
While women’s shirts were sized for women, they tended to be driven by men’s Western style, often matching men’s designs and fabrics. Women’s shirts, on the other hand, were conventionally form-fit, and women’s Western shirts followed this tradition. It also helped with exports as the previous inch-based sizing measurement is not used by most countries. The S-M-L sizing enabled the manufactures to streamline production and reduce inventory at wholesale and retail levels. Relaxed fit followed with the same S-M-L designation. This type of sizing is still made today but is largely replaced by Small-Medium-Large sizing. Fitted shirts were made in more than twenty sizes including neck size and sleeve lengths. Neck and sleeve sizing exclusively the standard for more than fifty years. The fit was an important selling point of the Western shirts it characterized the entire shirt.

From the practical standpoint of someone who would use them as active wear, the less loose they were, the less likely they were to snag. Western shirts were “form-fit” and flattering to the slim physique.

As long as you're trying, and thinking a little outside of the box, you really can't go wrong.Originally, the fit of the Western shirt was substantially different from conventional men’s shirts, which were boxy and featured Victoria-era removable collars until the 1920s. Or, hell, a striped OCBD with high-waisted trousers, retro sneakers, and maybe even a hat up top. Try pairing a beefy flannel with slouchy denim and a some thoroughly scuffed slip-ons a la Brad Pritt. Some combination of this motley crew will always make for an all-star lineup in your regular rotation. So you'll find a lot of shirts here, some of which are proper Button-Downs and some of which are, y'know, equally good button-ups.Ĭhief among them? The oxford-cloth button-down, the flannel button-down, the denim button-down, the printed button-down, and finally, the trusty overshirt. But language evolves, and most folks aren't being that specific when they use the term.

That's not the most technically correct way of doing things a button-down shirt, properly, is a shirt on which you can quite literally button down the collar points a button-front just has buttons.on the front. As for fit, it's perfectly okay to opt for a more relaxed style if the shirt in question is cut intentionally boxy, but otherwise it's best to stick to a slimmer silhouette they tend to be more flattering on a wide range of body types.īefore we move on, a brief note: When we say "button-down shirts,” we really mean any button-front shirt, or even a button-up. And fabric technology has come a long way since the starchy, grating dress shirts of years past, which means even the most traditional of styles-in hardy oxford cloth, soft flannel, silky viscose and rayon, or lightweight cotton poplin-now feel as comfortable as any of the best fleece-lined pieces in your closet. Technical fabrics that resist wrinkles or wick moisture sound nice but are usually better suited to workout gear than your button-down rotation. Luckily, though, there have never been more, or better, options. Fit and fabric, enduring pillars of any smart clothing purchase, are of paramount importance. There are two primary things to consider before you pull the plug on a button-down of your own.

In every man's life comes the time when he realizes a supreme truth of life, which is that, at a certain point, he shouldn't be thinking about anything more than the essential button-down shirt.
