Vaiozo 1910 Vintage Collar-less Shirt

[CollinMacD]

The banded collar shirt is actually a shirt that started in early 19th century in its current form, and then modify mid 19th century adding a button in the center of the band. A paper rounded collar could be added for dress occasions. Paper collars were used as people did not bath or shower like today, and of course oils from the skin and perspiration caused the white collars to yellow, so they used paper collars they could use and throw away. The collarless or banded shirt was used for dress. The banded collar was also found on many work shirts and even the US Military used the banded collar "Muslin" Cotton shirt for many years, again using the band collar, not a new shirt at all. ALso please note, MANY of the real banded shirt were very long and doubled as a nightshirt to sleep in, as clothing was not considered fashionable, but was a need used multi faceted with daily living, and considered to be expensive, so you used it with having more than one or two.

The Mandarin collar shirt had more of a taller stand up collar, called the Roman Collar, after the Roman Catholic Priest. These shirts were found more in Asia, especially the Chinese, thus the name Mandarin. The popularity of they Mondrian shirt was during the mid 1960's as it was usually associate with India, and work with a necklace with a large pendant of the "Love Beads" Mandarin Shirts disappears as fast as they appeared. except for Priests and Reverends.

The banded collar "Grandfather" shirts normally are wool shirts, flannel that are winter shirts, the cotton shirts are really something new and with so many small buttons to button up, can be a real pain. The original Grandfather shirt, was nothing more then a wool flannel shirt that was worn as a work shirt during the winter. Summer Grandfather shirts are nothing more than cotton Muslin shirts, normally a bleached white shirt, with bone buttons, or wood button, depends upon the time period.

The "Western" banded shirt is nothing more that the Cotton Muslin bleached shirt made with a Gingham, Floral (Calico), or solid color pattern. MANY of the "Cowboys" wore the button bib shirt, or Fireman's shirt, made of wool or cotton. Remember wool was the preferred material worn by people who lived outside, like Military, or Cowboys, because WOOL breaths and Linen (cotton, or plant material) does NOT, and the other reason, when shooting black powder wool smolders, does NOT catch fire, the cotton shirts will catch fire, and can cause serious burn, thus you will see why the military of the before WWII used wool as their material for battle clothing. Even the Navy was the last to get away from wool and go to cotton....WOOL DOES NOT CATCH FIRE, Cotton does.

Thus, MANY of the banded or colorless shirts, were made to adapt as dress shrits with paper collars, and used both as a NIGHT shirt, or dress shirt, and considered expensive, with a person owning only one or two shirts, so they needed to be used for dress or work.

Mondrian Collar shirts are from the far east, more associate as the Roman Collar shirt, adopted by the Clergy and the Hippies of the 60's.

Grandfather Shirts, originally were flannel, used in the winter or outdoor living, alternate to the Fireman or Bib shirt worn in the west. Military or Fire department, or even Police used solid colors, red or navy blue. Grandfather shirts rarely made of cotton, this is more of a modern version, used today. Small buttons, on the current Grandfather shirts are a modern version, buttons considered to be of bone or wood were expensive and would never had so many on a shirt.

I hope this helps out understanding the "history of the shirt" from the 17th through 20th century.

One other tidbit, the collared shirt we know today, always existed as early as the 16th century, but collars served really no purpose, as the cravat kept your neck warm, and from getting slit at nigh. So the collar although existing did not really come into total existence until the early 20th century when it was incorporated into the design of the shirts, tails were shortened, as they did not function as sleepwear, and became more tapered or tailored to be more form fitting. Plaids, patterns, pinstripes, etc became more popular from the mid 19th century to currently, thanks to the Industrial Revolution and the modernization of machines to do looming/weaving of cotton and wool material. Homespun was still performed in rural areas, but bolts of material were available and sold at General Stores to make your own shirts..... Hope this helps.