Only wear a tie with a button down if you are going to a high school dance or selling cars.
Dress shirts- are button down collars not "formal enough?
- Thread starter Kepcic821
- Start date
Bingo. There's no hard and fast rule that says you can't wear a tie with an OCBD. It's good for a casual or knit tie and an odd/off jacket. Casual shirt = casual overall dress. Otherwise skip the tie, as it is a bit fashion-forward.
Wear what you like, but generally I live by a couple of simple rules. Button collars and loafers or laces with sport coats - tie optional. Collars with stays and laces only with suits - ties required and cuff links optional.
when i am not selling cars and/or going to high school dances, i tend to be the leading men's style icon in all of recorded history. i think it'll be ok.
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I practiced law for decades in suits and button down shirts. I'm so ashamed.
Ok, I'm not, but this has been an eye opener. Good thing I got out of that racket . . . .
Ok, I'm not, but this has been an eye opener. Good thing I got out of that racket . . . .
For the most part I'll wear a button down shirt and tie if I'm wearing a blazer. Without the tie then it would be with a sport coat. However, if I was to wear a button down shirt with a suit then it would be a solid color. Something like a navy or black suit.
I've always understood that button downs were were more casual. I can't imagine wearing one with a suit or blazer, although this is common in sales and blue-collar management.
At the office where business casual is the norm, I wear them all the time, but without buttoning down the collars. No particular reason for this except that by the time you've undone the collar AND the first button as I always do, having those points clamped down just looks silly. A little bit of ironing keeps them pointing fairly straight even without stays.
At the office where business casual is the norm, I wear them all the time, but without buttoning down the collars. No particular reason for this except that by the time you've undone the collar AND the first button as I always do, having those points clamped down just looks silly. A little bit of ironing keeps them pointing fairly straight even without stays.
If Cary Grant pinches a girl's bum, he gets a phone number. If you pinch her bum, you get a slap in the face or a knee in the groin. Because he's Cary Grant, and you're not.
Neither am I ... so the bum-pinching is off the list for me too.
Point is, were Mr. Grant artfully bends and plays with "the rules" to great sartorial effect, you and I just come across as ill-informed buffoons if we try to do the same thing.
From the "Man": Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.
Same here.
with the exception of this groundbreaking thread, no one has ever in the history of everything been considered ill-informed or a buffoon for wearing a button down collar with a tie. not cary grant, not JFK, not william f buckley and not i. if this is your personal experience, i stand corrected; but i would thank you to not lump me in with your proverbial "we"
Some people might say that not buttoning the collars on a button down looks silly.
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with the exception of this groundbreaking thread, no one has ever in the history of everything been considered ill-informed or a buffoon for wearing a button down collar with a tie. not cary grant, not JFK, not william f buckley and not i. if this is your personal experience, i stand corrected; but i would thank you to not lump me in with your proverbial "we"
It appears I may have hurt your feelings with my choice of language, and that was not my intent.
But my point still stands ... just because Cary Grant is able to get away with something, that doesn't mean that the rest of us can do the same.
Oh, and as for JFK and WFB, I think you will find they both fall into this group mentioned earlier ...
point taken. buttoned collars are for high schoolers and car salesman exclusively. (because that was the point)
I see that Neil Cavuto on Fox News & Fox Business Channels will wear them every once in a while.
My wife despises them for some reason for daily work wear. I don't mind however
I would wear a button down collar to work. My Dad wore then all the time at work, he was an engineer. Maybe dressy casual, but I would never wear them in a formal situation. But I have several french cuff shirts and several pairs of cuff links which I prefer as formal wear. I also have a tux in case that is required.
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