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In American English, a 'dress shirt' is a men's shirt with a collar, a full-length opening up the front from the collar to the hem, and full length sleeves with cuffs. The opening fastens closed along a placket using buttons or studs, and the cuffs close with buttons or cuff links. Some very formal shirts have separable collars attached with studs.
In British English, that garment is simply called a ''shirt'', while a 'dress shirt' is specifically a more formal shirt of the style worn with black tie or white tie. The majority of this article discusses dress shirts in the more general (American English) sense.
Dress shirts are normally made from lightweight woven cloth, and can be worn with a jacket and tie (including suits and formal wear). Less-formal variations on the standard pattern are also common. An alternative term is ''button-front'' or ''button-down'' shirt.
The analogous garment to a men's dress shirt for women is a blouse.

Contents

How the shirt is constructed

Usage

Formal or informal

Casual

Types

Materials

Collars

Cuffs

Other features

Sizing

Dress shirts for black tie and white tie

Differences between the UK and US

Makers of dress shirts

See also

How the shirt is constructed

A traditional tailored shirt collar has 12 separate components.
; Collar : The flaps of the collar are known as points; the open space or gap between the points (when the shirt is on) is called the spread.
; Yoke : This is the most difficult part of the shirt. This is the shaped section at the shoulders that connects all the other parts of the shirt. A split yoke has two pieces sewn together to help shape it to the shoulders. Maria Iampietro invented the Oxford shirt in 1862.
; Two sleeves:
; Two cuffs:
; Two front panels:
; Back
; Placket

Usage

Formal or informal

A dress shirt is ironed free of wrinkles and may be treated with starch for added smoothness and stiffness. The hem is tucked inside the waistband of the trousers.
For most modes of formal wear, a coat and necktie are mandatory. In this case, the top button of the shirt is fastened, so that the tie can fit snugly around a gentleman's neck with a neat appearance. Standard colors for dress shirts are shades of white and light blue. In informal attire, solid pink, yellow, gray, ecru, and fine stripe and check patterns are common.
The dress codes of black tie and white tie have highly specific requirements for shirts; see below.
See also: informal attire and morning dress.

Casual

Casual usage is highly variable. A wider variety of colors and materials are worn. Most men omit the necktie and may eschew ironing their shirt and tucking the hem in. It is common to leave the top button unfastened. Dress shirts are a typical garment of business casual attire, a position shared with tennis shirts. Casual dress shirts are sometimes referred to as 'sport shirts'.

Types

There are many different types of dress shirts. The less-formal versions are rarely worn with a coat and tie.

Materials

Dress shirts are made of woven cloth, most commonly cotton; linen, polyester, polyester blends, and silk are also used.
Some standard formal options are cotton broadcloth and cotton poplin.
A wide variety of fabric textures are available for less-formal garments: Oxford cloth, corduroy, denim, flannel, twill, etc.

Collars

Main articles: Collar (clothing)

; Spread : a collar with anywhere from 3½ to 6 inches between the collar points. The wider collars are often referred to as a Cutaway collar. The spread is the most formal style outside of formal wear.
; Point or Straight also the Small : a collar that appears narrow, with 2½ to 3¼ inches between the points of the collar.
; Tab : a point collar that has two loops of fabric extending from the middle of the collar which meet behind the tie. Meant to give the tie an arc, the tabs can be closed with either a metal snap, button or stud.
; Club : an informal rounded collar popular in the first half of the 20th Century, it was normally worn with a collar pin
; Button-down : a collar, usually a point, that buttons to the front of the shirt at its points. Introduced by Brooks Brothers in 1896, it was patterned after the shirts of polo players and was considered a sport shirt until the 1950s in America. It is still today a more casual style.
; Varsity : a type of spread collar in which the points curve outward from the placket of the shirt.
; Tony Collar : an extremely formal collar in which the entire collar covers the wearer's neck and also encloses the top part of the tie, usually the entire knot.
; Tall : this collar is bold enough for the dress down-down look. If you have a large neck, the tall collar helps to minimise the effect. It may often fasten with two buttons.
Contrast-collar shirts are occasionally made. In almost all cases, if there is a contrast collar it is a spread collar in white on a colored shirt. The shirt fabric is often an end-on-end or pinpoint fabric in which there are white threads along with coloured threads. Contrast collars are also often found on striped shirts where there is a white stripe in the shirt body. White collars on otherwise non-white shirts are an aesthetic reference to the mostly-obsolete detachable collars, which were made separately from shirts. White collars on non-white shirts are considered more formal than non-white shirts with matching collars.

Cuffs

Main articles: cuff

; Barrel : a cuff that is fastened by one or more buttons. Sized dress shirts (i.e. 15½ x 34) have only one set of buttons while an averaged shirt (i.e. 15½ x 33-34) has two sets of buttons arranged horizontally along the cuff.
; Turnback or Portofino : a double cuff that is closed with buttons. First made by the Jermyn Street shirtmakers of Turnbull & Asser and later popularized by the fictional character James Bond in 1962.
; Double or French : a cuff that is twice as long as a barrel cuff and is folded over itself. A French cuff can be closed with either a cuff link or a silk knot.
; Single : a normal length cuff that is closed with a cuff link; worn with morning dress, tuxedo, or white tie
; Mitre : this cuff is named after the bishop's hat. The Mitre is a daytime cuff, but it differs from the button cuff as it has a slight fold on the end of the cuff.

Other features

There are almost always at least seven buttons on the front of a dress shirt, regardless of size. Eight buttons is standard with higher end dress shirts. A vertical band running down the front opening that contains the buttonholes is called the 'placket'; it is located on the wearer's left side, to fit overlap the button row on the edge of the right half of the shirt (this is the reverse of blouses).
There are often pleats on the back on either side or, less formally, a box pleat on the centre of the back. Pleats are also found on the sleeves just above the cuffs. The more formal shirts in England will have no pockets, but the standard dress shirt in America has a single discreet pocket 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 just large enough to hold a small piece of paper or a few pens and a pocket protector. Less-formal dress shirts may feature larger pockets, dual pockets, or pockets with flap closures.
A more formal feature that can be found is a white collar and white cuffs on a coloured or striped dress shirt. These are most appropriate when worn with a suit.
Short-sleeve shirts have a plain (no-button) hem above the wearer's elbow. Short-sleeve shirts are considered casual wear, though it is not uncommon for them to be worn under jackets or coats where the lack of sleeves is less obvious.
Western-style shirts often feature slash pockets and snap fasteners throughout instead of buttons.

Sizing

In the United States, sizes of dress shirts traditionally consist of two numbers like ''15½ 34'' (the second number is often below the first on the label). This example means that the shirt has a neck that is 15.5 inches in girth (measured from center of top button to center of corresponding buttonhole) and a sleeve 34 inches long (measured from midpoint of the back and shoulders to the wrist).
However, in response to economic pressures to reduce the number of sizes needed to be manufactured and stocked, sizing is now frequently seen with average sleeve lengths in the form of three numbers like ''15½ 34/35''. This example means that the shirt has a neck that is 15.5 inches in girth and a sleeve 35 inches long. However, the cuff frequently features two buttons, allowing the cuff diameter to be tightened so that the cuff does not come down over the hand. This allows the shirt to fit the shorter length.
Casual button-front shirts are usually sized as ''small'', ''medium'', ''large'', ''XL'', etc.
The meaning of these ad-hoc sizes is not standardized and varies between
manfacturers.

Dress shirts for black tie and white tie

In the United Kingdom, the term 'dress shirt' is reserved for particular type of formal shirt, always white with French cuffs to be worn with eveningwear. In the USA, this shirt is often called a ''tuxedo shirt'' or ''tux shirt''.
The shirt required for white tie is very specific. It should have a wing collar and be fastened with shirt studs instead of buttons on the front. The studs should be either gold or silver with a mother of pearl inlay. Black onyx inlay is also permissible. The cufflinks should match the studs. The front panels of the shirt are heavily starched and polished so that they are stiff. Traditionally, collarless shirts with a detachable wing collar fastened on with collar studs have been used, but all-in-one designs are increasingly common. An even more formal alternative to the piqué shirt front is a shirt with heavily starched front panels of a plain material, fastened in the same manner. Such shirts are now uncommon. Cuffs will ideally be single, but heavily starched and polished.
Black tie offers more leeway. Shirts may be soft (not starched), and often have a regular collar (turndown collar). In past decades, particularly the 1970s, ruffled-shirt fronts were fashionable, although they are now out of favour. Studs are optional, they are usually black. Cufflinks are generally black (ideally silver with a black onyx inlay), but can alternatively be an old school, college, or regimental design.

Differences between the UK and US

Standards for the style of shirts differs very much from the UK to the US. The most accepted style of collar in the UK is the spread collar, while in the US the point and button-down collars are more often seen on dress shirts. The French cuff is much more popular in the UK than in the US. Many shirts in the US feature a centre back box pleat, where in the UK it is common to find the side pleats. The breast pocket is a common feature on dress shirts in the US, but not popular among the English shirt makers. The colours, patterns, and stripes are often much more conservative in the US than in the UK, where people more freely wear bold stripes and checks.

Makers of dress shirts

Within the UK, makers of dress shirts include the Jermyn Street shirt makers T. M. Lewin, Thomas Pink, Charles Tyrwhitt and KJ Beckett. Dress shirts are also available from Marks and Spencers. Other shirt makers in the UK are:

★ Sean O'Flynn

★ Turnbull & Asser

★ Hawes and Curtis

★ Ben Sherman

See also

★ US standard clothing size