All About Shirts

Shirts come in all sorts of materials, colors, styles and patterns.  However, before I provide "news you can use" on the former, let me start out by proposing two thoughts regarding dress shirts that are, in my opinion, something to strongly consider:

1. There is no such thing as a short sleeve dress shirt.  That's an oxymoron! 

2. You can never have enough white dress shirts.

Anyone that considers themselves to be well dressed should stray away from short sleeve dress shirts for they will not viewed as being well dressed.  Please consider that there may come a time during the course of the day that you may have to remove your suit jacket or sport coat.  Now unless your intention is to look like a nerd there is a simple solution: only wear long sleeve dress shirts. 

White shirts are the most acceptable color for a business shirt in corporate America.  Also, there are some companies where the white shirt is the norm for a given companies' culture.  A major advantage is that you can wear most any color suit or sport coat with a white shirt.  Regarding the preceding, some other shirt colors may actually look better with a given suit and tie but a white shirt will look presentable in most cases. 

There are many different types of dress shirts in terms of materials, colors, styles, and patterns. 

The most popular material for dress shirts is cotton in which there are many variations as listed below. 

Dress Shirt Materials

Cotton Batiste - This is a light plain weave of fine, high quality yarns.  It is made of Egyptian Mako cotton and is also described as Swiss Batiste.

Poplin - This is the term for the fabric made using fine warp yarn with a thick filling.  The character is derived from the filling.

Oxford - This is a coarser type of weave in which dyed and undyed threads are combined together.  It make soft, but hard wearing shirts. 

Royal Oxford - This is a somewhat more refined version of the Oxford weave.  It is made the same as Oxford except with finer yards.  A shirt made of Royal Oxford feels silkier and much softer than the normal Oxford shirt.

Sea Island - This is the most expensive cotton.  It is woven from a greater number of threads than poplin with about 140 thread to the inch; poplin has 100 threads to the inch.  Stripes or checks in this material therefore have a clearer definition and deeper, stronger colors.  This material is so fine that is sometimes mistaken for cotton. 

Ribbed Twill - This has characteristic diagonal structure like that
familiar from the material used in chinos.  By the way, chinos is commonly referred to as khakis but the later is actually a color and not a pair of slacks.

Herringbone Twill - This is a close relative of ribbed twill.  Both kinds of materials are woven to form a diagonal structure.  In order to achieve the typical herringbone effect the direction of the diagonals is changed at intervals of a fifth of an inch (5 mm), which creates a zigzag pattern.

In consideration of corporate America in addition to white shirts the next group of shirts one should consider purchasing are light blue and light yellow.  Beyond the above, shirts come in a myriad of colors such as royal blue, grey, French blue, ecru, tan, cream, beige, lavender, pink, and black.  On a personal note I wear them all!  In terms of color coordination one has to be careful when mixing different color shirts with suits and sport coats.  For example, you wouldn't wear a black shirt with a brown suit. 

There are a couple of recent developments in dress shirts that offer improvements in the fit of the shirt and it's maintenance.  Some shirt manufacturers have developed a tailored fit (Joseph Banks) or slim fit (Brooks Brothers) shirt.  These shirts have the same neck and arm dimensions as standard dress shirts but they're narrower in the waist.  They promote a better, smoother look as the excess material in standard shirts makes a person look as though they're larger in the waist area.

Brooks Brothers Slim Fit Shirt

Another recent development are the Non-Iron (Brooks Brothers),  Wrinkle-Free (Joseph A.Bank, Claiborne, Hart, Schaffner and Marx), Wrinkle Resistant (John Ashford) dress shirts, respectively.  The shirts are machine washable and subsequently they made be placed in the dryer.  After they have dried they are to be removed immediately and hung up and they're supposed to not have any wrinkles.  These shirts are excellent for those that travel frequently. 

Another consideration is the type of collar of the shirts.  They come in a variety of collars such as the button-down, point, tab, pin, round and the spread collar. 

Collar Types



Button Down - The button-down collar was introduced in this country by Brooks Brothers.  It was patterned after the polo shirt worn in England.  The collar is fastened by the points by buttons to keep the collar down.  It is a soft roll collar and the best tie knots to be worn with them are the Windsor and the four-in-hand knots.  By the way, this is considered to be a conservative shirt and not to be worn with a double-breasted suit. 

Point - This is the most common dress shirt collar.  It can be worn with any suit style.  The lengths of the points have varied in length over the years but the collar points should be 2 5/8" to 2 7/8" to balance the classic jacket lapel of 3 1/2" and the tie width of 3 1/4".  This collar style is suitable for all tie knots except the full Windsor.  Men with a round face would look best with a point collar. 

Tab - The tab holds the neck tie in place by utilizing tabs attached to the collar and held together under the knot of the necktie.  The tab comes with a snap button, plastic tab or a smaller button similar to the shirt buttons.  Best worn with a small knot.

Pin - The collar tips are connected by a pin of some description.  The pin supports and lifts the necktie knot.  The type of collar is not to be worn without a tie.  Best worn with a small knot.

Round - The collar is rounded as opposed to pointed like the other collar styles.  This collar complements a very dressy suit.  This collar should not be worn by a man with a round face since it would accentuates the circularity of the wearer.

Spread - This collar has a wide spread between the collar points and hence the name spread collar.  Ties that are bulky and/or wide knots are best for this type of collar.  This is considered to be the most elegant collar and especially with French Cuffs for cuff links.  Men with a narrow face with look best with a spread collar. 

Cuff Types

There are two primary types of cuffs: barrel (button)  and the French (double) cuff.  The barrel cuff is the most common and comes in a variety such as single-button, double-button and the two-button turn back.  The French cuff is the dressiest an is also found in formal shirts.  By the way, some folks sport French cuff shirts without cuff links but in my opinion one should always wear cuff links.  

Shirt Patterns

In addition to solid colors, shirts come in a wide range of patterns such as pin stripes, mini-checks, window pane, glen-plaid, checkered, and woven.  There are also shirts in which the collar is a different color than the body of the shirt.  When you're trying to coordinate your outfit make sure that the clothing flows and doesn't compete for attention.  For example, you don't want to wear a bold striped shirt with a bold striped tie.  You would be wise to wear a muted striped tie with a bold striped shirt or vice versa. 

These are exciting times in terms of recent developments in shirts and with so many variations in patterns, colors and styles one can showcase his own individuality!