Formal shirts - buttoned collars?

[pkiula]

Hi. I was in Tokyo recently and in some of the very high end fashion stores, saw business shirts made for suits with collars that have buttons. They're semi wide spread, and still have buttons. The look is pretty sharp, but to be honest I thought formal business shirts don't have buttoned collars? Have I been self-imposing a rule that doesn't exist?

 

[Will C.]

It's not your made-up rule, but's it's a rule that's made to broken- you can find an interesting picture of Fred Astaire in a suit and button-down shirt. I personally dislike the style though.

 

[MrInvariant]

Recently BD shirts, contrast collars, and colorful buttonholes/threads are very popular in Japan. So this might be the reason for your sighting.

IMHO the BD shirts are perfectly fine, but most guys cannot pull off the contrast collar look, and they just look awful.
The colorful buttonholes only drag your attention to how ugly the buttonholes/cheap plastic buttons are (in most cases).