Men's Button-Down Collar (Dress Shirts)

Two small buttons fasten the collar points to the shirt front. Polo players buttoned their collars down in the 1890s so the points would not whip into their faces at a gallop, and the buttoned version crossed into dress shirts from there. What you get is a collar that stays put with no hardware and nothing to lose in the wash.

Because the points are anchored at both ends, they are cut roughly half an inch longer than a point collar so the cloth can arc between the neckband and the button. That arc is called the roll, and it is the whole reason to buy the style. A soft or unlined collar rolls in a clean curve; a fused collar, where the stiffening layer is glued to the cloth, lies flat and dead. Oxford cloth suits it best, since the basketweave keeps enough body to hold the curve through fifty washes.

Point and spread collars both depend on collar stays, thin plastic or metal strips slid into slots under each point, to lie flat at all. This one needs none. The trade is knot room: a spread collar opens wide to frame a Windsor. By comparison, a button-down sits close and low, so a bulky knot shoves the points out of shape. Stay with a four-in-hand, the simple single-loop knot, or leave the tie off. Set beside either sibling, this collar reads about one notch less formal.

If you go tieless most days, the buttons earn their place, since unbuttoned spread points sag by mid-afternoon. Rounder and fuller faces do well here too, because close-set points draw a vertical line at the throat. Skip it for black tie, and skip it in banking, law and any office that still expects a spread with a tie every day.

Bend a collar point between finger and thumb before you buy. Soft resistance and a slow return mean an unfused collar that will roll; a point that snaps back stiff and flat has been glued. Undo both points before washing and again before pressing, or the cloth around each buttonhole puckers permanently.