RISING TOO far up the jugular to be a crew and lacking the fold-back that defines a turtleneck, the mock-neck shirt has always suffered from an identity crisis. Its roots are similarly muddled: The turtle harks back to preppies and beatniks, the crew skews All-American jock, but the mock has to make do with an oddball family tree that includes “Growing Pains” cast members, the early-’90s heyday of Gap basics and hip-hop artists like Run D.M.C.
The whims of fashion aren’t judgmental, though, and the mock has returned. Its...