John Rotten wrote:

What is running along the shoulder seam of that shirt?

Beautiful collar.

That's a prototype for an innovative pattern making technique. At the time the video was filmed, Siviglia was testing new curvatures/equations for the scye and sleeveheads for his patterns, among other things.... that's why each panel in the prototype has different color fabrics.

Tony Ventresca wrote:

These things seem to be like bow ties. They might or might not look good on you. Don't force them.

Suddenly, I do see more and more of these white collar and/or cuff shirts. Seems checked shirts in NYC have suddenly vanished. Good thing I never fully subscribed to that mania.



Also, I haven't quite decided if I like both white collar and cuffs or just white collar more. At the moment I like both, sometimes only the collar; it's case by case. Of course, I think I have maybe a total of 3 shirts like this all with both white collar and cuffs.

Tom Ford contrast collar shirts

The memory is going and I am repeating myself.

At least I am consistent. Next step contradicting myself in the same thread.



David Steel arentcha just sick off him ?

David Steel dontcha just luv him ?

I do enjoy seeing the contrast of contrast collar shirts, however I think they look best without a jacket unless one is re-enacting Wall Street in the 1980s

...hey! there's an idea for a new forum!!!

From the good folks at T&A.

JDelage wrote:

I'm curious about the intended use of the contrasting collar button-down shirt (1st picture in the thread).  It's nice, but to my eyes it seems to combine incompatible images.  I'd love to know more (Charlie Wilson was wearing them in the movie "CW's War", IIRC).

I know little about English tastes, but in Italy men who buy top notch custom clothes often get their old shirts refurbished with new cuffs and collars... in white, of course. Also button downs.

Big Tony wrote:

Film Noir Buff wrote:

Big Tony wrote:

I do enjoy seeing the contrast of contrast collar shirts, however I think they look best without a jacket unless one is re-enacting Wall Street in the 1980s

...hey! there's an idea for a new forum!!!

Those shirts were popular in the USA mainly because it was the only way to wear a lot of colors and patterns that were taboo for work. Although some Americans have always worn interesting shirts, most wore blues, whites and very simple (usually small gauge) stripes. At one point I remember feeling like a maverick wearing blue butcher striped shirts.

the white collars meant something too, I believe, something like only senior bankers would wear white collars or maybe that's an urban legend

Film Noir Buff wrote:

White collars and cuffs allowed the fancier dudes to wear some of the bold "Turnbull and Asser" shirt fabrics to the office because the "white" sort of made the shirt white. Men didnt take their jackets off as much at one time. Anyway, the fact that (from what Im seeing in NYC) anything goes as far as shirts, obviates one of the reasons behind the white contrast collar and/or cuffs. I think this all started when Americans went to London for investment banking and imported the English style. Of course, they get the color and patterns wrong which means you often get shirts that look more like pajamas worn. Right now, theres a real trend to wear "tartan" shirts with suits and ties.

interesting viewpoint, imo I think anything goes with a white collar

intrigued by tartan, do they wear it with a white collar? otherwise it would be just a sport shirt

Maybe the white collar and cuff shirt was the BSD shirt at one time, along with the right to wear braces, I dunno.

Way back when, the contrast collar shirt started out by copying the English thriftiness. Back then, men had detachable collars and could replace old collars with white ones. When they became attached, men still got old frayed collars and cuffs replaced with white ones. Eventually it became a style on its own to be used on brand new shirts. For some advanced dressers, contrasting collars could come in all styles and colors like yellow and pink. But the above mostly applied to solids, simple stripes etc.

A lot of Americans really loved the bold shirt patterns and textures but felt they could never wear them to the office. The white collar and cuffs seemed to make every shirt "white" and thus acceptable. As far as anything goes, that's true in a vacuum but Im speaking about cultural acceptance. Thins in America go from novel, to widespread, to over done, to cheapened, to worn by the wrong people, to the dust bin. The horizontally striped shirt is a good example of something which should have stayed custom and got trampled by every Joey bag-o-donuts. Single breasted peak lapels look like they will be another victim.

American shirt tastes were recently quite uptight. I remember not too long ago, Paris shirts made mostly blue, white and a smattering of relatively tame stripes and micro checks. I always felt so in front of the curve with some unusual solid colors and two color stripes. Now, the shop is a kaleidoscope of color, pattern and texture i never thought would be possible for the American workplace. And, Im still in front of the curve!  Which demonstrates we all move as a society even when we think we are being original.

The tartan shirts Ive seen worn with ties are self collar and cuff and quite dark and densely patterned.

Separate collars is the reason. They came in white and still do.

I like them - currently have blue, pink, lilac, stripes x 3 all with white collars and cuffs. They look good under a suit and they improve the range of ties that can be worn with the shirt if it is patterned. They also offer a show of white at the back of the neck and cuffs which is often a better look than the main fabric.

Tom Ford shirts

Big Tony wrote:

http://forums.filmnoirbuff.com/uploads/ … ner_17.jpg

Link cuffs? Interesting.

Also, the body is that heavy twill, which I hate.