clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natura ...

, a collar is the part of a

shirt A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. ...

dress A dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a garment traditionally worn by women or girls consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice (or a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment). It consists of a top piece that co ...

coat A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, ...

blouse A blouse (blau̇s, 'blau̇z, ) is a loose-fitting upper garment that was worn by workmen, peasants, artists, women, and children.The Concise Oxford English Dictionary It is typically gathered at the waist or hips (by tight hem, pleats, parter ...

that fastens around or frames the

neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

. Among clothing construction professionals, a collar is differentiated from other

neckline The neckline is the top edge of a garment that surrounds the neck, especially from the front view. Neckline also refers to the overall line between all the layers of clothing and the neck and shoulders of a person, ignoring the unseen undergarmen ...

s such as revers and lapels, by being made from a separate piece of fabric, rather than a folded or cut part of the same piece of fabric used for the main body of the garment. A collar may be permanently attached to the main body of the garment (e.g. by stitching) or detachable.

Word usage

The

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

traces ''collar'' in its modern meaning to c. 1300, when collars served as neck-protecting armour.

History

Today's shirt collars descend from the rectangular band of linen around the neck of 16th century shirts. Separate ruffs exist alongside attached ruffled collars from the mid-16th century, usually to allow

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human die ...

ing and other fine finishing, or to make collar-laundering easier.Compare: During the

medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and sporadically thereafter, people wore ornamental collars as a form of jewelry.

Terminology

* ''Band'' – a strip of fabric that fastens around the neck,

perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It c ...

to the body of the garment, to which a collar proper may be attached. * ''

Collar stiffeners Plastic collar stay removed from shirt collar Underside of a men's shirt collar showing removable collar stay Metal collar stays are often used to replace plastic ones. Adjustable-length collar stay A collar stay, collar stick, collar tab (Bri ...

'', ''bones'' or ''stays'' – strips of

baleen Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

, horn, mother of pearl, or

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adapta ...

, rounded at one end and pointed at the other, inserted into a man's shirt collar to stiffen it and prevent the points from curling up; usually inserted into the underside of the collar through small slits but sometimes permanently sewn in place. * ''Points'' – the corners of a collar; in a buttoned-down collar, the points are fitted with

buttonhole Buttonholes are reinforced holes in fabric that buttons pass through, allowing one piece of fabric to be secured to another. The raw edges of a buttonhole are usually finished with stitching. This may be done either by hand or by a sewing machin ...

s that attach to small buttons on the body of the shirt to hold the collar neatly in place. * ''Spread'' – the distance between the points of a shirt collar. * ''Stand'' – the band on a coat or shirt collar that supports the collar itself.

Types

Collars can be categorized as: * ''Standing or stand-up'', fitting up around the neck and not lying on the shoulders. * ''Turnover'', standing around the neck and then folded or rolled over. * ''Flat or falling'', lying flat on the shoulders. Collars may also be ''stiffened'', traditionally with

; modern wash-and-wear shirt collars may be stiffened with

interfacing Interfacing is a textile used on the unseen or "wrong" side of fabrics to make an area of a garment more rigid. Interfacings can be used to: *stiffen or add body to fabric, such as the interfacing used in shirt collars *strengthen a certain ar ...

or may include metal or plastic

collar stays Plastic collar stay removed from shirt collar Underside of a men's shirt collar showing removable collar stay Metal collar stays are often used to replace plastic ones. Adjustable-length collar stay A collar stay, collar stick, collar tab (Bri ...

. Shirt collars which are not starched are described as ''soft collars''. The shape of collars is also controlled by the shape of the

to which they are attached. Most collars are fitted to a

jewel neck The neckline is the top edge of a garment that surrounds the neck, especially from the front view. Neckline also refers to the overall line between all the layers of clothing and the neck and shoulders of a person, ignoring the unseen undergarm ...

, a neckline sitting at the base of the neck all around; if the garment opens down the front, the top edges may be folded back to form lapels and a V-shaped opening, and the cut of the collar will be adjusted accordingly.

Collar styles

Names for specific styles of collars vary with the vagaries of

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

. In the 1930s and 1940s, especially, historical styles were adapted by

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashio ...

s; thus, the Victorian bertha collar — a cape-like collar fitted to a low scooping neckline — was adapted in the 1940s but generally attached to a V-neckline. Some specific styles of collars include:

Buttoning

Conventions on fastening the buttons on a collar differ globally. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the top button is virtually always left unbuttoned, unless one is wearing a

necktie A necktie, or simply a tie, is a piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat, and often draped down the chest. Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, crav ...

, but unbuttoning two or more buttons is seen as overly casual. By contrast, in Slavic countries, including at least

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, the top button is buttoned even in the absence of a tie.

Extended meanings

From the contrast between the starched white shirt collars worn by businessmen in the early 20th century and the blue chambray workshirts worn by laborers comes the use of collar colors in job designation, the "workforce colorwheel". Examples are ''

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

'', ''

pink-collar A pink-collar worker is someone working in the care-oriented career field or in fields historically considered to be women's work. This may include jobs in the beauty industry, nursing, social work, teaching, secretarial work, upholstery U ...

'' and '' white-collar''.

References

External links

Collars on Boys Shirts and Blouses
From the Historical Boys' Clothing website {{DEFAULTSORT:Collar (Clothing) Neckwear Necklines History of clothing