January 26th, 2010 by Davida Monte
“Timeless” fashion last forever, and so does the men’s dress shirt. Not much has changed to the classic men’s dress shirt, other than it has become more fitted over the past few decades. In the United states most people call it the button-down, whereas in the UK it is just called a shirt. All are the same, consisting of a sleeves, cuffs, collar and a buttoned opening on the front. Here you can learn all about the anatomy of the dress shirt.
A collar band, sometimes referred to as a collar stand, is a strip of fabric that forms the inner part of the collar and attaches the collar to the shirt. The top button is part of the collar band. The band’s width determines the rise, or height, of the collar. A collared shirt can be made without a collar band. This creates a collar that must always be open, — typically, a shirt with a large collar such as the style that was popular in the “Disco” era.. Men’s dress shirts may have a different fabric on the inside of the collar band for a contrasting effect.
The base of the neck is circled by the collar, which is connected to the dress shirt collar band. There are many variations of the collar, from the Buttondown, hidden buttondown, traditional point, curved point, and even the round point collar. Higher quality dress shirt, or more formal dress shirts, are interfaced to make them stiffer, then are sewn along the edge. More than one piece of the interfacing can be used for a more firm collar. Men’s dress shirts of lower quality will often have bubbles in the collar interfacing, which are very unsightly. The top stitching should be about 1 cm or so in from the border of the collar. You will notice that collars of lesser quality will have the stitching right on the border.
The collar point is the pointed part of the collar at the front of the men’s dress shirt. The points should lie flat and be wrinkle- and pucker-free. Traditionally, dress shirts had collar stays on the reverse side of the points, though stays are not common anymore, with dress shirts now being constructed to maintain collar shape without them.
Collar spread is the distance between collar points. Different spreads can be applied to collar types, drastically altering their style. Careful consideration for different face/neck types should be made when selecting the collar spread for a dress shirt. People with short necks and round faces should choose normal to narrow spreads, while people with tall necks and round faces should opt for normal to wide spread — this will create balance between the shirt and head, making the men’s dress shirt fit the person correctly
A men’s dress shirt has a complete opening on the front, and this is called the front center placket. It can be made of a separate strip of fabric attached to the shirt, or it can be made by folding over. The buttons are attached to the front center placket, and the buttonholes on the bottom underlying part. The most common is the bluff front placket for a dress shirt. Becoming more popular is the fly front and twin stitching front, especially for casual evening wear. You will normally find 6 buttons on the placket, though a tailor may include up to 7 for a taller person.
A pocket on a dress shirt is self-explanatory- it’s simply for holding items. Your decision to have a shirt with or without should be based on whether you liked to put items in it- pens or such. Some people find a pocket will increase the style of a shirt, especially if you find a plain shirt a little to boring. Only at the most formal settings should you consider a shirt that does not have a pocket.
Long sleeve is the norm for dress shirts, though short sleeve dress shirts can be found. Especially in warm climates you will find short sleeve even around the office. Never wear a short sleeve under a jacket, or at a more formal environment. In a relaxed environment you may roll up your sleeves to make them into short sleeves, and it often looks fairly stylist.
There is also a small placket found on the sleeve, from the collar up about one quarter of the sleeve, providing and opening. This is called the sleeve placket, and it can be found with a button or button-less. The purpose is to make for a proper fit on the shirt.
The attachment between the main part of the shirt and the sleeve is referred to as the armscye. The armscye is basically the sleeve hole, and depending on the brand it can vary drastically in size, and because of this many people find generic, un-tailored shirts are very difficult to have the armscye fit properly.
The most popular for of cuff is the one button round cuff, and this is what you will see most often in a business setting. The low profile style makes it the most popular cuff on traditional and modern dress shirt’s. A slight variation that is also common is the two button version. This cuff may be slightly longer than the one button.
Slightly longer, and used in the most formal events, the french cuff is considered very stylish. One does need cuff links to be able to properly wear french cuffs, as they need to be secured closed. In recent years the french cuff has made a comeback to less formal settings such as the office. Before, it was reserved for use with a lounge suit or formal jacket. The design of these cuffs is that they are folded once onto themselves.
If you can’t decide which cuff to have on your dress shirt than a great option would be the convertible cuff. This cuff converts between a barrel and a french, either to be used with the buttons included or with cuff links. It looks just as a normal barrel cuff, though once folded onto itself it functions just as a french cuff, without sacrificing any of the style.
The back of a dress shirt is make of two pieces, and bottom and the Yoke. The Yoke is the piece from the shoulder along the back to about the armpit height. It’s made of one piece traditionally, though on some English shirts it can be two pieces. Whether it is one or two pieces will affect how the fabric lines up on the shoulders and back. The two piece makes a V shape on the back, while the one piece maintains the straight pattern on the back.
Dress shirts need flexibility for movement, and this is partly done by including pleats along the back. By having pleats it allows extra fabric to be on the back, so when the arms are moved around the extra fabric extends to provide freedom of movement. It is also an option to make the dress shirt without any pleats. Those that find there is too much excess fabric on the back of the shirt may prefer pleat-less. Most common pleat is a box pleat, then a knife pleat, and finally something called gatherings. Gatherings are basically many small pleats, where the fabric is slightly scrunched up between the back and yoke.
Traditionally dress shirts are tucked in, though it’s becoming a common trend to wear them untucked. The traditional men’s dress shirts had a tail cut. This type of cut was very rounded, though there is a more modern version that is less rounded. Another modern adaption is the square cut- and this is popular for business wear, where the wearer is almost always using the shirt tucked it- so it’s a mater of functionality.
If you have the problem of extra fabric bunching up on the back of your men’s dress shirt you may want to consider darts. The feature of darts is to cut a small slice of fabric off of the back and sewing it it. Dart are usually fairly visible, but those body types that find the feature compliments there body will find they are well worth it. On the other hand, most body types do not require darts, it’s more suitable for those with inward arching backs and slim bodies.
The feature that will make your dress shirt just that much more personalized is a monogram. The is your initials woven onto your shirt in a visible place. Initially monograms were made so the commercial laundry shop could identify who’s shirt was who’s, though now it is used a sign of customization and quality. When an shirt is for the office you should have it placed on somewhere not so obvious, such as on the lower placket.
Now that you have read this article you will have a solid understanding of the anatomy of a dress shirt. The men’s dress shirt is really a “time-less” piece of men’s fashion. It’s been around for hundreds of years, and will continue to be around for a long time to come. Unlike a typical shirt, the dress shirt is designed to contour, and compliment the features of the body, and this is why it’s design is so much more complex than your typical shirt.
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