Traditional Civilian Highland SHIRTS

[CMcG]

So... it's the end of September. Any success in finding a good tailor for formal shirts, CMcG?

Thus far I have not encountered the rear closure, stiff front, formal shirts with detachable collars described earlier in this thread. Hong Kong is very modern and most tailors here seem to pride themselves on eschewing anything older in style. Armed with photos, diagrams and descriptions, I might be able to have someone make one up for me. Part of the problem is that I have never seen or worn a traditional formal shirt to know exactly what to ask for... that being said, there are plenty of tailors around here that could make a formal shirt that follows the more current front closure, attached collar style.

After parsing through some other fora, I found a recommendation for Legal Tailor. The are headquatered in Hong Kong but tour around to many countries doing fittings. The offer fully bespoke tailoring and, as their name implies, also make court dress for barristers, which involves detachable collar shirts. Their starting price for shirts appears to be less than Darcy (as mentioned by saxandpipes in post #92). I haven't contacted them yet though, so I'm not sure if they do the full traditional specs formal shirt but with ties to legal traditions they seem like a good bet.
http://www.legaltailor.com/tailored_shirts

Is there a happy medium between the traditional and contemporary versions of a formal shirt? What is most essential? It seems like a front closure with detachable collar might be a more easy and affordable option...

On a more successful note, I did have a couple shirts custom made at a little shop on the second floor of a shopping arcade in Mong Kok. One is more smart casual tattersall with medium spread collar (built in stays), regular cuffs. The other is a dressier white with a subtle check patter, wide spead collar (also built in stays), French cuffs (with CMcG monogram). Neither have breast pockets and both are a perfect fit with extra long body so they stay tucked in. They cost about $35 CAD each and took a week to make from one extensive set of measurements. Unfortunately for my internet brethren, they only do in-person sales.