All about men's fashion: Part 3 - Collar Shapes.

The collar design is one of the essential features defining the style of every shirt; the collars of the early shirts were cut in various ways. The fundamental distinction is that between the stand-up collar and the turn down collar.

Some of the collar shapes.

THE WIDE TURN-DOWN COLLAR - The wide turn-down collar is the most formal, and at the same appears the least conspicuous collar style. The gap between the collar tips may vary.

These are also the examples of turn-down collar. I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that Ronald Reagan said, "its possible to make long neck look shorter by wearing a wide collar, just as a short neck can be made to look longer with a narrow collar".

THE CUTAWAY COLLAR - This elegant collar shape has many names, mostly it’s called the cutaway, or the spread collar. The name refers to the typical way in which the collar tips are cutaway to the sides. In fact this design allows a free view of the neck tie knot. The cutaway looks more elegant than the extremely turn-down collar.

THE PIN COLLAR - The pin collar, on which the collar tips are connected with pins of various designs, is also a very American collar style. Sometimes the collar design looks very elegant. The pin collar can be worn with collar tips which are relatively close to each other.

THE BUTTON-DOWN COLLAR - this design has a special stature among collar designs. It looks just as good with a necktie as without. Someone who wears this collar with a necktie look very "dressed up", nevertheless, the button down collar looks less formal than other designs.

THE TAB COLLAR - this design is very famous in USA than in other parts of the world. It was supposedly first worn by Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII on a journey to the USA. Americans adopted this style with enthusiasm. The small strap emphasizes the knot of the necktie very elegantly. However the collar cannot be worn without a necktie.

All about men's fashion: Part 2 - Choosing A Shirt.

I guess there is no need for introduction, so let’s cut the chase and move on to the important stuff..

First of all, how to choose a good shirt. ..

Some good shirts at a glance.

Collar bones - a good shirt has a removable collar bones. Most collar bones are made of plastic but some outfitters offer brass collar bones. Whatever they are made of, they give the collar the right curve and prevent the collar tips turning up. This can be particularly important when the shirt is worn with a neck tie.

Split yoke - as people generally have shoulders of different heights, a split yoke can be used to adjust the fit of a shirt precisely to the man's stature. On ready-made shirts split yoke is just a detail and suggests expensive work.

Buttons - traditional buttons are made of mother-of-pearl. Mother-of-pearl buttons are so hard that they will break the needle of sewing machine.

Sleeve - on a good shirt the cloth of the sleeve is pleated several times where it meets the cuff. In addition there is often a small button above the cuff that prevents the sleeve opening up to reveal the arm in an unflattering way. in very good shirts the button holes are horizontal, and not vertical. On the very best shirts it is hand sewn, of course just like the other button holes.

Gusset - a Gusset a triangular piece of material is usually added for reinforcement in the corner between the breast and the back. This detail can be seen in all good shirts.