Shirts to be worn with PC jacket?

[LewdiKris]

I've just been picking my shirt to wear out with a PC on christmas eve, and had decided on one with ruffles. Now I may change my mind. Keep posting, and I'll keep reading!

LK

[Highland Logan]

Black tie, and what shirt to wear...? Let this be your guide. This site has lost of great info, and now covers white tie.

Frank

[Jack Daw]

Black tie, and what shirt to wear...? Let this be your guide. This site has lost of great info, and now covers white tie.

Frank

It is. This should avoid agument.

[Thistle Stop]

I've just been picking my shirt to wear out with a PC on christmas eve, and had decided on one with ruffles. Now I may change my mind. Keep posting, and I'll keep reading!

LK

No, No, No ruffles! It's just not on to have your shirt competing with the kilt for attention!

Happy Christmas!

Cyndi

[Bugbear]

Where did you come up with this urban myth, Cyndi? It just isn't so! Tartan waistcoats certainly are worn in the evening. You just might not move in circles where tartan waistcoats are commonplace--and correct.

I find authoritative statements such as yours make me wince! You may not think such and such isn't worn ( and you may prefer that), but tell that to the great mass of gentlemen who think otherwise!

Best regards,
Sandford MacLean

It sure has confused me to the point that I would, if asked to attend a black tie event, not wear highland attire.

[Jack Daw]

It sure has confused me to the point that I would, if asked to attend a black tie event, not wear highland attire.

Then, you'll look like all the other penguins in the room. I wouldn't let concern over rule breakage limit me.

[Bugbear]

Then, you'll look like all the other penguins in the room. I wouldn't let concern over rule breakage limit me.

Even though I am a zebra at heart, being a penguin is fine to me.

[Nervous Jock]

just no pocket on the shirt please

[Jack Daw]

just no pocket on the shirt please

LOL! No pocket in my semi-formal shirts. But, I'd cringe at plain buttons, too.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

At one time there were degrees of formality regarding black tie-- "dressing for dinner" would be a tad less formal than a dinner party in someone's home which would be less formal than say, a tartan ball or standing up as a groomsman at a wedding. There was (and still is) a dress code regarding collars, which went (and goes) something like this:

PRE-and immediate POST-WWII
Dressing for dinner: soft (fold) collar;
Dinner Party: soft collar (or wing collar if held in an hotel);
Dinner at a restaurant: wing collar;
Party "at home" (yours or somebody else): soft collar;
Party "in public" (hotel, etc.): wing collar.

TODAY
Dinners/Dinner Parties: soft (fold) collar;
Parties (at home or in public): soft collar.

The dress hire brigade like wing collar shirts because the collars last longer than fold over (soft) collars, so tux rental shops don't have to buy as many shirts in a year. The result of this is that wing collar shirts are more or less eschewed by gentlemen because they are the hallmark of rented dinner clothes, in much the same way white socks have come to be universally worn by those renting highland attire.

Now these guidelines date from before WWII, and like a lot of customs, they are now more observed in the breech than in the keeping of them. I am a big proponent of the classic "wing collar", and have half a dozen dress shirts that I wear with wing collars. I also have perhaps a dozen wing collars to go with these shirts. I do not own a single "wing collar shirt".

Try to avoid buying a shirt with attached wing collar, if at all possible, for the following reasons:

1) For the collar to retain it's shape it will have to be heavily starched, which will cause the shirt to be extremely uncomfortable.

2) Unless the wing collar is detachable, it will, in all probability, be too narrow, and you run the risk of having your tie "ride up" over the edge of the collar. For a wing collar to look it's best, it has to fit both the circumference of the neck and the length of the neck.

3) If the wing collar is slightly too tight, there is no way you can nicely ease it out without spoiling the look of the shirt.

4) Your tie will show. Unless you tie your tie, the world will know that you are wearing a pre-tied bow tie, something no gentleman should ever do.

5) It is fake. And no matter how much you paid for the shirt, in the final analysis, fake things always look cheap.

As far as the front of the shirt is concerned, a plain flat front shirt probably looks slightly nicer than one with very narrow pleats, but really it is a matter of style and personal preference. Studs are again a matter of personal taste, and formal dress shirts may be had with or without stud fronts. Cuff links, however, are de rigeur.