# Does this type of shirt actually exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-type-of-shirt-actually-exist/403784 "2007-05-12T00:38:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-type-of-shirt-actually-exist/403784/1 "2007-05-12T00:38:17Z")
I’m reading Tom Wolfe’s _Bonfire Of The Vanities,_ and a minor character (a defendant in a trial) is described thusly: “He wore a teal-green shirt with an outsized collar and, in place of buttons, a zipper that ran diagonally from his left shoulder to the right side of his waist.” Is this a real type of shirt that people actually wear (or wore during the 80s?) Tom Wolfe often makes things up in his books that are meant to represent highly exaggerated versions of already existing trendy things (like the “Chrysler Annihilator” SUV in _I Am Charlotte Simmons_), so that could be the case. I did an image search for “diagonal zipper” and all I found were these [dry suits](http://avimar3.8k.com/dry.html). ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-type-of-shirt-actually-exist/403784/2 "2007-05-12T01:03:23Z")
I’ve seen some around. I googled “[asymmetrical zipper](http://www.frockyou.com.au/product.aspx?ID=42)” and got some hits. A friend of mine has a leather jacket with a zipper like that. It’s awesome. Not teal, though! ---
**Author:** ![SailedTheOceanBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@SailedTheOceanBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SailedTheOceanBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-type-of-shirt-actually-exist/403784/3 "2007-05-12T01:05:30Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] “He wore a teal-green shirt with an outsized collar and, in place of buttons, a zipper that ran diagonally from his left shoulder to the right side of his waist.” [/QUOTE] You obviously did not grow up in the 80s. I present [this picture](http://image.listen.com/img/356x237/7/7/1/6/506177_356x237.jpg) of the band A Flock of Seagulls. It’s teal and has snaps but the same thing with a zipper wouldn’t have been a stretch in the early 80s. Zippers were all the rage…just ask Michael Jackson circa [Beat It](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/a/ae/Beat_It_Video_Clip.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-type-of-shirt-actually-exist/403784/4 "2007-05-12T01:06:05Z")
I have definitely seen shirts like that although, sadly, I have never owned one. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-type-of-shirt-actually-exist/403784/5 "2007-05-12T01:14:15Z")
[QUOTE=SailedTheOceanBlue] I present [this picture](http://image.listen.com/img/356x237/7/7/1/6/506177_356x237.jpg) of the band A Flock of Seagulls. [/QUOTE] Wow! those guys are like, totally radical! ---
**Author:** ![SailedTheOceanBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@SailedTheOceanBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SailedTheOceanBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-type-of-shirt-actually-exist/403784/6 "2007-05-12T01:36:17Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Wow! those guys are like, totally radical! [/QUOTE] Gag me! I was more of a fan of[The Cure](http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/The-Cure-Photograph-C12035875.jpeg). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-type-of-shirt-actually-exist/403784/7 "2007-05-12T01:50:13Z")
Rock on.