All right, gents, I need some advice here. I've just moved to DC for work, and the dress code around here is infinitely more conservative and formal than I am used to. (Until now, my professional life has been as a college professor, so the bar was set pretty low.) Historically, I wore a suit no more than four times a year, but now it seems I must get accustomed to wearing a suit and tie on an everyday basis. And thereby hangs my (shirt) tale.
I suspect I am an unusual fit in dress shirts. After a lot of misery, I have discovered that, when I don't have to bother buttoning the collar for a necktie, I look best in slim-fit shirts with a 16" collar and a 32" sleeve. (Jos. A. Bank shirts work particularly well for me.) However, 16" feels awfully tight when I button the collar and cinch up a tie. I have to sort of pull at the buttoned collar a bit just to make sure it's not so tight that it constricts my Adam's apple and I start to gag. I experienced this in my apartment, taking a photo of myself in business dress for self-promotion purposes, so I haven't even learned yet what happens when I get duded up and try to move around town.
I went to Jos. A. Bank yesterday to size shirts, and saw for myself that a 16 1/2 collar is just too large a lot of empty space between my neck and the collar, which just doesn't look right. The brand-new 16" that I tried, though, brought on the same gag reflex.
I cannot reasonably contemplate getting shirts custom-made, so for the time being I'm stuck trying to navigate the right off-the-rack size. Am I just unused to the feel of anything sitting that close to my throat? Will this be less of a problem as I break in my shirts? Or is this a sign that I need a different shirt size? (I presume that higher-end brands than JAB offer 16 1/4 collars, which I suspect would be ideal.)
I suspect I am an unusual fit in dress shirts. After a lot of misery, I have discovered that, when I don't have to bother buttoning the collar for a necktie, I look best in slim-fit shirts with a 16" collar and a 32" sleeve. (Jos. A. Bank shirts work particularly well for me.) However, 16" feels awfully tight when I button the collar and cinch up a tie. I have to sort of pull at the buttoned collar a bit just to make sure it's not so tight that it constricts my Adam's apple and I start to gag. I experienced this in my apartment, taking a photo of myself in business dress for self-promotion purposes, so I haven't even learned yet what happens when I get duded up and try to move around town.
I went to Jos. A. Bank yesterday to size shirts, and saw for myself that a 16 1/2 collar is just too large a lot of empty space between my neck and the collar, which just doesn't look right. The brand-new 16" that I tried, though, brought on the same gag reflex.
I cannot reasonably contemplate getting shirts custom-made, so for the time being I'm stuck trying to navigate the right off-the-rack size. Am I just unused to the feel of anything sitting that close to my throat? Will this be less of a problem as I break in my shirts? Or is this a sign that I need a different shirt size? (I presume that higher-end brands than JAB offer 16 1/4 collars, which I suspect would be ideal.)