Dress shirt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In American English, a dress shirt is a men's shirt with a collar, a full-length opening up the front from the collar to the hem, and full length sleeves with cuffs. The opening fastens closed along a placket using buttons or studs, and the cuffs close with buttons or cuff links. Some very formal shirts have separable collars attached with studs.
In British English, that garment is simply called a shirt, while a dress shirt is specifically a more formal shirt of the style worn with black tie or white tie.
Dress shirts are normally made from lightweight woven cloth, and can be worn with a jacket and tie (including suits and formal wear). Less-formal variations on the standard pattern are also common. An alternative term is button-front or button-down shirt.
The analogous garment to a men's dress shirt for women is a blouse.
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[edit] How the shirt is constructed
A traditional tailored shirt has 12 separate components.
- Collar
- The flaps of the collar are known as points; the open space or gap between the points (when the shirt is on) is called the spread.
- Yoke
- This is the most difficult part of the shirt. This is the shaped section at the shoulders that connects all the other parts of the shirt. A split yoke has two pieces sewn together to help shape it to the shoulders.
- Two sleeves
- Two cuffs
- Two front panels
- Back
- Placket
[edit] Usage
A dress shirt is ironed free of wrinkles and may be treated with starch for added smoothness and stiffness. The hem is tucked inside the waistband of the trousers. For most modes of formal wear, a coat and necktie are mandatory. In this case, the top button of the shirt is fastened, so that the tie can fit snugly around a gentleman's neck with a neat appearance. Standard colors for dress shirts are shades of white, blue, pink and yellow. See (for example): international standard business attire and morning dress.
The dress codes of black tie and white tie have highly specific requirements for shirts; see below.
Informal usage is highly variable. Most men omit the necktie and may eschew ironing their shirt and tucking the hem in. It is common to leave the top button unfastened. Dress shirts are a typical garment of business casual attire, a position shared with tennis shirts.
[edit] Types
There are many different types of dress shirts. The less-formal versions are rarely worn with a coat and tie.
[edit] Materials
Dress shirts are made of woven cloth, most commonly cotton; linen, polyester, polyester blends, and silk are also used. Some standard formal options are cotton Oxford cloth and cotton poplin. A wide variety of fabric textures are available for less-formal garments: corduroy, denim, flannel, twill, etc.
[edit] Collars
- Point or Straight also the Small
- a collar that appears narrow, with 2½ to 3¼ inches between the points of the collar. Normally worn with a four-in-hand knotted tie.
- Spread
- a collar with anywhere from 3½ to 6 inches between the collar points. Originally worn by the Duke of Windsor to complement the larger knots that he created.
- Tab
- a point collar that has two loops of fabric extending from the middle of the collar which meet behind the tie. Meant to give the tie an arc, the tabs can be closed with either a metal snap, button or stud.
- Varsity
- a type of spread collar in which the points curve outward from the placket of the shirt.
- Golf
- an informal rounded collar popular in the first half of the 20th Century, it was normally worn with a collar pin
- Button-down
- a collar, usually a point, that buttons to the front of the shirt at its points. Introduced by Brooks Brothers in 1896, it was patterned after the shirts of polo players and was considered a sport shirt until the 1950s.
- Tall
- this collar is bold enough for the dress down-down look. If you have a large neck, the tall collar helps to minimise the effect.
[edit] Cuffs
- Barrel
- a cuff that is fastened by one or more buttons. Sized dress shirts (i.e. 15½ x 34) have only one set of buttons while an averaged shirt (i.e. 15½ x 33-34) has two sets of buttons arranged horizontally along the cuff.
- Turnback or Portofino
- a double cuff that is closed with buttons. First made by the Jermyn Street shirtmakers of Turnbull & Asser and later popularized by the fictional character James Bond in 1962.
- Double or French
- a cuff that is twice as long as a barrel cuff and is folded over itself. A French cuff can be closed with either a cuff link or a silk knot.
- Single
- a normal length cuff that is closed with a cuff link; worn only with morning dress or white tie
- Mitre
- this cuff is named after the bishop's hat. The Mitre is a daytime cuff, but it differs from the button cuff as it has a slight fold on the end of the cuff.
[edit] Other features
There are almost always at least seven buttons on the front of a dress shirt, regardless of size. Eight buttons is standard with higher end dress shirts. A vertical band running down the front opening that contains the buttonholes is called the placket; it is located on the wearer's left side, to fit overlap the button row on the edge of the right half of the shirt (this is the reverse of blouses).
There are usually pleats on the center of the back and on the sleeves just above the cuffs. The most formal type of shirt will have no pockets, but the standard dress shirt has a single discreet pocket on the wearer's left side, which is a sewn-on patch with a plain upper hem, optionally with a single button for closure. This small pocket is just large enough to hold a small piece of paper or a few pens and a pocket protector. Less-formal dress shirts may feature larger pockets, dual pockets, or pockets with flap closures.
Short-sleeve shirts have a plain (no-button) hem above the wearer's elbow. Short-sleeve shirts are considered casual wear, though it is not uncommon for them to be worn under jackets or coats where the lack of sleeves is less obvious.
Western-style shirts often feature slash pockets and snap fasteners throughout instead of buttons.
[edit] Sizing
In the United States, sizes of dress shirts traditionally consist of two numbers like 15½ 34 (the second number is often below the first on the label). This example means that the shirt has a neck that is 15.5 inches in girth (measured from center of top button to center of corresponding buttonhole) and a sleeve 34 inches long (measured from midpoint of the back and shoulders to the wrist).
However, in response to economic pressures to reduce the number of sizes needed to be manufactured and stocked, sizing is now frequently seen with average sleeve lengths in the form of three numbers like 15½ 34/35. This example means that the shirt has a neck that is 15.5 inches in girth and a sleeve 35 inches long. However, the cuff frequently features two buttons, allowing the cuff diameter to be tightened so that the cuff does not come down over the hand. This allows the shirt to fit the shorter length.
Casual button-front shirts are usually sized as small, medium, large, XL, etc. The meaning of these ad-hoc sizes is not standardized and varies between manfacturers.
[edit] Dress shirts for black tie and white tie
In the United Kingdom, the term dress shirt is reserved for particular type of formal shirt, always white with French cuffs to be worn with eveningwear. In the USA, this shirt is often called a tuxedo shirt or tux shirt.
The shirt required for white tie is very specific. It should have a wing collar and be fastened with shirt studs instead of buttons on the front. The studs should be either gold or silver with a mother of pearl inlay. Black onyx inlay is also permissible. The cufflinks should match the studs. The front panels of the shirt are heavily starched and polished so that they are stiff. Traditionally, collarless shirts with a detachable wing collar fastened on with collar studs have been used, but all-in-one designs are increasingly common. An even more formal alternative to the piqué shirt front is a shirt with heavily starched front panels of a plain material, fastened in the same manner. Such shirts are now uncommon. Cuffs will ideally be single, but heavily starched and polished.
Black tie offers more leeway. Shirts may be soft (not starched), and often have a regular collar (turndown collar). In past decades, particularly the 1970s, ruffled-shirt fronts were fashionable, although they have fallen out of favour recently. Studs are optional and are usually black. Cufflinks are generally black (ideally silver with a black onyx inlay), but can alternately be an old school, college, or regimental design.
[edit] Makers of Dress Shirts
Within the UK, makers of dress shirts include the Jermyn Street shirt makers Thomas Pink, Charles Tyrwhitt and KJ Beckett. Dress shirts are also available from Marks and Spencers. Other shirt makers in the UK are:
- Sean O'Flynn
- Turnbull & Asser
- Hawes and Curtis
