Contrast Collars

Contrast collar shirts are a look that goes back to the time when shirt collars were separate from shirt bodies. Prior to 1920, if you owned a striped shirt body you probably didn't own a matching collar and so you wore white. Today, the collar is sewn on. The collar should be spread and cuffs should be french and, while the cuffs don't have to be white, I think the shirt looks better that way.

Many contrast collar shirts began as conventional solids and stripes. Visible wear happens first at a shirt's collars and cuffs and it's just good sense to return them to the shirt maker for new ones. Since the fabric of a colored shirt will often not match the original bolt after fifty or a hundred launderings, the shirt maker replaces the worn collar with white. That's how most of my contrast collar shirts came about.

White collars on colored shirt bodies are not for the insecure. The combination is seen reasonably often in London and Manhattan but it's a definite standout once you leave those islands of formality. Wear it with dark suits and discreet neckties. Plain white linen pocket squares pick up the white collar perfectly.