In American English, a dress shirt, button shirt, button-front, button-front shirt, or button-up shirt — simply shirt in British English — is a garment with a collar and a full-length opening at the front, which is fastened using buttons or shirt studs. A button-down or button-down shirt is a dress shirt with a button-down collar – a collar having the ends fastened to the shirt with buttons.
A dress shirt is normally made from woven cloth, and is typically accompanied by a tie or bow tie, jacket, suit, or formalwear, but a dress shirt may also be worn more casually.
In British English, "dress shirt" — "formal shirt" or "tuxedo shirt" in American English — means specifically the more formal evening garment, often with an embroidered decorative chest to be paired with a cummerbund, worn with black-tie dinner jacket or white-tie tailcoat. Some of these formal shirts have stiff fronts and detachable collars, either standing wing collar or fold-down collar, attached with collar studs.
History
Traditionally dress shirts were worn by men and boys, whereas women and girls often wore blouses, sometimes known as chemises. However, in the mid-1800s, they also became an item of women's clothing and are worn by both sexes today.
Components
A shirt has several components: A one-piece back, which is usually pleated, gathered, or eased into a section of fabric in the upper part of the back behind the neck and over the shoulders known as the yoke (either one-piece or seamed vertically in the middle). Two front panels which overlap slightly down the middle on the placket to fasten with buttons (or, more rarely, shirt studs). One-piece sleeves with plackets at the wrist with a band of fabric around each wrist known as a cuff, or else short-sleeved (cut off above the elbow), though this is not traditional. A collar, a strip around the neck, which is normally a turndown collar, with the strip folded down away from the neck, leaving two points at the front, the width of which is known as the spread. Originally the collars and cuffs were detachable, held on by studs or buttons, for ease of tailoring and maintenance. This was because these had the most wear and got dirtier more quickly so need special washing and more frequent replacement in a time when laundering was very labor-intensive and difficult work to what were very expensive products prior to mass-manufacturing.
Collars
There are various styles of collar, which is the primary indicator of the formality of a shirt.Antongiavanni (2002). p. 101 Those discussed here are all attached collars, not styles specific to detachable collars. The very top button is number 1.
Spread collars measure from around between the collar points, and the wider collars are often referred to as cutaway or Windsor collars after the Duke of Windsor. This city style is more formal, though it is common in Europe, and predominant in the UK. Point, straight, or small collars are narrow, with between the points of the collar. Button-down collar (sport collar) with a button-fastening point on the front of the shirt. Originally a British sports (football, cricket, polo, etc.) shirt. The British polo player's shirt was first produced in the UK by John E Brooks in 1896 and copied by Brooks Brothers after his return to the USA. Commonly worn with or without a necktie in the United States but usually worn without a necktie elsewhere.
The less-common styles below were all once common, but have waned in popularity. Eyelet collars require a barbell-style collar bar to join the small stitched hole on each point. Tab collars are point collars with two strips of fabric extending from the middle of the collar and joined behind the tie. These lift the tie, giving an arc effect similar to a pinned collar. The tabs can be closed with a metal snap, button or stud. Club collars have rounded edges, and were very popular in the first few decades of the 20th century. They have experienced a surge in popularity due to television dramas like Downton Abbey. The varsity is a type of spread collar in which the points curve outward from the placket of the shirt. Shirts designed to take a detachable collar have a tunic collar, which is a low standing band of fabric around the neck, with a hole at the front and back for the collar studs. Winchester shirts are colored or patterned shirts that have a contrasting white collar (conceivably of any style) and, sometimes, contrasting white cuffs. This style is a remnant of when shirts had detachable collars and the collars were (usually) only available in white. Winchester shirts have fallen in and out of fashion over time but became strongly associated with the financial industry in the 1980s when the character Gordon Gekko wore Winchester shirts in the film Wall Street.
Cuffs
The main distinctions between cuffs are whether they require buttons or cufflinks to fasten, and whether they are folded back (double) or single. The main resulting types are therefore:
Barrel cuffs, the standard style fastened by one or two buttons according to taste. Double, or French, cuffs, which have an extra length of sleeve folded back and fastened with links, and are usually considered more formal than barrel cuffs. Single cuffs, the most formal style, usually only worn with formal evening wear (i.e. "white tie"), are fastened with cuff links but are not folded back. Milanese cuffs in which the barrel has a portion of fabric that is folded back similar to a French cuff with no cufflinks. sometimes called gauntlet cuff.
In addition, there are some variations, for example barrel cuffs may be mitred, with the corner cut off at 45°. Less common styles include the Portofino, or cocktail cuff, which is a double cuff closed with buttons rather than cufflinks, first made by the Jermyn Street shirtmakers Turnbull & Asser, and later popularised by the fictional character James Bond in the films from 1962 onwards.
Other features A high quality traditional shirt has long tails, extending almost to the knees at the back, and so has seven or eight buttons. The vertical strip of fabric running down the front opening is called the placket, and gives a more symmetrical appearance to the joint between the left side, on top, and the right. This left over right order is also seen in waistcoat and coat fastenings, though women's clothing buttons the other way (right over left). The buttonholes, aligned vertically, are placed on the placket, though the top button and buttons at the bottom of stiff fronts are aligned horizontally. The buttonholes are one of the few places where the difference between hand and machine stitching can be observed while the shirt is being worn, and fashion designers sometimes use contrasting thread here or on the buttons themselves for extra impact.
To give extra fullness to the back, there are often pleats where the back panel joins to the yoke. On some fittings these are not needed, and handmade shirts may feature the extra fabric being worked continuously into the seam. In America, a box pleat is common (two pleats together in the centre), while in Britain the pleats are placed wider out under the shoulders.
The less casual shirts in Britain will have no pockets, but the standard shirt in America has a single one 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 large enough to hold a pack of cigarettes or a few pens (a pocket protector can be used). Less formal shirts may feature larger pockets, dual pockets, or pockets with flap closures; safari or other military styled shirts often feature two large pockets with buttoned flaps. Less formal shirts may have small pockets on the sleeves as well. Shoulder straps are virtually non-existent on formal shirts, with the exception of military clothing.
Short-sleeved shirts have a plain (no-button) hem above the wearer's elbow. They are considered a casual summer or tropical option, though many people wear only the traditional long sleeves in all circumstances.
Formal shirts In the UK, the term dress shirt is reserved for a particular type of formal shirt. There are formal day shirts for wearing with morning dress, and the white dress shirts used as eveningwear.
A day dress shirt is fairly similar to a normal shirt, and is usually white, with a stiff detachable collar, though other designs, such as a vertical blue stripe, are also appropriate. Double cuffs are most common. This sort of shirt is also conventionally worn by some barristers and judges.
An evening shirt, for wear with eveningwear, for example as part of black or white tie has some unique features. In the U.S., this shirt is often called a tuxedo shirt or tux shirt. The shirt is always white.
The shirt required for white tie is very specific. It should have a detachable wing collar and be fastened with shirt studs instead of buttons on the front. The studs are normally mother of pearl set in gold or silver, but black onyx inlay is also permissible. The cufflinks should match the studs. The shirt front has panels made of different material from the rest of the shirt which are the only parts seen under the waistcoat. The shape of the panels, one on each side, is either rectangular, or the older U-shape (designed to sit under the older 1920s U-shaped waistcoats, now largely replaced by the more modern V-shape). The material for the panels is either layers of thick plain cotton that is heavily starched (this type is often called a boiled front shirt as the shirt needs to be put in boiling water to remove the starch before cleaning), or marcella (piqué) cotton. Marcella is more common, but a little less formal, though still appropriate, since it was originally designed to be used on formal evening shirts, as the ribbing can pick up more starch and create an even stiffer front. Traditionally, collarless shirts with a detachable wing collar fastened on with collar studs have been used, but all-in-one designs are occasionally seen, though this is considered incorrect and to give a poor appearance by many.Flusser (2002). pp. 238–239Antongiavanni (2006). p. 174 Cuffs are single, and heavily starched (if the front is marcella, the cuffs usually match).
Materials
Shirts are made of woven cloth. The natural fibers used more commonly in the past were cotton (the most frequent), linen (the oldest), ramie, wool or silk. Nowadays, artificial fibers, such as polyester or polyester blends, are also used, due to their low cost and being less prone to creasing, despite being considered by most shirtmakers the poorest material, owing to less softness and breathability.Antongiavanni (2006). p. 109 However, while high quality cotton shirts can survive with care a few decades, a polyester/cotton blend may be used in more demanding environments. Giza cotton is a type of high-quality cotton which is the preferred choice among high-end shirtmakers, because of its long staple length. Linen produces a cool fabric that wrinkles heavily, and is mostly used in light summer shirts. Cotton is therefore the standard material for all but the cheapest shirts. Silk is occasionally worn, though it is hot to wear and has a marked sheen.