Tab Shirt Collars

It's not seen often in the UK for some reason but I've read that the late Duke of Windsor had a hand in the invention of the tab shirt collar. Whatever its origin, the tab has been worn by style conscious men for at least sixty years (author Tom Wolfe owns the high collared version in the photograph, which is courtesy of Kabbaz-Kelly). The advantage of the design is that the tab, closed with a stud, button or snap depending on your own and your shirtmaker's preferences, elevates the necktie knot to a proper angle without the flash of a collar pin.

Mr. Wolf prefers to wear his collars stiff, but I believe the tab has a particularly graceful shape when it's worn without stays, especially when the collar points are rounded. It's a tie-wearing collar of course, and a four in hand tie collar at that. The construction is meant to be covered by a necktie and mine couldn't be closed around a larger knot even if I was inclined to tie one.

Tab collars are appropriate for both city and country wear, and they seem proper with either button or French cuffs. If you're a tie-wearing man that hasn't had the pleasure, treat yourself.