White Contrast Collars - Are Contrast Collars Proper For A Business _ Work Setting - Collar
History
Hi, I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style; today we’re going to be
talking about white contrasting collars and are they appropriate for the workplace?
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Okay this is the question that came in.
“Hello Antonio, I’ve been enjoying your site and YouTube page for a year or so now.
I’ve been impress with your ability to regulate, create post and put out a new content.
Your consistency is appreciated.”
Well thank you sir.
“I wanted to ask if you could write or talk about contrasting white collars.
I was wondering if it limits the shirts versatility.
And if you have any guidelines or suggestions regarding white collars with the collars shape
style and the man’s body build.
I'm concerning a white collar on an ecru shirt, I like the ecru color for many of my suits
but I have a golden yellow complexion.
I'm Filipino and I'm worried that they’re going to blend too much with the color, especially
when I lose my tan with the winter.
I fear the white will help with that or could I be over thinking it?
Thank you for your time, Jonathan from Chicago.”
Okay and he also adds at the end that he works in government and that he’s surrounded by
a lot of sharp dressers there in Chicago.
Alright, so let’s talk a little bit about the contrasting cuff, not just cuff but actually
he’s asking about the color but usually see the cuff as well.
So that’s – where is this come from?
And why do you see it on men’s shirts?
Well the history with this is collars and cuffs are the first thing to wear out on a
shirt.
So there was a very – there was an ingenious woman, at one time she got tired of washing
her husband’s clothing and she said, you know, wouldn’t it be easier because it’s
the cuffs, and it’s the collar that get dirty all the time and wear out.
“What if I just made them so that they came off?” and so she did that.
And this is a white on white shirt because that’s what was primarily wanted about 100
years ago.
And so she took it so it was, she basically just made it so that they were interchangeable
and – so she saved herself on doing laundry and what we had was the removable collar and
the cuff.
Now this fell out of style because it was kind of a pain in the butt to mess with this
stuff, to attach it, and laundry became easier to do but what stuck around was the idea that
you could actually mix match colors and cuffs.
And used to again, be white on white but then you saw the white probably getting stuck on
blue and I'm sure it happened the first time because a guy had to had to work.
He was a little bit – maybe he didn’t really mind so much and his wife was like,
“okay we’re putting this together and you’re wearing it.”
That’s how I would like to think it evolved, who knows?
That’s probably lost there in history.
But in any case, what we started say, were different color shirt bodies, mixed with a
white cuff and a white collar.
Nowadays, I see this primarily in the world of banking and finance and the signals that
it sends to me and this is important because this is – whatever comes to somebody’s
mind, this is what you’re dressing for in many ways.
What you’ve got to pay attention to.
To me it symbolizes that you’re above working with your hands and you’re more of somebody
who works with your mind.
So it’s not necessarily a bad thing but if you’re in the construction field or you’re
in a field in which you want to be more down to earth, more approachable with the people
that you work with, you probably want to be careful with that type of style.
It gives kind of a little higher ends style which, again, if you’re in the banking world
perhaps you want to send the signal that you’re not – that you are of someone of the intellect
and that you’re a good person to invest your money with.
In any case, you’ve got to make that decision but you’re question is more okay.
I'm Filipino, I’ve got a little bit color of yellow in your skin color, especially during
the summer you’ve got a bit of a tan but during the winter you’ll lose that tan and
your worried that the ecru which is kind of a yellowish colored shirt is going to be too
close to your skin color and the white is going to help offset that.
I like this logic and I think you thought through this and this is a pretty – I think
it’s a good idea and if you think this is going to look good in it.
Sounds like you’re already surrounded by some pretty sharp dressers, I would go for
it.
I think this sounds like a good combination but just know the history and know the symbolism
that you’re going to be sending out there to the world.
But it sounds like you’re pretty aware of it and hopefully with that little bit of a
history…
…lesson you’ll be a little bit more prepared when you put this together.
The other thing that I would talk about is – okay I'm sorry.
You want to tone down the rest of your outfit because this contrast is going to be probably
the style feature, so you want to be looking at everything else you’re wearing and perhaps
tone it down.
So you don’t want to necessarily work your brightest tie, you don’t want to wear an
outlandish pocket square, you don’t want it to be with the suit that’s already drawing
attention.
Basically your shirt – because of this contrast and because it’s not the most common thing
and again this depends n your environment but you probably want to let that be the item
that you’re actually wearing that pops.
Okay, well hopefully that answers your question and we didn’t get into a lot of other colors,
I think this contrast works great with light blue, with dark blue, with ecru, I’ve seen
it with pink, I’ve seen it lavender, so but primarily it works with solid.
Now once you start mixing the solid white collar and cuff with stripes like with the
kind of shirt I have here, you’re going to – it’s not going to have as much of
a pop but I don’t think it looks as great but certain of them can pull off, I’ve seen
it pulled off but you need to be a little bit more style savvy.
Okay this is been Antonio Sentinel with Real Men Real Style, I’ll see you in the comments.