| Over the past half-century, the dress shirt has gone | | | | variety of styles and except for the most formal of |
| from being an undergarment to holding a prominent | | | | occasions are never a bad choice. The common |
| place in many outfits. This is one reason why it is | | | | variety has a single button; cuffs with two or even |
| today available in so many styles, colors, and | | | | three buttons are somewhat more artful. French |
| patterns. Whether one's style is chinos or suit-and-tie, | | | | cuffs are de rigeur for formal wear; they look good |
| shirts are an essential means of expanding one's | | | | with a suit but are always optional. A button in the |
| wardrobe. | | | | sleeve placket helps the sleeve to stay closed during |
| A shirt's style signals quite a bit about the wearer's | | | | wear and can be opened to iron the cuffs; it is |
| intentions. A dress shirt with a button-down collar, | | | | optional but nearly ubiquitous. |
| left breast pocket, plain front, and single-button cuffs | | | | Shirt Pockets |
| signals leisure while a dress shirt with a turned-down | | | | The traditional left breast pocket adds a little depth |
| point collar, no breast pocket, placket front, and | | | | to a dress shirt, especially if worn without jacket and |
| French cuffs signals formality. The beauty of | | | | tie, and can be useful for holding pens, tickets, and |
| adjusting a shirt's style is that you can design it for | | | | the like. A shirt with no pockets can look slightly |
| not only for the occasion but also to compliment | | | | cleaner with a coat and tie, but since the coat covers |
| your unique features. | | | | the pocket the difference is minimal when wearing a |
| Shirt Collars | | | | suit. As with most things, simplicity equals formality, |
| The men's dress shirt collar is the most important | | | | so the pocket-less shirt is the dressiest. |
| style detail, both in determining the garment's level of | | | | Shirt Front & The Placket |
| formality and in how it flatters the wearer's face. | | | | The standard placket is a strip of fabric raised off |
| Button-down collars are the least formal and | | | | the men's dress shirt front with stitches down each |
| extremely versatile; they look great without a tie but | | | | side; this is what most casual shirts and many dress |
| can just as well support a tie and sweater, blazer, or | | | | shirts have. In the more modern French placket, the |
| sport coat combination. The wing collar, on the other | | | | edge of the shirt front is folded over, creased, and |
| hand, is reserved for formal wear and should always | | | | held together only by the button holes. This cleaner |
| be worn with its companion parts. It is the least | | | | front sharpens more formal dress shirts; it should not, |
| versatile collar, whose sole purpose is to signal the | | | | however, be combined with a button-down collar. |
| highest level of dress. | | | | There are also hidden button plackets, and as the |
| Most men's dress shirts sport some sort of pointed | | | | name suggests hide the front buttons under a sheath |
| collar, but there is huge room for variety here. While | | | | of fabric. |
| the standard point collar looks good on most men, | | | | Shirt Back |
| those with narrower faces do better with slightly | | | | Men's backs are not flat; thus we use pleats on the |
| shorter ones, while round faces carry well above long | | | | back panel of a shirt so that the fabric may hang |
| collar points. As a general rule, the greater the angle | | | | from the yoke (the piece covering the shoulder |
| between the short sides of the collar points, the | | | | blades) and better conform to the body. There are |
| more formal the presentation. Spread collars, which | | | | two common varieties of pleated shirt back styles: |
| leave a wide opening between them, take large tie | | | | the box pleat consists of two pleats spaced |
| knots especially well. The edges of the cut-away | | | | one-and-a-half inches apart at the center, while side |
| collar nearly form a straight line above the tie knot; | | | | pleats lie halfway between each edge and the center |
| this is the most formal collar arrangement. An | | | | of the back. While the former are more common on |
| exception to the parallelism of spread and formality is | | | | ready-to-wear shirts, the latter better align with the |
| the tab collar: here little tabs of fabric extending from | | | | actual shape of the back, and thus fit most men |
| each side connect behind the tie knot, holding the | | | | better. A well-made custom shirt can be cut and |
| collar close together and projecting the knot outward | | | | sewn to fit its wearer perfectly without pleats, and |
| for a precise, no-nonsense look. The white contrast | | | | this makes it cleaner and easier to iron. Nonetheless, |
| collar, in any style, with or without matching white | | | | many men prefer to have pleats even on their |
| French cuffs, is a favorite of power-dressers. While it | | | | bespoke dress shirts. |
| certainly raises a suit-and-tie above the masses, let | | | | Monograms |
| the wearer be warned against it if he cannot equal | | | | A man may elect to have his shirt monogrammed, |
| its eminence. | | | | usually on the edge of the breast pocket or on the |
| On most decent dress shirts, the collar's points are | | | | shirt's cuff. Monogramming originated as a way to |
| kept straight by collar stays. These 2- to 3-inch | | | | identify one's shirts in a commercial laundry, akin to |
| pointed splints are inserted into slots on the underside | | | | writing a child's name on the tag of their jacket. More |
| of the collar after ironing, and later removed for | | | | recently, as the shirt has taken a more prominent |
| washing. Besides the plastic ones that come with | | | | role in men's dress, the monogram has emerged as a |
| most shirts, you can buy them in brass, silver, and | | | | way to subtly communicate the care a man has |
| even ivory, but their material has negligible effect on | | | | taken in obtaining his clothes. While large, garish |
| their function. | | | | monograms certainly do more harm than good, many |
| Shirt Cuffs | | | | men enjoy the quiet display of their initials, usually in a |
| Barrel cuffs, standard on most dress shirts, come in a | | | | color similar to the shirt's own. |