Are button collars out-of-style? - Page 6

I see a lot of people here upset that someone questioned what is considered an American style classic, when making an observation about the high visibility of spread collars. Is it such a dreadful shock that more than a handful of people might choose not to wear such a collar? The fact is it doesn't actually preponderate outside of the U.S.

Not such an unthinkable "noob" question after all.

Agatha Crusty, the complaint you made, in light of the aesthetic goals typically associated with BD collars, would be like my complaining that patent leather shoes look "plasticky" and searching desperately for patent leather shoes with visible grain. You could maintain these aesthetic standards without the possibility of objective philosophical criticism, but it runs so sharply counter to normal aesthetics that the suggestion is one of unfamiliarity. Ditto saying that a Lagavulin 16 is just too "smoky", or that Lafite-Rothschild isn't sweet enough.

As for your supposed credentials, all I can find is a bunch of posts complaining that the supermarket should compensate you for a ripped shirt. I don't want to cast aspersions on your experience - prima facie was meant literally - I was just tired of n00bs pontificating without anything to back them up. But nobody benefits from internet slapfights, so why don't we just close up this thread and call it a day?

OCBDs won't go out of style anytime soon.

Could be because they're not available where he is. Button down collar shirts are not available here. Might be a regional thing, United States 'trad'?

Regardless of where they came from & when, the b/d collar is a hallmark of American style. You can buy it across the world online at places like J Crew or Mr. Porter, but it will always signal its American heritage whether you wear it with other clothes of this type (Brooks/trad/prep) or not. Agnelli liked his but he was hardly an Ivy League style dresser.

It is the most informal collar style you can wear with a tie.

I think it is more popular in the middle part of the country than here on the East Coast.

Guys making a big effort to 'style' will chose a spread or even a cutaway for the standard version of a stronger statement. This is why you see them so often on the forum.

They go in and out of fashion but are always in style. Whether their style identity has a place in your wardrobe is up to you.

The other thing to note is that you can really put buttons or even snaps on any collar, whether buttoning through or sewn underneath. Armani as put snaps underneath his collars for years, which has a neat effect until anyone unskillful irons them. Then you get little bits of shine. Collars with fabric pockets for hidden buttons get the same effect after one sub-expert laundering.

Also, you can put buttons on any kind of collar. The classic b/d collar has longer points, which is why buttons were thought needed to keep them from flapping about. But lately, as in the early 60s, you can find, at least on casual shirts, smaller-size spread collars and even club collars that button down.

Not exactly, I see them as more of a casual shirt, I mostly wear them when I am not going to have on a tie or with a sweater vest or something.

Not exactly what?

And are you stating general guidelines or simply relaying your own personal taste?

Well, he said: "...I see them as more of a casual shirt, I mostly wear them when I am not going to..." so my guess would be that he was stating his own point of view.

It's absolutely not like saying patent leather shoes look "plasticky", but it is analogous to a person who knows patent leather shoes are made of leather, and they are favoured by some other people, but who still decides they are not for him. Patent leather shoes are part of the general classic wardrobe, but they are not a universal standard.

And you made a real pejorative effort choosing your words to describe me merely as the author of: "a bunch of posts complaining that the supermarket should compensate you for a ripped shirt." They were not complaints, it was a legitimate situation. And even on that a large number of people decided I must be wrong, or merely a complainer because it didn't accord with their notions about how life ought to be lived "by a real man". Well fuck them.

Credentials? Who on earth here has credentials making them the last word in universal taste and style? I don't, and neither do you. I merely stated my preferences and why I have them concerning button-down collars.

West Coast college boy here.  All button down, all day every day. 

West Coast? Good God ... the 'prep' look has spread everywherre ... even beyond the land of real prep schools.

+1 That is a lot of 'first person' there.

You make a good point. If I think I wanted a "softer," slightly more casual and accessible look while wearing a business suit, I wouldn't start out with something like Huntsman or Brioni. Since I can't afford Huntsman or Brioni, this is immaterial to me. Since I retired, I am down to only five suits, and two of those are very casual in styling. I'd like get a few more, but the paucity of occasions for wearing a suit makes it very hard to justify the expenditure.

+1