Not all dress shirts are created equally. Some are formal while others fit more casual outings. Some are made with collars meant to accommodate specific tie knots and others are made with cuffs that go the extra mile. While style is subjective, there are ways in which to determine the best make for the dress shirt you want. So here are a few tips to creating the best dress shirt style with its usage in mind.

Collars and their uses

A collar can make or break a dress shirt depending on its intended use. For instance, a standard point collar is the norm and can go pretty much anywhere, but a point collar with buttons is strictly casual. But what about the more eccentric collar styles out there? Well, lets run down a few of our favorites.

• The Stand/Band Collar: This nifty collar is unlike any other in that it doesn’t have wings. It, like the name implies, stands straight up approximately one inch off of the shirt’s neck. Stand collars are generally used for informal situations like casual Fridays. 

• The Cutaway Collar: The cutaway collar, also known as the Windsor collar, is a modern style choice that follows the longer, more narrow structure of collars prevalent in the 1930s. These collars look best when worn with big knot tie styles, like the Windsor, and are formal in nature.

• The Club/Round Collar: These rounded collars are very versatile and fit in almost anywhere depending on how you style them. More formal attire would see one worn with a collar pin and tie while more casual scenes will leave those accessories at home. Whatever the use case, a club collar adds a pinch of panache to any ensemble bold enough to break it out.
  
  

When to go rounded hem vs straight hem

It’s important to know how to design the shirt you want to get the look and feel you imagine. To that end, lets talk about hems. A good rule of thumb is that casual ensembles that want to go untucked should opt for the straight hem. More formal occasions that call for a clean, tucked, look should put their money on a rounded hem. Does this mean a round hemmed dress shirt can’t go untucked or vice versa? Not at all. Your style should suit you, first and foremost. Everything else is just a technicality. When you know the rules, you can break them to greater effect.

Everything you need to know about cuffs

There are generally 3 shapes to cuffs. These are the rounded cuff, the squared/straight cuff, and the mitered cuff. Rounded cuffs are the most common because they are extremely versatile. Rounded cuffs can work well for casual or business attire – i.e., suits – but should not be worn for formal gatherings. To picture what a rounded cuff looks like, imagine a standard barrel cuff with the edges rounded off. Squared cuffs, on the other hand, have no rounding on the edge. When the cuff is closed the barrel cuff meets at a 90-degree angle. Mitered cuffs are considered more formal and are cut at the ends in a 45-degree angle. Original Stitch offers 2 cuff cuts in the rounded style, the Round and the Big Round cuff, 2 in the mitered style, the Angle and Big Angle, and one Square cut option. If you really need to pull out all of the stops, however, then French cuffs are the way to go.

At Original Stitch we offer a fully customizable collection of premium quality dress shirt, suit blazer, and pant fabrics. Use them to create a wardrobe that is completely unique to YOU. Our high-quality yarns are hand-selected from – and tailored in – Japan to be extra resistant to wear and tear while maintaining a softer feel than their off-the-rack counterparts.