Can I wear a button-down collar with a suit and tie?
And more: One style of soft collar is the button-down collar. The button-down has small buttons at the tips of the points. It is a characterictic collar style of the “prepy” looked first popularized in the 1960s. Few boys and men currently wearing button-down collars are aware of its historical origins. The button-down collar is in fact an American adaptation of shirts worn by English polo players. It was introduced by John Brooks in 1900 after he had discovered it being worn by English polo players in order to prevent flapping during a match. Polo players at first wore formal cotton dress shirts, but had the collars buttoned down to stop them flapping about during the game which was distracting to the players. The button-down collar is today a staple of American boy’s wear, but much less common in Britain or the continent.
Button-down collars are a perfectly fine complement to a standard American-fitted suit for a working professional. In fact, if the image you want to convey is that you’re a roll-up-your-sleeves, down-in-the-trenches Excel-and-Power-Point warrior, it’s actually the preferred look. If you’re wearning a more fitted or fashion-foward suit, or if you need to convey a higher degree of formality or high corporate station, than point collar (with collar stays!) are preferred. Spread collars are to be avoided unless you’re BOTH wearing a closely-fitted, but otherwise conventionally designed, suit AND you have an athletic build. They don’t complement those who aren’t lean, and they coordinate equally poorly with a fashion forward suit, or a sack suit.
I always thought that style of collar looked weird without a tie, but apparently I was wrong — as of three weeks ago, the answer was no tie with button-down collars.
I have seen formal-ish shirts with “button down” collars, usually white, that look great with a stylish tie and formal suit. It may depend on whether you consider “button down” to imply a softer, less formal fabric (or less formal colour) or not.
