Dress Like a Man (18 page)

Pin Collars

At this point we're getting fairly esoteric. Most men will go their whole lives without ever seeing a pin collar shirt, much less wearing or buying one.

That said, it's a style that appeals to some men. If you're one of them, give it a try. You might just fall in love.

The pin collar is essentially a point collar, but with small slits and an accompanying metal pin. The pin slides through the collar, holding the points closer together than their natural spread.

This style is always meant to be worn with a necktie. A pin collar without one looks silly. The tie goes over the pin, which lifts it slightly up and forward. It's a dressy style, and goes best with suits, though you could pull it off with a blazer and conservative trousers.

Tab Collars

Like pin collars, these are verging on obsolete, but still appeal to a few dedicated fans. Each side of the collar has a small cloth tab, which button together to pull the collar very flat.

It's a good style for men who are fond of their neckties, and want them to really pop out at people. Beyond that, it's mostly a novelty these days -- good for feeling like you're a fancy dresser, but not significantly different from a regular point collar on any practical level.

Because the tabs pull the collar points in tight, the style works best on men with narrow faces. Broad-faced men should stick to something with a wider spread.

Shirt Cuffs

By definition, dress shirts have cuffs that are distinct from the sleeve. The cuffs are usually made from the same fabric as the rest of the shirt, set at a right angle to the sleeve (this is most visible in patterned fabrics -- if there are vertical lines running down the sleeve, for example, the same lines will run horizontally around the cuffs).

Cuff styles are referred to by a muddle of sometimes-overlapping terms, made worse by the fact that some designers use them differently than others. But basically all you need to know boils down to this: whether it's a single or a double cuff, and whether the cuff has a built-in button or not.

• Single cuffs
  are the more common style: a single band of fabric at the end of the sleeve. These are also sometimes called
  barrel cuffs
  .
  
• Double cuffs
  are long enough to fold back on themselves, creating two bands of fabric around the wrist. They usually -- but not always -- take cufflinks or chains, rather than having built in buttons.
  

Broadly speaking, cuffs with buttons are seen as less formal than cuffs with links. In business wear, double cuffs are seen as more formal than single, but single cuffs are still preferred (indeed, mandatory) for true formalwear.

There are a few more esoteric styles out there, such as the portofino cuffs popularized by the early
James Bond
films (a sort of cutaway version of a buttoning double cuff, worn at cocktail events with fine suits and semiformal tuxedoes). For the most part, these are novelties -- acceptable when you want to play the dandy a bit in social settings, but not for professional settings.

Shirt Pockets

Most dress shirts feature a single pocket on the upper left chest.

Think of these as vestigial, and resist the urge to put things in them when you're dressing nicely. If you're out on a job site taking notes on a clipboard or something, fine -- stick a pen in the pocket if you must. But by and large, avoid the "nerdy engineer" look by keeping the shirt pocket empty.

For dress shirts, stick with a basic patch pocket, open at the top. Pocket flaps relax the look of the shirt considerably, and should be saved for work shirts, Western shirts, and other casual styles.

Monograms

Most higher-end dress shirts (including the nicer ready-to-wear brands) include the option of a monogram.

These were originally a necessity, or at least a major convenience. Before laundry machines were a standard in-home appliance, one of the most common ways to have your shirts washed was at a professional laundress's, where they were thrown in mass tubs with dozens or hundreds of other shirts. The monograms made sorting easy.

Since that's no longer relevant -- even if you take your shirts to a dry cleaner's for pressing, they're almost certainly going to be bagged and tagged individually -- the monogram is a bit of an anachronism. Its main purpose these days is to indicate to people that your shirt is of good quality.

That makes it a touch flashy; even a bit pretentious. A prominent location like the edge of the cuff or the tip of the collar makes it seem like you're trying too hard.

If you feel the need for a monogram, keep it small, tasteful, and ideally out of sight. Just above the cuff on the sleeve is a good spot -- a jacket's sleeve will hide a monogram placed there, so that it can only be seen when the jacket is removed. That makes you seem modest when you remove the jacket and the monogram becomes visible.

Similarly, keep the monogram limited to your initials: one, two, or three letters, without framing curlicues or symbols. A basic cursive, copperplate, or newsprint-style font looks better than anything elaborate or gothic.

And at the end of the day, if you really want to look elegant, skip the monogram. Let the quality of your shirt speak for itself. Or, if you occasionally need the labeling, but don't want to make a show of it, have the shirt monogrammed at the bottom hem, inside or out, where no one will see it unless they're a cleaner who's looking for it.

Beyond the Dress Shirt - Other Shirt Styles

The basic men's dress shirt is a great default. It looks good with almost anything -- if you own a couple in white, a couple in light blue, and a couple patterned ones, you can make just about all your outfits work with them.

That said, variety is never bad for the wardrobe. You start to look a little bland if all you ever wear are long-sleeved, collared shirts.

Once you've got a good core of dress shirts, try out some other styles as well:

• Work Shirts
  - The same basic construction a dress shirt, but made of sturdier material (cotton flannel is the most common). Many have pockets on both breasts rather than one, and flaps on the pockets. Relaxed, comfortable, and practical, but not as classy as a dress shirt.
  
• Short Sleeved Work Shirts
  - Think auto mechanics, and you've got the style. Soft turndown collar, buttoning front, and enough length to tuck it in even though most guys don't. Good for working-class cred, but do us all a favor and don't wear grease-stained ones or ones with nametag patches outside of your actual workplace.
  
• Cotton Knits
  - Short-sleeved, it's a T-shirt. Long-sleeved, it's a knit, a long-sleeved T-shirt, a lightweight pullover -- no one agrees on the name. But whatever you call it, in plain monochrome it makes a nice, neutral layer. Make sure the fit is snug right up against the skin, with no billowing or sagging.
  
• Polo Shirts
  - Dimpled, short-sleeved shirts with soft collars. Solid colors and stripes are fine; corporate logos are not, unless you're on the job at that company. Wearing them under a sports jacket or blazer is aggressively preppy. Tucking them in is frumpy. On their own, with some decent khakis, they're perfect.
  
• Sweaters
  - Lightweight sweaters are versatile layering pieces. Wear them over a shirt with a visible collar, under a jacket, or both -- you've got options here. Just keep them light, close-fitted, and solid-colored, with maybe an argyle or some light striping thrown in now and then if you're feeling bold.
  
• Safari Shirts
  - Soft turndown collars, lots of pockets, and a breathable, lightweight material make these the tropical vacationer's garment of choice. Short sleeved versions exist, but get long sleeves with a buttoning sleeve tab so that you can roll them down for environmental and sun protection.
  
• Guayabera
  - A South American classic. Ignore the irreverent name "Mexican Wedding Shirt" and try one out in a light color, with some pleats and embroidery jazzing up the front. They look sharper than northerners tend to realize at first.
  
• T-shirts
  - There's a time and a place for everything. A plain-colored, tight-fitted T-shirt with jeans isn't dressy, but it can look pretty good if you've got the body to pull it off. If you don't, steer clear of the tee, or use it only as an underlayer.
  

You'll find shirts that sort of fall into the gaps here -- Hawaiian shirts, for example, are basically a short-sleeved work shirt's construction, but the patterned fabric turns them into their own unique category. Similarly, a "Henley" shirt is just a cotton knit with a slightly different collar style than the ubiquitous T-shirt.

Build the collection that suits your taste. Just be aware that the basic dress shirt is always going to be the simplest and most versatile option. If you want something respectable but neutral, go with the dress shirt, especially when you've got other "show" pieces like colorful trousers or a patterned jacket.

And, as with anything other item, spend your money on fit first, and all other considerations second. The shirt is the closest layer to your body most of the time -- it should follow the contours of that body comfortably.

C
HAPTER 26:
M
EN'S
S
WEATERS

When a jacket is too dressy, and shirtsleeves are too plain, the sweater offers a comfortable middle ground.

That's only the beginning of their role in men's fashion, of course. For all the damage that "ugly Christmas sweater" parties and catalog images of bland, suburban-looking men have done to the sweater's reputation, the long-sleeved knit garment is an impressively versatile fashion tool.

Materials and Construction

Unlike jackets and shirts, there aren't a lot of technical details to go into with sweaters. The key consideration (and the driving factor in cost) is the raw material and the style of knit.

• Cashmere
  is the luxury fabric of sweaters. It's soft, lightweight, and warm, offering insulation without bulk. However, buyers need to exercise caution -- the industry is not well-regulated, and many "cashmere blend" sweaters contain a very small percentage of true Kashmir goat hairs, with the rest of the blend made from regular sheep's wool.
  
• Angora
  , taken from the fur of the angora rabbit, is another luxury material. Unlike cashmere, blending is not necessarily a sign of low quality. Pure angora hair is too light and fragile for sweaters; a blend of 30-50% angora mixed with sheep's wool is typical.
  
• Mohair
  has fallen from favor somewhat because of its coarseness, but it offers excellent warmth with a very light weight. That makes it one of the most functional materials for outdoors sweaters -- not as fashionable, but very useful in cold climates.
  
• Alpaca
  fiber, and to a lesser extent llama fiber, are both also used in sweaters. The hair is softer than sheep's wool, and contains no lanolin, a fatty compound that triggers some skin allergies.
  
• Merino
  is a breed of sheep and a popular type of sweater wool. It's thicker than cashmere, but offers excellent warmth, and is still soft against the skin.
  

Other sweaters use wools from different breeds of sheep, or else are made from knit cotton yarns. Cotton sweaters are easy to care for, but lack the insulation or water resistance of wool.

Some sweaters are sold with reference to the number of "plies," as in 1-ply, 2-ply, etc. The number tells you how many individual strands were twisted together to make the yarns used in weaving the sweater. Each ply adds weight, so that a 2-ply sweater is twice as heavy as a 1-ply sweater, and so on.