An Overview of Choosing a Collar Style
When it comes to choosing a collar style, it’s hard to know where to begin. The collar you pick can depend on your style, your job, and the shape of your face, among other things. In this post we’ve broken down which collars will be best depending on how you’ll be wearing them.
Choosing a Collar Style for Work
In Business
Junior: If you’re a junior hire in a traditional business setting–bank, consultancy, law firm, etc–you’ll want to lean towards a more conservative collar for your dress shirts. You’d rather have your co-workers thinking of you as the guy who does incredible work rather than the guy who has incredibly bold style.
This applies to choosing a collar style, so consider a classic English spread, Semi-Spread, or traditional Straight Point Collar. These collars won’t turn any heads (in a good way), but will leave you looking clean, polished, and ready for the task at hand.
Senior: Worked your way up the corporate ladder and earned yourself a little flexibility? Then you have your pick of the litter when it comes to choosing a collar style. Still, you may want to steer clear of casual button-downs, club collars, and soft collars if you’d like to keep up that professional look. While there may not be anyone who will “call you out” for wearing these, they might not be your best foot forward in a client meeting.
Still, you can consider a Londoner Collar, the President Spread, and English Spread collar for a really clean tailored look.
In Creative Fields
Dressed Up: Just because you can dress any way you’d like doesn’t mean you don’t want to look good. Maybe you’re wearing jeans and a sport coat, or maybe you want a tailored look that doesn’t feel so corporate.
Like all things creative, you can make choosing a collar style fun. There are plenty of options for you, but you might want to start with either the English Spread, Londoner, President Spread, or President Cutaway Collars. They’re nice and crisp–yet don’t make you look like a stiff. You should also take a look at our soft collars, which have a slightly more easygoing vibe. The Soft Roma Cutaway Collar and Soft President Cutaway both dress up really nicely, but can be easily worn without a tie.
Dressed Down: Startup life. It’s come a long way. The casual vibe is best found in our button-down collars. The Soft Ivy BD and Colorado BD are probably the two best options for you. But if button-downs aren’t your thing, also take a look at our band collars and soft collars.
Other Considerations for Choosing a Collar Style
Facial Structure
It might not be the first thing you think of when choosing a collar style, but your personal looks and bone structure can make a difference. You want something that is naturally flattering.
Round Face: If you have a particularly round face, you might want to steer clear of something with an aggressive spread. Choosing an English Spread, Semi-Spread, or Point Collar can help visually lengthen out your face.
Long Face: If your face is particularly long, then a semi-spread or point collar might not be your best choice. A collar with a little more spread will balance out your natural shape. Consider the English Spread, Londoner, or President Cutaway as options that might look best on you.
Neck Length: Picking a collar with the right height will often be based on your neck length. Have a really long neck? Look for something with a higher neck band–like our Roma Spread, Milano, or Roma Cutaway.
For an even deeper dive in the history and collar styles, check out this post from Gentleman’s Gazette.