The London Lounge

I've had a pattern for dinner shirts for some time now that works. Pleats of a certain width in a certain number, 3 studs spaced to accomodate long waist, a collar I can live with. However, I just took delivery of a DB suit that will see its debut in Newport this weekend--watch the Weather Channel for highlights-- and on trying the new gear on I find that these shirts don't work quite so well. The crossover of the jacket is on the high side, so the only stud visible is maybe 2/3 of the way down from the collar. And there is so little shirt showing that it's hard to tell there are pleats.

Has anyone else worked around this situation, and what are recommendations? Immediate thoughts are to commission dedicated DB shirts to take 4 studs (which limits the hardware I can use, as some of my favorites are in sets of 3).

If that is the way to go, what then for the material? My assumption is that pleats complement the intrinsic softness of the jacket, but something simpler might be in order because of the small exposed shirt-front. Marcella, perhaps, or some variant even of the white-tie front. No waistcoat to tuck it under, but nobody will know if the jacket stays on. Of course, one could go the other way and make a royal oxford shirt that can handle studs. Soft, sleek, and any rumpling will hide under the jacket.

Ideas?

I'm not fond of a DB DJ, preferring a shawl collar, but on the rare occasions I do wear one actually use an evening shirt: pique front, detachable wing collar (lower than with tailcoat), &c., though with onyx stud buttons &c. instead of pearl &c.

Marcella would be my preference. I would not go with more studs. It looks "rental" to me. I think the great swells were onto something when they put fewer studs in their formal shirts. It's a much cleaner and more elegant look. I would not worry at all about only showing one. In fact, I like the look quite a bit.

As manton, I find three or four studbuttons on the front of a formal or semi-formal shirt a cheap look. When I wear a shawl-collared dinner jacket and cummerbund, I generally show two studbuttons. With a peak-lapelled dinner jacket, I wear either that same shirt or an evening shirt; with that latter, I show one studbutton. As this is one of the few "rules" of dress I remember from my grandfathers' generation, I think it must also have been the best practice during the two decades between the World Wars.