Summer may be over. California didn’t get the memo.
There is always that point in the year when someone decides summer is officially finished.
The calendar changes. Jackets come out. People start talking about fall.
Meanwhile, somewhere in California, it is still 78 degrees and somebody is sitting outside having dinner in a short-sleeved shirt.
We have always liked that version better.
The camp shirt is one of those rare pieces of clothing that never really needed a season in the first place. It works in July with shorts and sunglasses. It works in October with denim, trousers or a jacket thrown over it.
Maybe that is why we are still making them more than seven decades after Da Vinci California® began.
CALIFORNIA SINCE 1952
Da Vinci California® was founded in 1952, but the story behind the shirts goes back even further.
The original Da Vinci collections were rooted in the leisure shirts of mid-century California. Soft fabrics. Relaxed collars. Color blocking. Embroidery. Decorative stitching. Details that gave a shirt personality without making it feel overdone.
By the late 1950s and early 1960s, those details had become an unmistakable part of the Da Vinci look.
And while fashions have changed countless times since then, the basic idea has held up remarkably well.
Make a great shirt.
Give it some character.
Make it comfortable enough that you actually want to wear it.
That still feels like a pretty good formula.
THE ORIGINAL: GAMBINO
Some designs do not need reinventing.
Gambino is one of them.
It comes from the Da Vinci Classic Collection and represents a style that has been part of the brand since the 1950s.
Simple lines. Relaxed proportions. An easy camp collar. Nothing unnecessary.
It is probably the best example of what we mean when we talk about authentic vintage.
Not clothing designed to look vaguely old.
A design language that has actually been here all along.
Today we make Gambino in Los Angeles, carrying forward the same understated California attitude that made the original work in the first place.
SHOP GAMBINO
THE STORY SHIRT: MR. CASEY
Then there are shirts that become part of the collection for completely different reasons.
Mr. Casey started with an old photograph.
My friend Dave showed me a picture of himself with his father. His dad was wearing a vintage shirt with a simple panel-front design that immediately caught my eye.
There was nothing flashy about it.
It just looked right.
And more importantly, it meant something.
That photograph became the starting point for Mr. Casey.
We recreated the spirit of the original through clean contrast panels, a relaxed pyjama collar and small embroidered details, while making it something that feels completely relevant today.
For me, that is what heritage should be.
Not recreating the past simply for nostalgia.
It is carrying forward the people, stories and little details that made something worth remembering in the first place.
SHOP MR. CASEY
THE WILD CARD: LEPPARD
Of course, Da Vinci has never been entirely about behaving itself.
Enter Leppard.
An authentic vintage cheetah print, relaxed camp-shirt shape and enough personality to make the rest of the outfit fairly easy.
Black trousers.
Denim.
Boots.
Done.
It is the kind of shirt that works just as well at dinner as it does standing at a bar considerably later than you originally intended. Oh, and the models wearing the Leppard shirts in this blog are both AI generated. You can probably tell that the pattern is slightly different from the flat shirt photo, which is the real thing, by the way. Can’t blame a girl for having a little fun exploring all these new creative avenues.
Which, come to think of it, feels rather Da Vinci.
HOW WE’RE WEARING THEM NOW
The easiest way to take a camp shirt into fall is not to overthink it.
Wear it with darker trousers instead of shorts.
Swap sneakers for boots or loafers.
Put a white or black tee underneath and leave the shirt open.
Add a lightweight jacket when the evening gets cooler.
Or ignore all of the above and wear it exactly the same way you did in July.
California has always been fairly relaxed about rules.
We see no reason clothing should be different.
CALIFORNIA AFTER SUMMER
There is something particularly good about California this time of year.
The light changes a little.
The days are still warm.
The evenings get cooler.
Outdoor tables are still full.
Convertibles are still perfectly reasonable.
And nobody seems especially interested in putting summer away just because the calendar says they should.
That space between seasons feels very Da Vinci to us.
A little dressed up.
A little relaxed.
Never trying too hard.
SEVENTY-FOUR YEARS LATER
The world obviously looks very different from the California where Da Vinci began in 1952.
The interesting part is how much of the original idea still makes sense.
Good fabric.
Interesting details.
Clothes with character.
Pieces you can wear without having to think too much about them.
We are not interested in recreating 1952.
We are interested in carrying the best parts of it forward.
Because a good design does not suddenly become irrelevant because another season arrives.
And neither does a good camp shirt.
Classic cuts. Rebel spirit. California since 1952.
SHOP DA VINCI CALIFORNIA® WOVEN SHIRTS