Contrast Collar Dress Shirt
In men’s shirts, a collar is the part of a shirt, dress, coat or blouse that fastens around or frames the neck. The most common is the dress shirt collar that accommodates both large and small tie knots into the space between the collar leafs.
spread collar are an option these days for men who want to give their attire a modern twist. A spread collar has wider spread points that are angled outwards instead of pointing down. This style suits men with slim or long faces incredibly.
Typically, collars are seen to be the same exact color as the rest of the shirt itself. Like a blue shirt, is usually seen to have a blue collar too. However recently, a new trend has come up of the
contrast collar dress shirt
, which basically has the collar of a different color and the rest of the shirt is a different color. You wear these like regular shirts with suits or blazers and trousers. The only difference is that these shirts look way, way cooler than regular ones! So for example, you’re wearing a blue shirt but the collar can be white instead.
Want to make a good impression in a business meeting? Contrast collared shirt is your friend here.
The collars are usually in white, and the white and blue combination is most commonly worn. However other colors such as black, blue and yellow are also found. They are made of breathable, easy, soft fabric, usually cotton so washing and maintaining such shirts is the easiest. The contrast color dress shirt came around and became popular around the 1930’s and then made a come-back in the 70’s and 80’s.
Fun Fact: During the 1900’s, a couple of interesting terms emerged relating to the color of the collar worn by the white man. The terms ‘blue collar’ and ‘white collar’ were used to designate socio-economic status of working-class men. White-collared shirts became synonymous with highly-paid, influential, educated men belonging from the more significant professions, such as banking, accounting, politics etc. Whereas the ‘blue collar’ came to be associated with lower-paid, manual professions such as factory workers and construction.
The contrast collar shirts were actually popularized by films such as Wall Street (1987) by characters like Gordon Gekko, whose proclamation ‘Greed is Good’ still runs on the wall streets even today. And this is why, these styles came to be associated with wealth and class even in the 20th and 21st century.
Okay, but how do I wear a contrast collar dress shirt without screwing up?
You can go the safe way- wear a
navy blue tuxedos blue shirt with while collar and preferably white cuffs too with a navy blue three-piece suit, including a waistcoat, vest and blazer, and of course, red or black tie. Consider wearing darker and more professional colors (like navy blue) with your dress shirt. This look always works and gives an extra spark to anyone who wears it. Throw on a good watch and brown leather shoes to add to the shine.
Or if you want more vibrancy to your look, you can go with wearing a yellow striped or checkered shirt with white collars and beige trousers with brown leather shoes. Add a good tie and distinctive blazer to add to the vibrancy.
These shirts do not really need blazers and suits to compliment them. They look so damn cool even without them. You can wear a contrast collar shirt with blue, slightly faded jeans and you would shine a little bit more, because you shine everyday anyway.
If you still have doubts about who even wears contrast colored shirts anymore, then let me remind you of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, Prince Charles and David Beckham rocking these new style of shirts. You can easily steal Roger Moore’s look from his great times as James Bond where he wore a grey striped contrast color shirt with grey blazer and grey tie. Hair combed back, brown leather shoes, golden watch - he looked as suave as agent 007 is supposed to be.
Where do you wear a contrast collar dress shirt? Answer is, anywhere! Anywhere you like. If you pair it or style it the right way, you can wear it at a formal, professional setting or even to the dinner your neighbor is holding next week. For example, wearing these shirts with a blazer, tie and suit is obviously formal. But just wearing the shirt tucked in or even tucked out is informal. Either way, you are sure to win the hearts of many through any style you pick with these shirts. Usually though, these shirts are very professional and bold-looking, so preferably, at a formal occasion.
These shirts are available for literally every of every size- oversized, small, medium- name it, and you have it.
A more general guide to wearing this style of shirt
Try to make sure the cuffs are the same color as the collar. Standard collars such full cutaway, and spread collar are a great idea. Pick complimentary solid colors such as solid blues, greys, striped shirts etc. A darker color tie such as brown, navy or black does the trick. Not going to deny- a good, dark color blazer (preferably the same color as the tie) is important to pull of the shirt, but of course, not mandatory. Try not to go for colors on the opposite ends like if you pair red, green and blue all at once.