Shirt Monogram Query

[gadfly]

Hello gentlemen,
Longtime reader, first-time poster in need of some advice. I am looking to have some of my favorite Brooks Brothers OCBDs monogrammed in the next few weeks. My initials are BEF, but I am the fifth in my family to hold the name (after my dad, grandfather, great-grandpa and great-great grandpa). For reasons of practicality as well as sentimentality, I relate strongly to the Roman numeral V and never sign my name without it. But I'm wondering what exactly the etiquette is on including suffixes in monograms, i.e. BEF versus BEFV. How would that even be stylized? It's important to me to include the "V" in my monogram, but if I do, I want to do it properly. And if doing so simply isn't acceptable or sartorially inappropriate, I'd rather just not bother. Help/thoughts would be much appreciated. Happy to be here!

 

[Murlsquirl]

Hello gentlemen,
Longtime reader, first-time poster in need of some advice. I am looking to have some of my favorite Brooks Brothers OCBDs monogrammed in the next few weeks. My initials are BEF, but I am the fifth in my family to hold the name (after my dad, grandfather, great-grandpa and great-great grandpa). For reasons of practicality as well as sentimentality, I relate strongly to the Roman numeral V and never sign my name without it. But I'm wondering what exactly the etiquette is on including suffixes in monograms, i.e. BEF versus BEFV. How would that even be stylized? It's important to me to include the "V" in my monogram, but if I do, I want to do it properly. And if doing so simply isn't acceptable or sartorially inappropriate, I'd rather just not bother. Help/thoughts would be much appreciated. Happy to be here!

Personally, I don't get monograms on clothing. I can't say it's unacceptable because there are plenty of people that do it, but I've always found it tacky. I understand the importance of the V for you, but that would be another reason for me to not do it....four letter monogram would be a bit much.

 

[ter1413]



Personally, I don't get monograms on clothing.  I can't say it's unacceptable because there are plenty of people that do it, but I've always found it tacky.  I understand the importance of the V for you, but that would be another reason for me to not do it....four letter monogram would be a bit much.

+1. Especially to the last part.

 

[12345Michael54321]

Assuming the monogram will be placed such that nobody but maybe the person laundering your shirts will notice it - which is the most acceptable and sartorially appropriate way to monogram a shirt - you're free to choose almost any sort of monogram you like. A simple 4 letter BEFV. A large "V," with smaller B, E, and F, surrounding it. A 2x2 arrangement of letters, with the B, E, F, and V, at the four corners of the imaginary square. Whatever.

Since it's not meant to be publicly displayed, it doesn't matter which arrangement you choose. Sort of how if you're attending even the most formal and traditional of weddings, you're free to wear boxers with pictures of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote on them, because it's not for public display.

If you choose to have the monogram placed such that it is on public display - as opposed to having it located on the shirt tail, the inside of the collar, etc. - then I'd maintain that the "most acceptable and sartorially appropriate" ship has already sailed.

 

[GClub1866]

Depends what you can have designed really.

If i was having this done i think i'd go...

 

[johng70]

+1. Especially to the last part.

Another +1. I concur that monograms are tacky and adding the "V" to it would really be tacky. Nothing wrong with being proud of your name or the fact that you're the 5th male in your family tree to have that name. So, by all means, sign your name with the "V". I just can't recommend a solution for monogramming - my advice is to just not do it.

 

[eagleman]



Depends what you can have designed really. If i was having this done i think i'd go...

That looks like a logo on a trucker's hat. If you must have a monogram, which I think are unnecessary, why not a simple V in a unique font?

 

[12345Michael54321]



That looks like a logo on a trucker's hat.

Not at all.

It looks like he's a member of the V Team - a superhero team that's all about vigilance, valor, and... I don't know... maybe vegetarianism. (I could have said "virtue," but that makes it sound like the V Team is all about taking pledges not to ********.)

And the 4 members of the V Team - Bef, Jef, Nef, and Xef - are warrior clones from an alternate reality future. And having resigned themselves to the fact that they're unable to return to their own space/time continuum, they used their advanced nanotechnology to create an architecturally dubious V Team Headquarters building. There, they sit around playing Tetris, until such time as the V Alert Computer informs them of a crisis somewhere in the world which they must use their amazing superpowers to address.

Oh, and they ride flying motorcycles, and have a super-intelligent chimp assistant, and Veronika - the beautiful daughter of the supervillain, Moustache Isolani - is secretly in love with Xef, and sends the V Team anonymous tips regarding her evil father's upcoming evil plans for doing evil.

Well, at least that's what that logo looks like to me.

And I forgot - at one point Nef fell into a bottomless pit and died when he struck the bottom. But then the power of a child's love and advanced nanotechnology brought him back to life. And a lot of fundamentalist Christian groups in the midwest got really angry and insisted that only Jesus could bring dead people back to life, but they mostly shut up about that after Moustache Isolani used a green power crystal to bring about the Great Zombie Uprising.

Also, there was a very limited first production run of the Jef bobblehead, where Jef was mistakenly left-handed (well, technically he was just wearing his watch on his right wrist, but everyone refers to it as the "Lefty Jef Bobblehead"), and if you have one of those bobbleheads in the unopened packaging, it goes for, like, $500 on eBay.

 

[ter1413]



That looks like a logo on a trucker's hat. If you must have a monogram, which I think are unnecessary, why not a simple V in a unique font?

I like this idea if you MUST do it.

 

[RSS]

I've never liked monograms. I see no reason to put them on anything.

 

[maxalex]

Monograms once served a practical purpose when all men wore the same starched white shirts and the risk of a mixup at the cleaners was not small. It was the grownup version of your mother initialing your underwear when you went off to summer camp or boarding school.

As such, monograms were discreet and meant only for the eyes of the laundry worker. At some point this utilitarian label became an affectation, probably around the time men stopped wearing identical white shirts. If you want to monogram your shirts, you can at least pretend you’re doing it for the “help”—that is, with small block letters that do not suggest you are a brand with a logo.

 

[mhip]

First thing I thought of was the fake meat restaurant that Norm goes to in Cheers.
He gets the "Bef and Loobster".

 

[Panama]

First thing I thought of was the fake meat restaurant that Norm goes to in Cheers.
He gets the "Bef and Loobster".

The Hungry Heifer?

 

[dieworkwear]

The only monogrammed item I have is a pair of suede split toes with an outline of my cat at the bottom: