Question for Hamish - White Dress Shirts

[davedove]

Dave -- we need to talk about buying dress shirts at Wal-Mart...tisk, tisk! :mrgreen:

Hey, I have to save the money so I can pay for my kilts!8)

[MacMullen]

Hey, I'm glad to hear of so many other guys who wear french cuffs. I also wear them almost exclusively. I hate the tight feel that barrel cuffs have on my wrists and french cuffs are just so much cooler.

The button down collar is the least formal of the dress shirt collars, and the spread collar the most formal (without going to a winged collar tux shirt), but you need a good knot in your tie to fill that spread.

[highlander_Daz]

I cant stand button down collars ! And I bet Hamish cant either, I think they spoil the whole look of a formal outfit.

[Raphael]

The button down collared shirts are for casual events. I will never wear them for formal functions.

[flyv65]

Button down collars and barrel cuffs are fine for the charcoal tweed jacket, but I prefer spread collar and french cuffs w/ an Argyle jacket and a wing collar w/ french cuffs for the PC.

Bryan...but no-one listens to me regarding men's fashion (wisely, I'm told)...

[Mike n NC]

I had never heard that explination of the button down collars Todd but it sounds as logical as any other I have heard. I was also told that the move to button down collars in casual shirts was the expense of replacing lost collar stays. It made the collar stand up without the stays. I know, dating myself there, a lot of the younger members won't have any idea what they were.
Casual, really, really casual. I won't wear any type of tie with a button down collar, I think it looks horrible...Collar all buldged out and buttons pulling. Yech!
JMHO...YMMV

Mike

[macwilkin]

I had never heard that explination of the button down collars Todd but it sounds as logical as any other I have heard. I was also told that the move to button down collars in casual shirts was the expense of replacing lost collar stays. It made the collar stand up without the stays. I know, dating myself there, a lot of the younger members won't have any idea what they were.
Casual, really, really casual. I won't wear any type of tie with a button down collar, I think it looks horrible...Collar all buldged out and buttons pulling. Yech!
JMHO...YMMV

Mike

Makes sense, Mike, although I kinda like collar stays...have a good collection of them now! ;)

T.

[macwilkin]

Button down collars and barrel cuffs are fine for the charcoal tweed jacket, but I prefer spread collar and french cuffs w/ an Argyle jacket and a wing collar w/ french cuffs for the PC.

Technically, the wing collar is reserved for white tie. Black tie, such as the PC, should have a "stand-and-fall" or regular collar formal shirt. However, the wing collar shirt has been associated with formal wear so much that it's now become almost "optional" these days.

My formal shirt from TM Lewin is a "stand and fall" collar with french cuffs. I find it to be much more comfortable at formal affairs, especially when the cleaners puts too much starch on your shirt and the wing collar is stiff as a board, rubbing against your neck.

But, that's just my preference...

Cheers,

Todd

[flyv65]

Technically, the wing collar is reserved for white tie. Black tie, such as the PC, should have a "stand-and-fall" or regular collar formal shirt. However, the wing collar shirt has been associated with formal wear so much that it's now become almost "optional" these days.

I know that white tie is only wing collar, but I thought the days of wing collars only being worn for white tie events ended about the same time Packard closed the factory doors. I suspect that the proliferation of wing collars for formal events began with the rental clothing industry, for much the same reason we're seeing white kilt hose for formal highland wear: ease and simplicity on the part of the rental shop. I wouldn't be surprised to see white hose for formalwear become just as accepted as the wing collar is today if kilt rentals continue to increase.

I suspect that, just as the fashion pendulum swung away from ruffled, pastel formal shirts (the 70's) to the wing collar (80's), then on to the mandarin collar the 90's), we'll see drop collars become more popular again (before we slide back into the ruffled shirt phase [shudder])

Bryan...bet you can guess when I actually bought (instead of renting) my first tuxedo...

[millar]

Does no one think it odd that Hamish has not yet weighed in on this?