collar bars?v'e

[Vampyre Master]

greetings Iv'e seen shirts with collar bars, rather like them, how do they work, ie does the shirt collar have special holes?
V

 

[Edward]

There are three main options here.

1] The pin type (similar to a kilt pin, but smaller):

These can be used with either a shirt that has holes in it, or one that does not (though they do tend to leave visible holes in a shirt that doesn't have them tailored in)

2] Collar bars

These are a small stick with two little nubs at the ends - usually a sphere, or a small cube. One end screws off, the bar is passed through the holes in the shirt collar, and then the endpiece is reattached. These require a hole in the shirt.

3] Collar clips

These are work without any holes in the collar - they don't need them, just slide over.

I own and use all three. My favourites tend to be the pins, as they stay firmly put and are only one-piece (no danger of losing or dropping a fiddly end piece under the sofa). The one big drawback with the clips is finding affordable shirts with a collar not too widely splayed to allow their deployment. About time spearpoints came back in a big way!

 

[Vampyre Master]

pin looks best, shirts are the problem
thanks VM

 

[herringbonekid]

i have a couple of pins, but haven't used them very much. i worry that repeated use will cause a visible hole in the collar. has anyone found this to happen ?

 

[Feraud]

Edit- sorry I was referring to using the bars not pins.
I only use the pins on shirts with pre-made holes.

 

[MisterCairo]

Here's a lengthy thread on topic I dug around for, I recalled prior discussion of this neat topic:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?8638-Collar-Bars&highlight=collar

 

[Edward]

i have a couple of pins, but haven't used them very much. i worry that repeated use will cause a visible hole in the collar. has anyone found this to happen ?

Mine (relatively thick pins) do leave a mark, though on a quality cotton like my Charles Tyrwhitt shirts it's not massively obvious, and if you're careful you can use the same hole every time so it doesn't detract from the look of the shirt. Properly tailored holes are the best option if you want to wear a pin all the time, though the nice advantage of not having them is that you can pin it up when you want, but wear it unpinned at other times.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Affordable pin collar shirts can be found here

 

[Anthony Jordan]

Very useful Edward, as I now know not to wear my collar clip back to front!

 

[Vampyre Master]

yep I'm sold on these, when not wearing Victorian its bow ties, but this is the answer for a good looking long tie!
VM