Fold-over or wing-tip? Wich do you prefer?

[Bernard Newman]

My question is easy: Which collar do you prefer to wesr with a tuxedo and why?

I have an 3pc. tux (20's jacket, 40's waistcoat and, unfortunately, modern trousers) and need some advices for buying a good shirt.

Stiff ones are very hard to find here in Austria and when I find some they are very expensive (220€!), but sometimes I find soft wing-tip shirts.

Thanks for your advices.

 

[scotrace]

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As in all things sartorial - depends on the occasion, the specific style of jacket/waistcoat combination, and what you have available for accessories.

Jacket and vest: single or double breasted? Peak, notch, or shawl collar? Tails? Dinner jacket? Morning coat?

 

[Orgetorix]

My question is easy: Which collar do you prefer to wesr with a tuxedo and why?

I have an 3pc. tux (20's jacket, 40's waistcoat and, unfortunately, modern trousers) and need some advices for buying a good shirt.

Stiff ones are very hard to find here in Austria and when I find some they are very expensive (220€!), but sometimes I find soft wing-tip shirts.

Thanks for your advices.

With a double-breasted jacket, or a shawl or notch collar SB, I prefer a soft turndown collar. With a SB peak-lapel and waistcoat, a stiff (detachable) wing collar. The latter is, I think the most formal of the black-tie options, and so the formality of the stiff wing collar looks great with it.

Note: If the shirtfront has pleats, it should have a soft turndown collar. If the shirt has a wing collar, it should not have pleats.

 

[Bernard Newman]

Jacket: black dinner jacket, peaked lapels.
Vest: black, single-breasted with a thing like a faked shawl collar.
Accessories: black patent leather shoes and golden cufflinks.

Here is a picture without vest (I know that face... )

 

[Bernard Newman]

Sadly the only wing-tip shirts here, that are in my pricerange, have no pleats, hidden buttons (not designed for studs), and french cuffs. The front is also soft like a normal shirt.

Does anyone know a good formal-shirtmaker that ships to Europe?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I prefer the foldover collar. Personal taste must dictate what you wear (though there are occasions where propriety demands a certain type of collar).

bk

 

[Fletch]

(...there are occasions where propriety demands a certain type of collar).

Very few anymore. There used to be all sorts of subtle rules for this stuff – club shape tie for stag events, white vest with tux only if ladies will be present or if you are leader of the band, foldover and/or shawl tux is semiformal, etc. etc.

About all that's left concerns white tie and tails attire. No white tie with tux; piqué vest needs matching shirt; no foldovers with white tie unless you're a symphony orchestra (wing collars get in violinists' way a bit, and they make up half the musicians, so everyone else follows.)

My detachable-wing collar shirt is a Frederick Theak from England, with piqué front, single french cuffs and that mysterious slit in the body (I guess to let you smooth yourself out if you get bunched). I wear it with a Brooks Bros. Hamilton collar I've had for years.

Theak shirts are not terribly high priced, IIRC (currently about £45), so Bernard may be able to find them at reasonable rates in the EU.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Although turn-down collars have been (occasionally) worn with tuxedos since the early 20th century, they really came into their own in the later 1920s when Edward, Prince of Wales, wore them with soft silk evening shirts. To me, turn-down collars have a 'timeless' sensibility to them, whereas wingtip collars speak of the past.


Below is a late 1940s double-breasted, shawl collar tuxedo with an early 1950s evening shirt. Note the turn-down collar:

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[John in Covina]

My preference is with open notch lapel or shawl collar jacket to use a turn down collar. That said, I really love wing collars and like to pair thme with a Double Breasted Peal Lapel tux, that is a personal favorite.