The London Lounge

I see that many recommend plastic collar stays for shirts, for several reason.

Given that I'm allergic to plastic near or around my body, I'm not using any collar stay. But what do you suggest in the place of plastic? I think that metal is not flexible enough, while MOP is too much prone to breaking. Tortoise shell? Horn? And where to find them?

Dear Giona,
I asked my shirtmaker to craft a shirt collar which remained stiff and laid flat on the body of the shirt without collar stays ("collar bones"). It works: Budd, in London, uses heavier interlining, I think; and a newly-commissioned shirtmaker in New York told me that he'd employ Charvet's technique -- a bit of fusing (only of the interlining, not of the face cloth) at the tip of the collar.
With good wishes,
Robb Storm

Giona,

I always use silver stays from Ede & Ravenscroft. I don't find their rigidity a shortcoming and I like the weight they add to my collar.

BS

I have some stays made from MOP and they work well, no breakages yet. I got them from Chuck Franke.

I have another set in crafted in 18k gold. Works equally well, and I find the flexibility very good. But I had mine given me by my wife, and it has our anniversary engravings on it. I like it for the discreteness...the bones stay inside the collar to be seen by nobody. Don't forget to remove them before sending to the laundry...

I used to have a pair of stays in 18kt yellow gold that possessed the fairly rare gift of being adjustable in length.

I generally use none at all because I tend to find they make the shirt collar too stiff and make it stand up when I want it to follow my neckline. I find that a good starching by the genius who runs my laundry does the job nicely and makes the collar firm but flexible. I do have a pair of sterling silver collar stays that I've had for years. They have the advantage of being extremely pliable and I use them when the collar won't behave on its own.

Some of the collars at Anna Matuozzo, Naples, are so soft and curvaceous, it makes me want to forego collar stays and stiff collars forever.

http://www.annamatuozzo.it

I am surprised that as inert a substance as a plastic collar stay could cause an allergic reaction when it is not even in actual contact with your body. If it does, I'd probably simply go with brass collar stays, which are relatively inexpensive and readily available.

You could probably get a good woodcarver or certainly a machine shop to craft you a set out of the original material ... bone. With oil prices rising logarithmically, I shouldn't be surprised if bone becomes once again the most economical collar stiffener in the not too distant future.

I recall Michael wrote in the old Yahoo site about a French maker who
specializes in genuine tortoiseshell (from the very limited _legal_ supplies
in the World), which, like horn, is naturally hypoallergenic. Jona, maybe
you could treat yourself with a nice set or tortoiseshell stays... Assuming
they are not unwieldy expensive!

By the way, I hope oil prices stabilize, or in the worst case, increase
logarithmically. With a decelerating (i.e. logarithmic) increase in oil
prices, the price of plastic would surpass the price of bone in a very long
time! Still, I think bone/horn is always a nice alternative to plastic.

Best regards,
Miguel

AlexanderKabbaz wrote:You could probably get a good woodcarver or certainly a machine shop to craft you a set out of the original material ... bone.

Abbeyhorn makes bone bones, although they only come in two sizes. Perhaps they could produce a pair in a custom length.

AlexanderKabbaz wrote:You could probably get a good woodcarver or certainly a machine shop to craft you a set out of the original material ... bone. With oil prices rising logarithmically, I shouldn't be surprised if bone becomes once again the most economical collar stiffener in the not too distant future.

The German mail-order company Manufactum sells collar stiffeners made from water buffalo bones, cf. http://www.manufactum.de/product/761582 ... 773.0.html.

Cheers,

Lars

I have lately been wearing most of my dress shirts without collar stays. It's a phase, which is already beginning to pass, but it's both comfortable and quite elegant. Most of my collars are Windsor (aka Grosvenor) or Como (Italian), and hence curve just so when unboned.

The slight risk is, if your knot is even the tinest bit wider at the top than the collar where it comes together, it will tend to slip down a little during the day. Works a charm with a four in hand, though.

Actually, this raises another concern of late, namely, what is the best knot to wear with a collar pin, either the sort that threads through eyelets or the sort that clamps (for want of a better word) on? I think a four in hand would be too narrow, and expose too much of the crossbar of the pin, whereas a half or full Windsor may be too bulky and rather bulge over the top of the pin. That said, symmetry is an advantage, I feel.

Cheers,

Eden