﻿Strange History Of Shirt Collars [0:00:00]
So, imagine walking into a room and people recognizing you as the most powerful man in
the world because of your color. And this is no ordinary color, it can only be worn once
and it costs more than what most people would earn in their entire lives.
Today's video, I'm going to break into three parts. First up, the military
origins of the collar. Where does it come from? Next, we're going to talk about what exactly are
collars and all the different types out there. And, finally in part three, we talk about
famous men and their collar styles. And I'm going to go way back. Yes,
we talk about that incredibly powerful guy that had that super expensive collar.
But, we're also going to talk about people like Shakespeare. We're going to look at some modern
style icons and some fashion trends that I bet you didn't know where they came from.
So, the collar has its origins back in the high middle ages. What we saw were advances
in armor. And men were now wearing helmets, they were wearing chain mail to protect themselves.
But, there was an issue. There was a very vulnerable area even if you wore
a full face helmet and that was your neck area, thrusting weapons could easily penetrate. So,
all of a sudden, they developed the gorget. Now, the gorget was a solid piece of metal
that protected the neck from thrusting weapons. The issue with it, though, is it was on a very
sensitive part of the body and it was incredibly uncomfortable especially even if you had chain
mail underneath it. If you didn't have a piece of cloth or material, it would go underneath it.
Now, initially they would wrap clothing, but that could lead to choking and it
was incredibly uncomfortable. And that's where they started to develop the collar,
a piece of cloth that could go in right there to separate the skin from the armor.
Now, this may seem like an incidental piece, but, again, it's touching the skin and it's
something that would lead to irritation. And the men that were commissioning these to be made,
everything was handmade, so they would have it made to their exact measurements.
They would also want to make sure they didn't have any excess cloth because that would lead
to just it being hot, that would lead to, you know, fabric wrapping up and
getting in the way or leading to irritation. So, it was something that all of a sudden,
you saw men starting to wear these collars, you know, even when they would take their armor off.
And by the way, interesting fact, the modern military still uses a gorget. In fact,
I remember when I was in the Marine Corps, I was issued a gorget before going into combat.
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Yeah, go check them out, awesome company. Now, in the 16th century, we saw an
interesting thing happen in the Spanish and the English courts. And that was all the sudden,
people started paying attention to these collars and having fun with them both men and women.
It started to become a status symbol, something that,
hey, let's make it a little bit more flamboyant, let's add some ruffles, let's add some lace. And
next thing you know these things started getting bigger and larger and drawing more attention.
What people really liked about this is it did a great job of framing the face. Most
of the clothing at the time was very dark for practical purposes. But, here around the face,
you could have a light collar, which basically would reflect the light would shine and draw
attention to the face. [0:05:01]
Now, for over a hundred years, flamboyant collars were the thing. I mean, just look
at pictures back from that time period, again, whether it was men women, you had
Shakespeare even jumping in on this thing. I mean, yeah, it drew attention to the face,
they looked good. But, eventually collar started becoming more practical, again,
17th, 18th century. But then, an interesting thing happened in the year 1827 in the United States.
There was a woman in New York that came up with this really simple
idea of detaching the collar and cuffs by the way from the shirt because here was the deal is
white shirts were prized by people of means. Why? Because it was a clear indicator that you
didn't work with your hands, that you worked in a very high level or you didn't even have to work
and you could wear white. So, those that did wear whites and a lot of people liked to look like they
were upper class, they would have to wash the stuff every single day. And imagine washing an
entire shirt, the thing would wear out. But, this woman has a genius idea,
let's just detach the collar because that gets really dirty, the cuffs the same and we'll wash
those separately. They even got better on this, they actually used what's known as celluloid. It
was an early form of plastic and they actually created these plastic collars and plastic cuffs
and they were selling them very inexpensively. Now, if you still had money, you were taking
your collars and your cuffs to get washed. They were made from linen,
they had to be starched a lot. But, again, this was a status symbol. It was a clear indicator
whenever you had that white collar, you were a man of power, you were a man of money.
And at this point, some of you guys may be wondering about the origins of
blue collar and white collar. Blue collar referred to those men that worked with their hands.
Blue- collared shirts indigo was used as a dye, very inexpensive.
And these collars were also attached to the shirts. They were not nearly as stiff,
they were very rounded, very soft collars actually, probably a lot more comfortable. But,
blue collars especially still even today in France are still associated with the working class.
Now, getting back to the military, I do want to talk about it was World War I and World War II,
which actually brought the demise of the collar. Men going off to combat World War I,
they started getting used to those soft collars that they were issued with their uniforms.
The same thing we saw, again, in World War II. There were just changes in where manufacturing
was going to be focused at. We saw the, you know, detachable collar really fall off after World War
I and pretty much disappear after World War II. All of a sudden, collars started becoming softer.
There was a wider variety and many men actually were deciding, hey, to start
ditching the collar and going with t-shirts. So, we covered the military history. We talked
a little bit about status. Now, let's talk about exactly what collars are.
I've been using this word, but how do we define a collar? Well, when pertaining to clothing,
the collar is a part of a shirt, coat, could be part of a dress or
blouse that fastens around and frames the neck. Another key part of a collar is it's made from a
separate piece of fabric. So, we do not have a continuous piece of fabric from the shirt into
the collar. They can be made from the same exact material, but they are separate pieces of fabric.
Why this point is important is when it comes to construction, the collar is oftentimes one
of the most expensive parts of a shirt. And if you were going to get that shirt adjusted,
knowing that adjusting a collar especially trying to make it bigger is next to impossible.
Now, you may be asking the question, how many types of collars are there? And the answer,
there's actually an infinite number. And I don't mean that in jest, I mean, it really
comes down there are four measurements in the modern collar. And if you adjust any of these,
you can get a different style of collar. So, the four factors are tie space,
band height, collar spread, and point length. Now, many of you guys that have followed my
channel, you know that I used to own a custom clothier. And all four of these can be adjusted
depending on the customer. But, to be honest, the tie space
is we really didn't do too much here. If somebody came in and asked for it, I would widen it a bit.
This is usually for a man with a larger neck. If he's going to be wearing a large necktie knot,
then giving him a little bit more room, though, it gives us the ability to adjust the collar. But,
really, this was something that we didn't touch. Now, the collar height the band height, this was
something on a man that had a very long neck or a very short neck that on occasion we would
actually heighten it or make it a bit shorter. Now, the collar spread and the point length,
these are very important because simply changing this right here, you can go from a point collar
to a spread collar to a widespread collar to if you want to adjust that and at the
point all of a sudden you've got curved, you've got club collars.
This is where we get all the different styles. But, I do recommend just starting your collection,
go with the classic point or with a medium spread. You don't need to go with a wide spread, a medium
spread in my opinion is one of the most versatile styles out there when it comes to shirt collars.
So, that leads us to the various type of modern shirt collars out there. Well, first up,
let's talk about the classic point collar. So, right here, we're going to see an angle
of about 50 to 70 degrees and we're going to see a point length of about 2.75 to 3 inches.
[0:10:01] Now, this collar style can be worn
with without a tie, although a tie is going to be the preferred way and it's the majority of shirt
collars out there. Thankfully, these manufacturers started giving you guys more variety more options.
And one of my favorites is the spread collar. Now, the spread collar sometimes called the
wide spread collar, we're going to see the angle here at about 70 to 140 degrees. And
the length of that collar is not going to be as long. It's going to be about 2.5 to 2.75 inches.
And I think that this is a great collar style if you are going to wear that dress shirt or
that button down without a necktie. If this is going to be something that maybe you want to
wear with a sports jacket, pocket square. It's a really versatile collar, one of my
favorites to be honest. I highly recommend if you're going to get just a few dress shirts,
make sure you've got a couple of these. Now, you are going to see also cutaway collars.
These are going to have an even wider angle. And this is if you really like to wear that full
Windsor knot or if you just got maybe a face shape that really is going to work with this.
Again, I would look up in the mirror, there's just certain people that they
like this particular type of style. You can also wear this without wearing a necktie and it
keeps the collar really right out of the way. Next up, we've got the button-down collar. And
this is very similar to the point collar, except for the fact that it's got that button down there.
And the button is to keep the collar in place. This is a casual style, although, I've seen a lot
of guys mess up a great looking formal looking suit with a button-down collar. Understand,
it's casual. That being said, you can't wear it with a necktie with a more
casual suit in a more casual setting. It was made popular by Brooks Brothers.
It's a good looking classic collar, just understand its limitations.
Now, with the rise of dandies around the world, we've started to see the comeback of
the pin collar. This is very rare. I made a few when I had a clothier on special request. But,
it is something that, yeah, it's you got to have the special hardware for
it. It's made to actually be held in point. This is going to be just one of I would say
eclectic collar. This is a collar that I do like to see on a man that understands what he's doing
and it really can set you apart from the crowd. But, again, you've got to have a collar pin
to keep it in place. Now, occasionally,
you will see a tab collar. And this is similar to the pin collar, except it doesn't need a pin.
But, it does have a button underneath there that's hidden that keeps it exactly in place.
It's a very buttoned down look, a little bit more formal. Unless you wear a suit
and tie every day, than go for it. Now, the most formal modern collar
style is actually one of the simplest and that is the wing collar. Notice right here,
this is going to be a very rigid collar. It has been around for a long time.
And you wear this with a bow tie, black tie, white tight,
depending on how you're dressing that night. This is for formal or semi-formal wear. Only, this
isn't something you just wear to a suit or to an interview. It's a very particular type of collar,
you're going to have to look around for it. Now, you're also going to see some other
styles of collars out there. These are a little bit more informal, a little bit fun,
club collars. They actually get their name, they were popular in clubs. People that were
part of organizations, they were actually I think first originated from schools.
You're also going to see the band collar, which appears to have no collar, but it does have the
band. And the band is officially a collar. This is something that was made popular in
a lot of uniforms, but you've also seen a lot of people associate this maybe with similar to the
narrow collar or the Mandarin collar. So, at the beginning of this video,
I mentioned a very powerful man, who would wear a collar that basically would send shivers
through anyone that was in the room with him. And that was Philip III of Spain.
So, this is the height of the Spanish empire. This guy was arguably the most powerful man in
the world. The guy did have some fashion sense or at least he understood the power of the ruffle.
Now, you may say this and say, oh, what's the big deal about ruffles? But, understand that
the – I mean, the material made was actually a lot better than the material we're even using today.
And it was so expensive the design and the build of those ruffles,
it could only be worn once before the heat of the body would actually cause it
to break up and not be used. So, they would build these for wear up one time and they were more
expensive than what the vast majority of people in his country even earned in their lifetimes.
But, you know, he didn't care. You know, he's like he's a monarch there. In the medieval ages,
this guy was just, yeah, he was at the top of the world. And it was something
that everybody started jumping in on this. I mean, these things were huge for almost a
hundred years. Yeah, people were wearing these ridiculous ruffles not only in the collar,
but also on the cuff. And don't be fooled, it wasn't only monarchs. You got, you know,
Miguel de Cervantes, Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, Benjamin Franklin, even Abraham
Lincoln was a fan of a good looking collar. Now, you may be thinking, ah, that's something
old school history, no one cares about collars anymore. Have you ever watched the movie,
Bullet? Look at Steve Mcqueen. Okay. So, this isn't the normal
collar you think about, but the turtleneck right there that is an iconic look. I mean,
I -- he just makes the turtleneck sweater in general some mirrors made it pop.
This was something I think when worn a guy can really send a message. I know a
lot of people think it doesn't work for them, give it a shot, right? If this is
a -- if it may -- if it looks good on you, you will just get so many compliments.
[0:15:06] Now, a collar can also be
your signature look. The late Carl Lagerfeld, look at his collar right there. I mean, you associate
that you could take the guy's face out and that collar that high standing white collar, which
just became synonymous. It was his calling card along with his sunglasses and that white hair.
Point being is the guy just, yeah, he looked like a fashion icon. That being said, you don't have to
look a little bit strange like Carl, though, you could actually just look really good.
Tom ford consistently wears a strong powerful collar. Want to look like Tom Ford? Yeah,
go grab that Slick Collar. Again, I'll link to him down in the description. Awesome sponsor.
But, I mean, just seriously, look at -- he's got a uniform. He wears those dark colored suits with
those white shirts. Occasionally, wears a necktie, but when he doesn't, that collar stands up. He
opens up those buttons in the front. The guy just, yeah, sex appeal just -- just flows off this guy.
But now, let's talk about a fashion trend that I actually didn't know where
it originated from until I read the story. And I thought this is actually really cool.
So, any Manchester United fans out there? I know a lot of you guys probably hate Manchester United,
but you've got to give some respect to Eric Cantona. I mean, seriously,
when you go look at the stats, you got to give that legend, I mean, they're
in the 1990s. This guy made things happen. But, what do we remember about him? Like or what
was the legacy that really lasted beyond him? It was that turned up collar. It
was an act of rebellion and it became his signature calling card look with a simple
uniform that he couldn't do much with. But, he did flip that collar up
and there were so many young men, I mean, let me know down in the comments if you were a guy that
occasionally you would flip that collar up just because you made – it made you feel cool.
There was something about -- I mean, we joke about it, I've seen, you know,
that meme out there with all of those like a hundred flip colors on a kid.
Point being, though, is at that time and if you were a fan,
this was a look that allowed you to connect with a guy and simply a collar that we flipped up.
Now, guys, if you watch the video this far, I want to hear from you down in the comments
what is your favorite collar style. What video to watch next? Guys,
I got you covered with this one right here. Don't worry it is a surprise
and I’m not going to rick roll you. I promise, it is a good video that you're going to enjoy, one
of my good ones that doesn't get as much love. Yes, what am I talking about? Find out, guys,
click it right here. Go check it out, solid video. But, again, let me know in the comments down below
your favorite collar style. [0:17:33] End of audio