Turn a button-down collar into a pin collar?

[Inker19]

I've been doing some research lately on collar pins and collar bars.

Since I don't really have the money to get a pin collar shirt custom made, I want to know if you can take a button-down collar, remove the buttons, and turn it into a pin collar?

 

[YRR92]

You don't need to get a shirt with the holes to wear your collar pinned. Just stick a pin through the shirt.

You can't stick a collar bar through the holes in a BD collar. It would be in totally the wrong place, and look ridiculous.

 

[Inker19]

You don't need to get a shirt with the holes to wear your collar pinned. Just stick a pin through the shirt.

You can't stick a collar bar through the holes in a BD collar. It would be in totally the wrong place, and look ridiculous.

So a collar bar can be used with any old point collar shirt? I'm not really into the safety pin look.

 

[upr_crust]

The answer is no - at least not in a way that will not be unsightly. A buttondown collar has two buttonholes at the tips of the collar, which, in this scheme, would need to be sewn up, and a new pair of holes about midway up the inner edge of the collar would need to be sewn in order to accommodate the collar pin. Pinning the collar through the existing button holes would lie too low, and one could always see the re-closed buttondown collar holes were the collar to be fitted with proper eyelets for a collar pin.

Wearing a collar bar with a buttondown shirt would, IMHO, be an example of "belt and suspenders" - visual and functional overkill.

 

[YRR92]

So a collar bar can be used with any old point collar shirt? I'm not really into the safety pin look.

AFAIK, there are three kinds of collar holders. The first is the safety pin, which can be worn with whatever. The second is the barbell, which needs the eyelets. The third is the clip-on kind, which I'm pretty sure just slides on to a normal point collar.

 

[Inker19]

AFAIK, there are three kinds of collar holders. The first is the safety pin, which can be worn with whatever. The second is the barbell, which needs the eyelets. The third is the clip-on kind, which I'm pretty sure just slides on to a normal point collar.

I was looking to get the clip on kind like this

 

[YRR92]

I was looking to get the clip on kind like this

It seems to me that would work better with a shirt with no holes in the collar. Not 100% certain, of course, since I've never worn one.