Q. What is your take on button-down collars? I find them to be a lot more casual but I wonder why companies that make nice dress shirts continue to make them. Am I correct in assuming you cannot wear them with suits and blazers? I tried it recently and it looked terrible.
A. The truth is you can wear them with suits and blazers as long as the suits and blazers are the right cut. Before I discuss further my opinion of button-down collars and when they are appropriate, the answer to why good dress shirt manufacturers continue to make these button-down shirts is because people still ask for them.
When it comes to how men dress, there are two quite different overall categories: 1) traditional, also known as Ivy League or prep; and 2) fashion forward or European style. Men usually identify with one way of dressing or the other.
By "European," I refer to British or Italian tailoring. British suits are cut closer to the body than American styling. They have narrower, more defined shoulders with higher armholes. Jackets are more structured and have two side vents. The more-trendy Italian look is known for its slim cut, a silhouette that is sleek, modern, and very stylish. These styles do not really "go with" the conservative button-down shirt.
Elements related to one type of dressing may feel foreign to a man who is comfortable with the other. When he moves outside his comfort zone and inserts something into his wardrobe that is not "his look," he may think it looks "terrible." I am guessing that you are comfortable dressed in slimmer, fashion-forward looks. That is why you feel off-kilter with such an Ivy League element.
An important part of being well dressed is wearing items that are compatible. As an example: A light blue-and-white striped button-down Oxford cloth shirt is widely considered to be the epitome of traditional dressing. It has an academic, even professorial, air. It is discordant -- somehow wrong in "spirit" -- with a fashion-forward European suit or blazer. But it is just right with American traditional (Brooks Brothers-style) tailoring.
A button-down collar represents "the old-school, all-American look." For many men, it has "never gone out of style and never will." Nevertheless, even the most traditional dresser realizes that his Ivy League shirt is not quite appropriate for every event in his life. Men sometimes need to dress "up"; sometimes they dress casually, and some occasions call for something in between. It is not logical for a man to wear the same clothes for a normal day at the office and for a dressy meeting with a large investor or the chief executive of his company.
With its slightly dressed-down air, the button-down collar is at the casual end of the business shirt spectrum. It is the most American of collars. A man can wear it in the office or the boardroom. The purposefully nonchalant "soft roll" of the collar relaxes the look and lessens any excessive formality that the rest of his business combination may project.
I should point out that these categories are not written in stone. Because there are so many variations, the differences have become blurred, allowing for some leeway in choices.
To answer your specific question, I happen to like button-down shirts. While they are not exactly formal enough to wear with a very dressy dark pinstripe suit, they have many uses. They are perfect with a bow tie. They look great with a blazer, a sport jacket, or any not-too-dressy medium-toned suit. They are ideal in a casual pattern such as a check or a bold plaid, especially paired with a solid knit tie. Nothing works better worn casually open-at-the-neck, either alone or under a crew-neck sweater.
If you do want to give button-downs another try with a suit or blazer, I suggest you look for dressier fabrics, such as smooth broadcloth in a Bengal stripe or quality pinpoint Oxford cloth rather than standard Oxford cloth. Another strategy to help make these shirts more compatible with your own look is to pair them with a not-too-dressy and not-too-shiny silk tie, perhaps a handsome repp stripe. Well-cut dress pants or khakis and good-looking loafers complete the look.
Send male fashion queries to
Lois.Fenton@prodigy.net
High Profile on 08/10/2014