getting your collar to spread open on a button-up shirt?

[Fat-Elvis]

Wasn't sure where to post this, but whatever. I often times see guys with button-up shirts, sometimes with the top two or maybe three buttons undone, and the collar or upper area seems to naturally spread out. How do you get your shirt to do that, and why don't mine do that? They usually hang barely open at all, or kinda just droop down a bit. Is it a certain kind of fit you need? Or a shirt designed to look like that? Or certain kind of collar, or what? Because pretty much none of my shirts do that when I wear them, whether they're tight-fitted or loose.

 

[dusty]

Uh, if you're referring to what I think you are, it looks absolutely awful when that happens. That being said, all you need is an actual dress shirt, one with a stiff collar.

 

[somatoform]

I think I know what you're talking about. I think it's the construction of the collar. So when you leave it unbuttoned at the top the collar (which is probably a soft collar) spreads out nicely, almost sticking to the shirt--the way a collar would look completely buttoned. Whereas with a stiffer collar, like a dress shirt, when you leave it unbuttoned it looks blocky like it's sticking out.

I'm not sure what the technical jargon (apart from "soft collar") is for such a collar but they almost always have a little keeper or no keeper at all and the collar material is just slightly thicker than the material of the shirt.

Of course, dusty is right: if it spreads too flatly (including the collar band) then it just looks awful.

Again, I'm not sure, but Thomas Pink has a soft collar section on the site.

 

[somatoform]

I think I know what you're talking about. I think it's the construction of the collar. So when you leave it unbuttoned at the top the collar (which is probably a soft collar) spreads out nicely, almost sticking to the shirt--the way a collar would look completely buttoned. Whereas with a stiffer collar, like a dress shirt, when you leave it unbuttoned it looks blocky like it's sticking out.

I'm not sure what the technical jargon (apart from "soft collar") is for such a collar but they almost always have a little keeper or no keeper at all and the collar material is just slightly thicker than the material of the shirt and the collar has a bend to it like it's permanently contoured to the shirt.

Of course, dusty is right: if it spreads too flatly (including the collar band) then it just looks awful.

Again, I'm not sure, but Thomas Pink has a soft collar section on the site.

 

[Eason]

Buy it dinner first.

 

[Fat-Elvis]

I don't mean the collar being flat against your shirt. I mean, for example, if you're layering it over a t-shirt and the top of the dress shirt spreads open to reveal that sexy Gap graphic T, or just a chest-full of hair.

 

[diggs99]

you want magnetic collar stays. They will do the trick. a company called wurkinstiffs will have them, they have a website, just do a search

 

[somatoform]

Originally Posted by Eason

Buy it dinner first.

No ******* kidding, eh. I didn't realize how many sexual innuendoes I wrote: the sticking out, the softness (made flacid), the stiffness, the bend, stickiness, and thickness.

Crikeys!

I was enjoying the post so much I even double shot it!

 

[alan]

Casual shirts that come like that are referred to as "spread collar". I believe that has a different meaning in dress shirts with ties and such, but shirt collars come designed to spread like that.

Sometimes it can look good, but if its too wide it looks cheap and Tony Montana-ish.

 

[Style_Deficit]

I know what the OP means.

It's pretty easy. I do this with all my Ben Shermans. Just hang them very close together in your closet and "spread" the collar of each shirt before pushing it up against the back of the adjacent shirt . You don't get any wierdass "flared" collar effect doing this, just a natural "open" collar.

 

[Fat-Elvis]

Originally Posted by Style_Deficit

I know what the OP means.

It's pretty easy. I do this with all my Ben Shermans. Just hang them very close together in your closet and "spread" the collar of each shirt before pushing it up against the back of the adjacent shirt . You don't get any wierdass "flared" collar effect doing this, just a natural "open" collar.

hmm, sounds good, I'll give'er a try.

 

[dnvl]

Are you talking about button-down collars in particular or any ol' shirt? If the former, I totally know what you mean. My shirts always looked pretty buttoned up even when I had a few buttons undone (annoying).

I think it actually has to do with how the shirt fits in the shoulders ... not to the edge of your arm, but rather how the shirt hangs off your shoulders front-to-back.

For me, I just bought smaller shirts (haha) and now it works out great!

I think Style_Deficit's method is good, too, though I haven't ever tried it.

 

[stickonatree]

HERE YOU GO: http://www.ericglennie.com/splitcollar.html

 

[Fade to Black]

i just browsed Eric Glennie's collection in its entirety. This man is the next Helmut Lang of fashion. Eric, you should start doing regular collections every 6 months try to get shown in New York.

 

[jkw]

I think it generally depends on the construction of the shirt, although stiff collars (with metal stays) have always worked best for me. Of course the way it fits on you etc also play a part. The wurkinstiffs that diggs posted above have interested me for a while, i just wish that I could find them in a store...