Formal Shirts

In American English, a formal shirt is a men's shirt with a collar, a full-length opening at the front from the collar to the hem, and full length sleeves with cuffs. The opening fastens closed along a placket using buttons or studs, and the cuffs close with buttons, cuff links or silk knots. Some very formal shirts have separable collars attached with studs. In British English, this garment is simply known as a shirt, while a dress shirt is specifically a smarter shirt of the fashion, worn with black tie or white tie.

A traditional tailored shirt has the following components:

• Collar: The flaps of the collar are known as points; the open space or gap between the points (when the shirt is fastened) is called the spread;
• Yoke: This is the most difficult part of the shirt to construct. This is the shaped section at the shoulders, which connects all the other parts of the shirt. A split yoke has two pieces sewn together to help shape it to the shoulders.
• Two sleeves
• Two cuffs
• Two front panels
• Back
• Second Back
• Placket.