Shirt from pg. 209 of "Dressing the Man"

"The brute covers himself, the rich man and the fop adorn themselves, the elegant man dresses!"

-Honore de Balzac

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andreyb

Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:11 pm

Gentlemen,

For me, one of the most beautiful pictures from Alan Flusser's "Dressing the Man" is the one from pg. 208. (Unfortunately, I was unable to find it on the Net. Any good soul equipped with scanner?)

First, it depicts a happy family moment.

Second, it emanates "bespoke". Well, I'm not sure that all the clothes Mr Niven wearing had been bespoken, I just like to think they were.

Among other things, I like Mr Niven's shirt, and plan to order one in similiar style. Gentlemen, can I ask you to explain major style elements of this shirt?

What type of collar it has?

I noticed that top button loop is unusual. Are all buttonholes should be of similiar style, or only the top one?

Is there indeed a flap on the pocket?

It has long sleeves. Correct?

Andrey
falke
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Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:27 am

Andrey,

The shirt is a long-sleeve Camp Shirt. The collar is soft and when the top button loop is fastened, one cannot see the loop or the button as they are hidden under the collar. The rest of the buttons on the shirt are standard: no loops. When you order your shirt, you can individualize it to have a flap on the breast pocket and chose the appropriate cuff style.

I actually have a couple of these shirts made. Short-sleeve Camp Shirt is ready available, I would strongly recommend that you get one and try it on before going for bespoke because you may not like it. I know it looks good in the picture but you never know. In my case, having "wasted" money to have my shirts custom-made, I ended up choosing a totally different style of casual shirts.

Falke
andrei67
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Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:40 am

Sulka in the Centenniary collection had a range of such luxury shirts - named "old-fashioned collar" - I have several in various colours and patterns, but since its demise the only place to seek them is on EBay.
RL have them in linen and cotton named "Caldwell", as well as Bergdorf Goodman under their private label (as well as many others - I'm only listing those that I have "first-neck" experience))
I'd recommend to try the RTW first for comfort before venturing in bespoke - because this style is still somewhat old-fashioned (though I'm a fan)
andreyb

Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:07 pm

falke, andrei67, thank you for answers!

Now, thanks to AskAndy member hmhill, I have a picture:

Image

I googled "camp shirt" and found some pictures. Now I recognize that propably I seen this shirt before. But the shirt Mr Niven wearing is different -- the collar is relatively big compared to ready-made cousins. Or is it only my eyes?

Andrey
falke
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Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:40 pm

It is hard to tell from the picture, the shirt collar could be higher than the ones currently available off-the-peg, however, try one first before going for custom-made. Here are some reasons.

Do you normally wear a jacket with this shirt? In my case, I do and the jacket tends to "crush" the shirt collar and since I don't like to have my shirt collar over my jacket, this shirt does not work for me.

Do you like to wear this shirt tug in or over your pants? Depends on your preference, the shirt bottom may be different and the shirt would be more fitted or fuller accordingly...

As you can see, there are a lot of little details that you need to consider and you won't know them until you try one on.

Falke
Hesketh
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Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:23 am

andreybokhanko wrote:.... But the shirt Mr Niven wearing is different -- the collar is relatively big compared to ready-made cousins. Or is it only my eyes?

Andrey
It looks to me as if the collar is constructed to be worn open, with interlining coming down to the first button so it rolls properly. The size of the collar would be the same as a normal shirt, but because it is lying open it looks larger.

Alex Kabbaz has posted a picture of this type of collar before, probably it is on his website.

Regards

Rob
dopey
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Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:06 pm

Hesketh wrote: . . . Alex Kabbaz has posted a picture of this type of collar before, probably it is on his website.
The shirt Alex posted is beautiful, but of a different construction. On Niven's shirt, the collar is a separate piece and is attached to the neckband. On Kabbaz's shirt the collar, neckband and inside of the front placket are all one piece.
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