Yeah, so I haven’t posted anything for a long time. I’m a horrible person.
I am going to let real life segue into the post this time and then we can quickly get into one of my favorite things.
This week, I celebrated six wonderful and unforgettable years with my beautiful wife with a great dinner out, time with friends and playing with my daughter. It was the best.
When wedding talk began creeping into the picture about eight years ago, it became necessary that I learn about the infamous Four C’s. Gentlemen, if you are not familiar with the Four C’s, and you are ever planning on getting married, may I suggest you start Wiki-ing it now?
The Four C’s typically refer to the four things to look for when picking out a diamond – in my case, an engagement ring. These four refer to color, cut, clarity and carat.
And while I am sure places like Zales invented this alliterative tool to convince you to buy a more expensive diamond than is necessary, it is a requirement to follow these rules when selecting engagement finger-wear.
We are talking about dress shirts in this post, including a little bit about their history, what to look for in purchasing and some that I currently find appealing. While discussing dress shirts, I want to impart on you another set of Four C’s – this one my creation, but just as valuable to the man, and also sure to please the lady-friend as well. Just don’t expect the same reaction to a well-fitting dress shirt as you would get with diamonds.
The four important things you should know about dress shirts are: cut, cloth, collar and cuff.
Cut
When buying a dress shirt, you essentially have two main options when it comes to its make: ready-to-wear (or off-the-rack) and bespoke (or custom-made). I personally have never had a shirt custom made, but I hear it is a heavenly experience. Regardless, most shirt tailors charge a minimum of $100 per shirt and most have a minimum order (especially your traveling tailors or the more high-end names).
So the majority of us are going to buy off the rack. But off the rack does not mean that quality or fit has to be sacrificed; it just depends on what you are willing to pay. Personally, I have seen dress shirts sold for as little as $14.99 and for as much as $800.
But from the high-end to the imminently affordable, most labels are going to feature multiple cuts or fits of their shirts within their respective lines. The trick is finding what fits you best, and then searching for one within your budget.
You have heard it here multiple times, but slim is in. Mass-production designers are noticing, but also have tough decisions to make. While a tailor for a bespoke shirt can fit one to your precise measurements, labels have to produce for the masses, and the masses don’t always look the same. Designing this way has led to two basic measuring metrics for ready-to-wear.
Sizes - this is your standard small, medium, large, extra-large, etc. What this means from label to label is up to them. Most labels are going to have a pattern they draw from to determine these sizes. Whether that pattern starts out narrow or more obtuse is up to them. Many of your medium-range shirts when it comes to price are sold this way: think Banana Republic and J. Crew.
Measures - when you see that a dress shirt is a 16/35 on the tag or price slip, that has a distinct meaning. The size of your neck in inches will always come first followed by the length of the sleeve from the end of the shoulder to the bottom of the wrist. Most of your department-store dress shirts as well as your high-end labels are going to size them this way, but for drastically different reasons.
Department stores are selling to the large masses so they need to be prepared to provide something for every man that might walk in the door. High-ends, in my opinion, provide them in these sizes because the people that are buying them are dropping quite bit of coin and they need to know they are going to fit impeccably.
Two important things when considering cut. Go to a reputable men’s clothing store immediately and get the salesperson to measure you in those two areas so you at least having a starting point when looking for shirts. Get re-measured every six months or so so you are always looking for the right thing. Second, always try things on. Don’t worry about taking something out of a package or unwrapping something, that is why the salespeople are there and they should be happy to help you with different varieties. Not trying something on can lead to a miserable experience in your shirt a la the Gordon Gartrell knockoff from one of my favorite fashion moments ever on the small screen.
“No 14-year-old boy should have a $95 shirt unless he is on stage with his four brothers!” And no matter what his friends said when he accidentally lets them see it, this is not and never will be a cool dress shirt.
Cloth
You have a lot of possibilities when considering the cloth with which you shirt is made. The basic (and where we will spend our time today) is cotton; you’ve got linen, polyester (not really many pure polyesters, but rather polyester blends), and then various subgroups of these such as gingham or poplin.
When considering cotton, dress shirts are usually like your bed-sheets; the higher the thread count, the higher the quality. Basically, thread count means that the producer has counted the number of threads in a square inch of material, in this case, cotton. More thread in that count usually leads to softer, finer material which is ideal when considering dress shirts, especially in mild climates.
It has been said that an average thread count for cotton shirts is around 150, so you might see some places from time to time advertise their 180′s or 200′s on sale – and that refers to thread count. Always view these “better quality” shirts for yourself before purchase to make sure it is a pure weave and not some combo hybrid or something.
Poplin refers to a fabric that has some sort of rigid yarn of something (usually silk, rayon or wool) running through that gives it more of a structured or “unwrinkled” look. A lot of the wrinkle-free brands you see advertised are probably poplin or poplin blends. Easy to pick up and wear as well as throw in the dryer if you aren’t able to dry-clean.
Gingham is the standard plaid or checkered look you see on so many dress shirts today. Essentially it is an inter-weaving between two fabrics or fabric that has been dyed different colors. The blue and white windowpane shirt that it seems like every man has is your basic gingham.
Linen or linen-cotton blend is, of course, a very light-weight fabric that is ideal for very warm weather. Made from the flax plant, it is often very difficult to and labor-intensive to produce, so can regularly be more expensive than similar garments made from other materials, according to Wikipedia.
Any of these are going to be fine for you to wear in 2009 and beyond, but please don’t let me catch anyone in a silk dress shirt. Are you one of these guys?
Cuff
When it comes to cuffs on a dress shirt, you have two main options – not a lot of variety. Cuffs on dress shirts come as your basic barrel cuff, with usually one or two buttons, or your French cuff, which may or may not be adjustable, depending on the brand.
Barrel cuffs are by far the most common whether we are talking about mass-produced or designer dress shirts. These have a button hole on one side of the cuff and the button on the other – obviously. So while these don’t need much of an explanation, let me give you my guidelines for rolling up the sleeves of a barrel cuff shirt (something that is best ignored with French cuff shirts).
First, just unbutton the cuffs and leave the button on the sleeve vent still clasped. Do your normal one turn up and then do a second. But on the second, start tucking the fabric of the sleeve you are turning up into the roll. It will start to seem very tight, but you should be able to do it a third and possibly fourth time until the sleeve rests properly at about the elbow. The advantage to leaving the sleeve vent button clasped is that the sleeve remains tight and slim on your arm instead of baggy and loose like it would have to be if that button was undone.
Getting back to cuffs to wrap up, remember that French cuffs are for more formal occasions or to be worn with a suit and should normally be avoided when not wearing a jacket – although I have certainly been caught breaking this rule.
And no matter how debonair Brad Pitt may make it seem, please avoid the Ocean’s 11 unfolded French cuff he wears for the first quarter of the movie.
Collar
When considering collars, you are going to be faced with about four traditional options. Any of the four are appropriate, but some tend to be more popular regionally – whether that is throughout the U.S. or other parts of the world. Here are your four basic types and a little about each:
Straight Point
Straight point makes up the most common collar on for-sale dress shirts, and can work well with any facial structures or suit/tie type. With nothing extraordinary about it, you can usually find straight point collars at 2-3 inches between points on the collar (this distance is standard for how a shirt’s collar is referenced). On shirts with these types of collars, you will have a narrower opening for the tie than you would on other shirt collars.
Spread
Looking just like the name says it should, a spread collar is wider from point to point than the straight point collar – usually a full 3.5 to 4.5 inches, ideal for those who have a narrower neck to add some thickness to the complexion and make the face and neck seem wider. Sometimes you will see thicker tie knots, like a four-in-hand, on a spread collar.
Windsor
A variation of the spread collar, and also known as the wide spread, this is what’s often seen as a popular collar for very formal wear or in Europe (especially in the UK). The Windsor is categorized by a very wide distance from point to point, sometimes six inches, to the point where it seems like there is a straight line across the collar as opposed to a triangle or an opening.
This style was popularized by England’s Duke of Windsor and continues to gain a slow but steady following over in the states.
Button Down
Created by Brooks Brothers in the U.S., these serve as very functional and practical shirts that have the collars buttoned down to ensure there will be no shifting by the tie and that the collar will stay in place. Still, this remains a more casual style of collar and is not recommended for business suits or other more formal attire. Probably, these are best worn with a sport-coat or in an ensemble with no coat or tie required.
Good pictures of these and more as well as a guide to what to wear with your type of face can be found here.
Just please don’t let me see you in a collar like this one.
In that outfit, yes, you are funny like a clown, yes, you do make me laugh, and yes, you are here to amuse me.
And finally, some recommendations. Right now, my favorite dress shirts are from Zara and Ted Baker. Go search through the racks at Zara if you want a very well-fitting, well-made dress shirt that looks good with suits and jeans and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Ted Baker will run you around $150, but I have a hard time finding dress shirts that fit better across my chest and torso than these quality shirts.
My parents recently bought me a shirt from T.M. Lewin on London’s Savile Row, and I love it as well, so it may be added to the list soon
