To stud, or not to stud?

[Cufflink79]

What do fellow LL members think about shirt studs for evening wear?

I myself like them because they complete the look, and keep the cuff links company .

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[Tucker Peterson]

I've always harbored a secret urge to have a dress shirt made to take studs, simply for the useless elegance of it. And it would be a good excuse to buy a set of studs!

Perhaps when I have some made at Christmas, I will take the plunge!

Tucker

[DonB]

What do fellow LL members think about shirt studs for evening wear?

I myself like them because they complete the look, and keep the cuff links company .

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

For my shirt I decided to have collar, bib and cuffs in marcella, all other parts in linen. I have opted for a single stud and invisible press-studs in the marcella bib. Under the bib I have used regular buttons because this part of the shirt is covered by the waistcoat. The waistcoat itself takes the same studs as the dress-shirt:

Studs

Regards,
Don

[storeynicholas]

On a stiff shirt there is little alternative but on a soft shirt, studs seem to be an affectation.
NJS

[Frog in Suit]

In my very limited experience, marcella shirts (whether RTW or bespoke -- one of each!-- ) come ready for studs, but with the option of buttons (sewn on a strip of cotton). Is a marcella considered a stiff or a soft shirt?

Frog in Suit

[DonB]

In my very limited experience, marcella shirts (whether RTW or bespoke -- one of each!-- ) come ready for studs, but with the option of buttons (sewn on a strip of cotton). Is a marcella considered a stiff or a soft shirt?

Frog in Suit

I suppose that would depend on the amount of starch one chooses to use...

[Frog in Suit]

In my very limited experience, marcella shirts (whether RTW or bespoke -- one of each!-- ) come ready for studs, but with the option of buttons (sewn on a strip of cotton). Is a marcella considered a stiff or a soft shirt?

Frog in Suit

I suppose that would depend on the amount of starch one chooses to use...

I have always worn them unstarched but with studs. Does that make me a bounder ?

Frog in Suit

[storeynicholas]

In my very limited experience, marcella shirts (whether RTW or bespoke -- one of each!-- ) come ready for studs, but with the option of buttons (sewn on a strip of cotton). Is a marcella considered a stiff or a soft shirt?

Frog in Suit

I suppose that would depend on the amount of starch one chooses to use...

I have always worn them unstarched but with studs. Does that make me a bounder ?

Frog in Suit

Marcella comes as stiff and soft. I don't think, FiS, that anyone could ever consider you a bounder!! And nota bene the Frog-like underlining.
NJS

[Populares]

Finally becoming fed up with the extortionate costs of sending shirts away to be re-starched, I decided last week to do it myself. What did I discover?

That all of this chat (and there is so much of it online) about the risks of burning the shirt or turning the starch yellow or the process taking three days or that it must only be attempted by moonlight if the omens are favourable is a lot of nonsense.

In fact, the whole process, washing the shirt by hand, soaking it in starch, coming back a few hours later and ironing it dry was very easy. And for about £1.50 I have a large bag of starch and one very crisp stiff-front marcella shirt. Unlike the situation where it was taken to Jeeves of Belgravia or some similar cleaners, it went straight on a hanger, and didn't get crumpled in the post or by carrying it half-way across London. The most difficult part was finding the starch to begin with!

What's the lesson? Starching shirts is very easy. Anyone who tells you otherwise simply hasn't attempted it themselves. There simply isn't an excuse for soft front shirts, and I consider them to look far scruffier in comparison.

I'm going to try collars next.

[Frog in Suit]

Marcella comes as stiff and soft.
NJS

I just checked mine. They do not feel stiff (I have never had them starched), but the marcella parts (front, collar and cuffs) are definitely thicker than poplin and almost look as if they were lined with poplin or voile. Is that just the nature of marcella to have different textures on either side?

Your perplexedly ,

Frog in Suit

[storeynicholas]

Marcella comes as stiff and soft.
NJS

I just checked mine. They do not feel stiff (I have never had them starched), but the marcella parts (front, collar and cuffs) are definitely thicker than poplin and almost look as if they were lined with poplin or voile. Is that just the nature of marcella to have different textures on either side?

Your perplexedly ,

Frog in Suit

The soft marcella is normally lined are normally lined with voile. he stiff versions are cut differently - there's the old fashioned rounded front or the more modern 'coffin' front. On my stiff shirt, the body of the shirt and the lining are quite hefty cotton.
NJS

[Frog in Suit]

Mine must be a soft marcella, then. Thank you for clearing that up.

Frog in Suit

[Populares]

I'm not quite sure what you mean about still and soft marcella:

According to Budd, marcella became popular because it soaked up starch more effectively than plain cotton, which is the more formal style. Stiffness in the shirt front is achieved by the starch sticking the two or three layers of the shirt front together. The more layers, the stiffer the shirt. Naturally the layer on the inside is plain smooth cotton, not marcella.

The point is that marcella is very good at soaking up starch, and will naturally have a layer of fabric behind, otherwise there isn't much point to it. Of course it isn't stiff inherently; only when bonded by starch and stuck to the layer behind. All marcella is naturally soft.

Do people on this forum wear unstarched marcella? Surely it's better to wear a plain shirt. To my eye marcella shirts should always be starched. Which returns to the studs question. If you have a shirt which takes studs, and it isn't starched, then it'll need to have the studs closer together, and to have more of them, otherwise the shirt front will come open. If you have a properly starched shirt, you only need three studs at most.

In my experience sets of studs have at most three studs - at least the antique sets do - so I consider that marcella should always be worn stiffened.

[storeynicholas]

Populares - there are stiff and soft marcella fronted shirts - the stiff ones come as rounded or coffin-shaped and the soft ones come as striaght up and down. You are right that there is an option that is just plain, boiled, stiff cotton and I agree about the numbers of studs that you'd need - more for soft. The only other obvious soft option (no pun intended) is pleated voile or silk.
NJS

[David V]

I'm a studded fellow.