Having just written three posts about men's suits, I got to thinking about some of the other oddities that we used to wear when I was a lot younger. So this post is about collars. Most men up until the late sixties kept separate collars in their wardrobes. Now in these days it's hard to imagine that shirts were often worn for several days at a time. In fact often for seven. In order to preserve the appearance of freshness the collars were removable and usually very stiff. In the UK there was a company called Collars of Wembley, whose entire business was to collect a box of seven collars from a house, launder them and return them a week later while collecting another batch. You therefore had to have 14 in order for the system to work. The collars were attached to the shirt by a front stud - usually quite long - and a back one which was much shorter. They were extremely smart, if a trifle restricting. I can only image the horror if I were to try and get my 17 year-old grandson to wear one today! I believe that separate cuffs were sometimes worn in the past too. However even I, at my hugely advanced age, can't remember them.
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| The only wearers of collars these days! |
collars of wembley would also replace any unserviceable collar -a service included in the laundering price
ReplyDeleteI used the company in the 60's until I found that Gieves carried a disposable cardboard variety for 2/6 a dozen. Although I did change my short daily nothing was a smart as detachable collar and a nest tie know over the stud.
ReplyDeleteI used the company in the 60's until I found that Gieves carried a disposable cardboard variety for 2/6 d a dozen. Although I did change my shirt daily nothing was a smart as detachable collar and a nest tie know over the stud.
ReplyDeleteI also used Collars of Wembley in the 60s great service but changed Shirts daily had button on Cuffs which I changed after work if going out prior to going home.
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