Traditional Civilian Highland SHIRTS

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Here are some photos of a vintage "boiled" shirt that sold on Etsy a couple of months ago. This is the earlier, front-button design.
[IMG][/IMG]

Ah yes... but with the shirts we're talking about the "bib" is one piece, and the shirt buttons up the back, not the front.

[MacLowlife]

Mine are getting gently bleached as I type this and are unvailable for photographs. I have just checked and the eBay pics show a folded shirt, so you can't gauge much from them. The bib is just like the bib on any other boiled/ formal/ pique / marcella front shirt, except there is no fly.

There is a style of ladies cardigan sweater that some clever girl figured out could be worn buttoned up the front or the back. This is the theory behind a button-up-the-back shirt. If a shirt is a tube, the closure of the tube can be anywhere you want it to be. Most of the time, the front makes the most sense. But for the formal bib front shirt, the studs are purely ornamental. As many people have figured out, manipulating the little spring mechanism on some shirt studs through two layers of stiff, but moving fabric can be tricky. Here is the genius of the single bib, as explained by MoR above. As he also pointed out, there is no risk of Gap-Osis. Nobody will know if you are an AC or a Champion guy, or whatever company sponsors your tee shirt.

I don't think anyone dreamed of removing one's jacket while wearing such a shirt.

[WolfmanJack]

Ah yes... but with the shirts we're talking about the "bib" is one piece, and the shirt buttons up the back, not the front.

Yes, both designs were common in the early 20th Century. Below is a diagram of four designs: A and D are front-button designs, B and C are back button.
[IMG][/IMG]

[WolfmanJack]

This is the shirt MoR is talking about.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

This is the shirt MoR is talking about.

Jack,
Thanks for posting the photo. This is a fairly early shirt; by the 1920s the back was completely open.

Interestingly this style of shirt (along with the detachable stiff collar) were invented in Troy, New York, once the "shirt and collar" capitol of the world.

[MacLowlife]

Thanks W-Jack.

The diagrams are great. MoR is right as usual, my experience is with shirts that open all of the way down in the back, but the picture is representative otherwise.

I think I have mentioned before- now and then some designer or company will offer a formal shirt in tartan. Not just the neat trick of making the body in tartan with the bib and cuffs and collar ( all of the parts visible when you have your jacket on) in white, but An Entire Pleated Bosom Shirt in tartan. Brooks Brother had one that looked to be McPherson Dress, I think, and Ralph Lauren has done one in Black Watch and one in what I believe may be dome fashion variant of MacLeod.

Here is the link for a picture of the tartan full dress shirt:


https://picasaweb.google.com/MacLowl...05913942193986


As usual, some more capable person is welcome to actually load the picture. I just can't do that.
And then, I invite someone to ID the tartan.

AND THEN (Dude, where's my car)
AND THEN, I welcome comments on this clearly NON TRADITIONAL CIVILIAN HIGHLAND shirt.

The tartan has a tiny red and a tiny yellow line like MacLeod, but then there is all of that white. There IS dark dark green as well...

Whoever is kindly [posting the proper links, please don't miss THIS: https://picasaweb.google.com/MacLowl...12621945382066

[CMcG]

<snip>

As usual, some more capable person is welcome to actually load the picture. I just can't do that.
...

Whoever is kindly [posting the proper links, please don't miss THIS:

Here are the images, though I'll reserve my judgment just yet:

[Cygnus]

I've been tempted by a similar shirt in my tartan, though I don't think I would consider it for formal wear (especially considering that it has plain buttons rather than holes for studs). In fact, I probably wouldn't even wear it with my kilt unless I really wanted to go over the top on tartan day.

To me, shirts like that are best used to show your clan affiliation when not kilted.

[Jock Scot]

Here are the images, though I'll reserve my judgment just yet:

Sigh and sigh again.

In my "no button-down collar,no shirt pocket" post, I deleted NO tartanesque and NO lumberjackesque shirts, to see if they would come up during further conversation in the thread. I would have bet the farm that they would!

Alright what we choose to wear is entirely our own choice, but we are talking traditional Highland wear here, so there are degrees of what works and what does not work with the overall look.In my not so humble opinion based also, on more than a modicum of experience these type of shirts are just too much when worn with the kilt and are not traditionally worn as such.

I am not saying that one can't wear them, but traditionally, a shirt of more subtle checks, stripes, or plain hue are worn and experience(not necessarily mine!) does show what works and what does not.Why? Well the tartan theme can be overdone and eight yards of tartan in the kilt is more than enough for most and then adding tartan waistcoats and sometimes tartan jackets too, well I think a contrasting and subtle shirt is a welcome relief to the eye and sets off the outfit to best advantage.

So are these tartanesque/lumberjackesque shirts subtle? Not hardly!

[saxandpipes]

Here are the images, though I'll reserve my judgment just yet:

Oh dear...! :S