Where did the collar come from and why does it look good?

Thinking about tailoring and wondering where the collar comes from and why it exists... It's a particularly strange and useless piece of garment that has no really obvious reason for being there.

Sauve

Is it there so you can turn it up against the wind?

Agricola

Frames the face and shows that you conform to conventions, are a straight shooter, respectable and well groomed etc etc.

Aphex

Guess it has something to do with concealing a tie?

hairyprincess

Hides brass necks and red necks

Mr Benevolent

It repels ladyboys, so you need to start wearing a shirt, OP.

Menas

Make sure your cuffs and collars match.

Aphex

Aphex wrote: »

Guess it has something to do with concealing a tie?

And the tie is there because?

Everything else we wear bar jewelry has some purpose but not the collar and tie. Fancy stuff is understandable but to completely alter the shape of the clothing goes beyond that.

losthorizon

So you can be tied to a leash and whipped during hank panky

policarp

Deleted User wrote: »

And the tie is there because?

.

To cover the buttons.

ScumLord

Deleted User wrote: »

And the tie is there because?

To hide the buttons on the shirt I thought.

The old necktie dickie bow didn't have a collar to cover the tie around the side and back.

I would have thought it was just something Americans popularised through film.

Blisterman

They originate from these bad boys:
http://images1.bonhams.com/image?src=Images/live/2012-01/19/94502822-38-2.jpg&tmp=web300&top=0.000000&left=0.000000&right=1.000000&bottom=1.000000&dt=zoom_image

kneemos

Why do boxers have buttons?

YFlyer

Many Iranians don't bother with the collar

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/09/fashion-iranian-style.html

The Backwards Man

kneemos wrote: »

Why do boxers have buttons?

So you can pee with your trousers buttoned.

Aphex

The Backwards Man wrote: »

So you can pee with your trousers buttoned.

The Backwards Man

Aphex wrote: »

The top button.

Cody Pomeray

As someone else said, it frames the face.

Just like any frame, it alters the proportions of the 'work of art' (!!) and it makes often undesirable border more appealing

Czarcasm

Clothing changes through generations. Does everything have to have a function? Some clothes are popular at the time, then they go out of fashion, sometimes they come back into fashion again.

Actually is this a more hipster version of the many threads deriding young lads wearing skinny jeans? Because that'd be ironic.

The only fashion crime I really have a problem with, is lads wearing short shorts! Thank fcuk it's started raining again, sunglasses don't come with enough filters to block out the sight of a fellas glutes peeking out from under the hem of the shorts! :pac:

Corvo

Hides the "How'ye buuud" tattoo on me neck

Czarcasm

The Backwards Man wrote: »

The top button.

I used be able to pìss leaving the top button closed, but then I hit puberty and almost guillotined my mickey with the band of my jocks when I was done.

Much easier just to undo the top button

Fart

So Cantona could look cool?

Aphex

The Backwards Man wrote: »

The top button.

Would you not just unbutton it? It makes for a more satisfying piss imo..

kneemos

Czarcasm wrote: »

I used be able to pìss leaving the top button closed, but then I hit puberty and almost guillotined my mickey with the band of my jocks when I was done.

Much easier just to undo the top button

Don't believe anyone goes to the bother of unbuttoning their pants and then unbuttoning their jocks and repeating in reverse just to have a pee.

My name is URL

You only have to look at what came before it to see why collars originated.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Ambrosius_Holbein_002.jpg

MadsL

kneemos wrote: »

Don't believe anyone goes to the bother of unbuttoning their pants and then unbuttoning their jocks and repeating in reverse just to have a pee.

Button wha"? Most jerk down the trackie bottoms.

Gerra outta tha' w'yer buttons ya ponce.

Red Nissan

It adds stiffness to light garments and helps shape the suit, jacket, shirt etc.

You might see the difference between an open necked T-Shirt and a Polo Shirt which is almost the same thing, except it has a collar.

Collars would also have been a protective element in battle dress,

Dyr

obvious guess, if you use a tie, cravat etc to close the neck of a garment then you need to have the garment fold over (like a shirt collar) to keep the tie/cravat in place otherwise it will just ride up your neck over the end of the garment