Originally intended as a male garment, it is also worn by women today (though still interchangeably referred to as both a "shirt" and a "blouse" regardless of which gender is wearing it).
One example of this is professional musician/actor Meat Loaf, who was known for his eccentric on-stage attire since the late 1970s, typically consisting of either sequined black vests or a tuxedo consisting of a black blazer, matching pants and shoes, and a white poet blouse with a red handkerchief, which he would hold in his hand or tie to the microphone stand.
A tailored version of the poet shirt became highly fashionable for young men during the 1960s, particularly in London.
[7] Today, the style remains popular in some modern movements such as the Goth subculture, where it may be valued simply for its romantic or swashbuckling image, intended as part of a themed costume (e.g., vampire) or worn in defiance of mainstream conventions as a deliberate expression of gender ambiguity (in the same tradition as glam rock[8]).
A ruffled poet shirt, often worn with a wide belt or other item of clothing traditionally associated with pirates, has been the central theme of a spate of fashion trends stimulated by the Pirates of the Caribbean series of adventure films, the first of which was released in 2003.