Purpose of shirring on shirt sleeves and back?

No nitpicks about pattern matching please! I recall some old posts by Iamatt and Mafoofan on their Anna M shirts and shirring in the sleeve (at the armholes and cuff). What is the purpose of shirring at these two locations and at the yoke at the back. I understand that shirring at the shoulder is done to get a small armhole but a larger sleeve at the biceps, then have the sleeve gather into the cuff. How exactly should this be done, though, and how should one instruct a tailor if one wants this detail (considering not all of us have access to the best in fashion capitals around the world)? I think a tailor may misunderstand and interpret your desire for shirring as a cosmetic preference and miss any functionality or give you an overly blousy shirt. For example, should the armhole be smaller that it would be otherwise? Finally, would a shirt with shirring look strange with a split yoke given that the former is Neapolitan and the latter is very English? Here are Mafoofan's photos of his Anna M shirt, if he doesn't mind:

Another thing... do pleats into the cuffs fit just as well?

This is a very conservative viewpoint, but I think it's folly to ask a tailor to do something that he or she wasn't trained to do or is outside of his or her tradition, like imitating regional features in clothing, because they won't execute it as well. But more importantly, unless you're the next Great Fashion Designer who can synthesize great new things from exisiting tradition, the look won't be right too as you will be making a mongrel shirt with a feature from one tradition, and another feature from a different tailoring tradition with no really coherent vision of what you want to end up with.

You can see Oxxford fall into this trap when they tried to update their jacket silhouettes with the Radcliffe --- that jacket looks schizophrenic and discombobulated.

--Andre

Definitely agree (although I'm not sure how much variation there is in shirts as opposed to jackets and coats). That's why I'm trying to understand if what Mafoofan and a few others were demonstrating has functional advantages (in terms of fit).

To give you context, a tailor told me he can easily do what's in the photo. I'm wondering if he understands the fit issues or just thinks you one wants a wider sleeve in the armhole to create ruffles.

I agree with Andre. You're asking for trouble.

You should go all out with shirred shoulders and yoke, turnback cuffs and mandarin collar. And don't forget the collar balls.

Um, collar balls?

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

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You should go all out with shirred shoulders and yoke, turnback cuffs and mandarin collar. And don't forget the collar balls.
Shoulder balls, heathen.

The more balls the better, I say.

Originally Posted by iammatt

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Shoulder balls, heathen.

Nubs.

M, do you or do you not have balls on your collar? I could swear I remember looking closely at your balls.

I hate to admit it but the shirring on the sleeve/back is one of the things i enjoy wearing. Its that subtle little detail, covered at the current moment under my coat....but I know its there.

Regards.

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

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I could swear I remember looking closely at your balls.

Perhaps you were looking at my balls, but I'm talking about my nubs.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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Perhaps you were looking at my balls, but I'm talking about my nubs.

No need to be bashful about your balls. If I had balls like yours, I'd flaunt them proudly. But, to use your terminology, does your collar have nubs? I'm trying to get to the bottom of this. Encyclopedia Holliday is on the case.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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Perhaps you were looking at my balls, but I'm talking about my nubs.
Would that be between the balls?