt to tuck messily into my Current-Elliott jeans. I’ve been spotting them on all kinds of stylish gals around town, and they look so lazy-sexy-cool.

(Why not borrow a sexy broken-in shirt from my husband, you ask? Because his shirts fit me like leotards.)

But really, I found it odd that I even wanted one. I’ve never been one for preppiness — or color, for that matter. But I’m suddenly very into a broken-down-prep-school look for fall: oversized oxford, beat-up Bass nubucks (snagged on Ebay for $12) and a toggle coat when it gets cold. I’ll be channeling Rob Lowe’s look in Class — androgynous, scholarly and slightly disheveled.

As for the oxford, it had to be big enough to look oversized, but not so big that it added bulk. I found my perfect button-front for $44 (on sale for $29, actually, see photo) in the Gap at Glendale Galleria.

When I donned the shirt at home, my husband exclaimed “Enjoli!” Which, I found out, was an ’80s perfume with a TV ad where a model in a blue button-down claims to be able to, “bring home the bacon…and never let you forget you are a man.” (It amuses me that her husband was in danger of forgetting that fact.)

Check out a funny slice of style (and feminist) history: