The Button Down Shirt A Style Clinic By Rod Damon
Archetypal English Gentleman Rod Damon aka The Coxeman Ponders the Sartorial Rights and Wrongs of a Shirt with a Button Down Collar.
A Post Submitted By Our Guest Contributor and Gentleman at Large !
Bonjour Mes Amies,
The Coxeman here, back by popular demand, and tackling a different subject for once.
This interweb page or whatever it is attracts many queries, and I use the word advisedly, for misguided and ignorant men. They span a whole range of subjects but one is of great importance - that being sartorial elegance !
One thing is clear to me in Britain - 95% of men have no sense of style or how to dress
There is no excuse for the English Gentleman, or the hordes of non-English who naturally aspire to the giddy heights of the title, to be seen out and about poorly dressed.
There are many areas that the fashionably blind male falls at the first hurdle but today we’ll confine ourselves to the shirt with a button down collar.
This garment seems to have spread like syphilis and is probably as difficult to eradicate.
Personally, I don’t hold with them myself but I accept their popularity. If you insist on wearing such a garment then at least observe some etiquette.
A shirt with such a collar is for casual use only, under no circumstances should it be coupled with a tie - open collar only.
As an idea it originated from the world of sport, that game for gentleman, polo. The buttons were there simply to keep the collar from ‘flapping about’ whilst the game was afoot.
Given the casualness of the garment it is obviously not appropriate to wear one with a suite.
The point could be stretched to make it allowable when teamed with a blazer but certainly not with a full suit or indeed your tweeds when you are in the country for the weekend.
Government cut-backs in the shadowy world of international counter-espionage in which I exist, and one or two unfortunate scandals, mean my services to Queen and Country are not quite in the demand they once were. To that end I may well be around a bit more …
So watch this space for more pearls of wisdom and lifestyle tips from the Ultimate Man of the World Rod Damon.
Keep it Up !
The Coxeman
[site owner addition]
Mr Damon welcomes comments, however lively and wide ranging. He also welcomes suggestions for subjects you may like to see covered in his own inimitable way
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Lindi Lou said,
April 2, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
How right you are! It is quite a shock to the system to see a man acknowledge that members of his own ‘tribe’ are indeed scruffy oikes. There have been a few occassions when I, approached by such an oike, have had to tell him to go home and get dressed properly before even attempting to chat up a young lady such as myself. The type of person I am referring to has a tendency to walk around wearing a formal(ish) shirt, with or without a button down collar, hanging outside of his trousers and flapping in the wind like a sail, usually to cover up a less than toned stomach (I am being polite here!). It only gets worse when the oike in question has opted to wear a pair of jeans which are ridiculously low slung and show all the glory of his faded underwear which ‘mummy’ has obviously had on boil wash. Usually, by the time I have encountered both of these scruffy types, I have chosen to go home, away from the pub and back to my wine rack and a movie involving Johnny Depp.
The Coxeman said,
April 2, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
Ms Lindi Lou,
there does seem to be little hope for the men at large in this country, I am trying to change this but it is, frankly, an uphill struggle !
You bring up one very important point:
I am regularly asked by young men, “how can I look more stylish ?”
“You can start by tucking your shirt in” I am most often forced to reply.
Keep it Up !
The Coxeman
Lindi Lou said,
April 2, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Thank heaven for like minded people! I thought I was in danger of becoming a snob. Obviously not. On with the battle to smarten up the young chaps of the UK…..
Witches of Eastwick said,
April 2, 2008 @ 4:17 pm
Lindi,
shirt hanging outside of his trousers and flapping in the wind like a sail … he’s not a sailor is he? If he’s spending more time looking at his sextant than is necessary, then you must assume he is. Could be that he’s ashamed of his midships (who wouldn’t be with boiled underpants showing?) and the flapping shirt covers it up?
Bring back the kaftan that’s what we say
WoE