Shirts in Context

I can think of three ways to wear shirts: with trousers but without a jacket (like the fellow in the navy sports shirt in the illustration), with an odd jacket or sweater, and with a suit. Most of the appropriate shirt details depend on the context in which they'll be worn but one applies to all and that's the length.

Short shirt tails were a pet peeve of mine once. Dress shirts should be long enough so that they don't come out of the trousers when a man's arms are raised above his head. If a shirt has to be re-tucked in during the day it's because the maker tried to save a nickel on fabric and made the tails too short. For a cure, order shirts that are a couple inches longer than standard, with a seventh button on the front.

Aside from specialty shirts for formal wear, suits call for the most shirting formality. I like to pair my suits with shirts that have French cuffs, a placket button on the sleeve and more formal collars. In my own wardrobe that means cutaway, spread, and tab collars. Straight point and Eton collars are also fine, preferably worn pinned. And suits are the only proper companions for contrast collars and cuffs.

The differences between shirts for odd jackets and shirts for suits are minor. I prefer button cuffed shirts for wear with odd jackets. Precious metal cuff links look a bit too bright and glittery with tweed but a two button cuff (the second button keeps the cuff aligned) with a placket button seems about right. I prefer Eton, tab, spread and button down collars on these shirts and point collars are also appropriate. No cutaways, and no contrast collars.

When it comes to shirts for casual wear, which is any time they are worn without a jacket, just about anything goes. Casual shirt details warrant an essay all their own. Today, I will say only that for all the marketing emphasis by some shirtmakers on thick mother of pearl buttons and hand stitching, the only time those features come into play is when a shirt is worn without a jacket. Hand sewing is critical to the construction of a tailored clothing but on a shirt it adds nothing to fit and what it might add to aesthetics is usually covered by a jacket (or, in the case of those extra thick buttons, by a necktie). My advice is to buy machine sewn MTM or bespoke shirts to wear with jackets and use the money saved for tailored clothing upgrades.