Many people don’t give much thought to the many parts of men’s custom dress shirts, but there are actually quite a lot of interesting parts when you dive in there. By knowing them and how they can work in your favor you’ll know what to look out for when buying your next dress shirts.
A lot of the looks of men’s dress shirts are based on taste, but many components can actually complement physical traits. While certain cuffs can make your arms look longer or shorter, shirt collars can complement certain face shapes.
The different parts of the shirt are described below.
The Components
The Dress Shirt Collar – this element of the men’s dress shirt is usually the most visible and important for design. The dress shirt collar comes in several styles, but also in contrasting color/fabric from the rest of the shirt, the most common being white. Remember to give some thought to whether or not you want your collar stays sown in or removeable.
Inner Collar – the fabric on the inner part of the collar . Contrasting fabrics/color on the inner collar have become increasingly popular. Try it for yourself on the shirt model and see what you can come up with.
Placket – this is the area along the center of the dress shirt where the buttons are placed. There are a few style combinations available for the placket and for the trendsetter it could be an option to have a contrasting color/fabric here.
Shirt Button – well… buttons are buttons they keep the dress shirt closed. You can also get buttons in many different types, such as mother of pearl, resin, plastic, and more.
Bottom Cut – this is the way that the bottom of the dress shirt is formed. Usually this is in either curved cut (tail) or a straight cut (square).
Inner back – the place where the label is usually placed. Some design oriented dress shirts have used this area in creative ways with contrasting fabrics and colors.
Shoulder Seam – The place where the sleeve meets the base of the shirt.
Shirt Pocket – usually on the left upper area of the dress shirt it comes in various forms and colors. Try playing with the pocket colors on the shirt model.
Cuff – this is what ends the dress shirt sleeve. For short sleeved shirts there are also a few different types of cuffs or sleeve endings. Cuffs come in numerous styles and colors.
Shoulder Loop – Also called an epaulette, it is located on top of the shoulder blades with a button which fastens it.
Back Style – This is whether or not the back of the shirt should have pleats. Pleats are folds in the fabric that usually allow for more movement.
Yoke – This is on the upper back spanning from one shoulder to the other.