2
Does “Button-Down” Mean the Shirt or the Collar? Are Some More Formal Than Others?
When someone tells me to wear a “button-down shirt” does that mean a shirt with a button-down collar or just any buttoning dress shirt? Which is more formal?
Whoever told you to wear a button-down shirt was probably confusing the terms.
A “button-down” should refer to the collar, not to any dress shirt with buttons. You could say “button-front” or “button-fronted” if you really wanted to be specific, but people will generally understand that you mean a shirt with a turn-down collar of some kinds and a buttoning front when you say “dress shirt.”
“Button-down,” on the other hand, refers specifically to a turn-down collar whose points attach to the shirt with small buttons at the tips.
They’re slightly less formal than point or spread collars without the buttons. Button-downs are meant for a casual look or for manual labor (they’re a staple on collared work shirts). You can wear them with a tie and even with a jacket and odd (unmatched) trousers, but at the point where you’re wearing a suit you should have moved to a non-buttoning collar.
That doesn’t mean you won’t see men in suits and button-downs, but you’ll look better if you avoid their mistake. And you’ll sound smarter if you don’t use “button-down” to refer to any kind of buttoning dress shirt!
Was this answer helpful?
LikeDislikeEverything you need to know about button down collar rules, from our Real Men Real Style YouTube channel:
Was this answer helpful?
LikeDislike