Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Wearing a shirt with the collar popped up

shadowrider

One of the Regulars
Messages
258
Location
Italy
I recently watched the 1960 sci-fi classic Village of The Damned, and was surprised to see George Sanders going through most of the movie with his shirt collar popped up.

George%20Sanders%20village%20of%20the%20damned%20-%20popped%20shirt%20collar_zpsu2vq0gql.jpg

The only times I've seen this done (sans cravat) was by drunk kids at dance clubs. What's your take on it, folks?
 
Last edited:

viclip

Practically Family
Messages
571
Location
Canada
Cary Grant probably started some sort of fad which others picked up on. I read somewhere that he often wore his collar popped up when not sporting a necktie or scarf. Apparently he was self-conscious of his thick muscular neck which he developed while performing as an acrobat during his youth. Grant was considered quite the fashion icon in his day. Just my theory to explain Sanders' appearance.
 

Seb Lucas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,562
Location
Australia
Pretty sure turning up any kind of collar was done as a way of jazzing up a look before Cary. I think I have seen a photo of Jack London doing this pre 1916. A cravat is often a part of this.
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,793
Location
New Forest
There was a craze in the UK in the early sixties of wearing a shirt with the back of the collar up and the front wings down. No idea how it got started, but it died out when in the mid sixties ladies blouses were worn in similar style. Can't be seen to look all girly.
collar up.jpg
 
Messages
17,215
Location
New York City
...Apparently he was self-conscious of his thick muscular neck which he developed while performing as an acrobat during his youth....

Oh, great, Cary Grant, one of the most handsome men of all time, was self-conscious about his looks. Christ, I'm just going to put a bullet through my head and be done with it because if he wasn't happy with his appearance, there is no / none / not any hope for me.
 

tropicalbob

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,954
Location
miami, fl
Elvis is what I was thinking. Or Harry Belafonte. If you're neither of those guys, I'd leave it alone. A shirt collar out over a sweater, though, can look really nice: I often do it with a white shirt and a Fair Isle sweater vest.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
For a long time, it was stylish, sort of, to wear the collar of the shirt outside the jacket if no tie were being worn. It was also commonly done in Europe and the U.K. at the same time. In fact, it was even done in the army when I was in, wearing the collar of the fatigue jacket (shirt) outside and over the collar of the field jacket (officially "coat"). That look appears in many military photos in the French and German Armies as well as the U.S. Army in the 1950s and 1960s but none that I've noticed in the British Army. Also with sweaters in the French army for sweaters with collars.
 

Hal

Practically Family
Messages
590
Location
UK
For a long time, it was stylish, sort of, to wear the collar of the shirt outside the jacket if no tie were being worn. It was also commonly done in Europe and the U.K. at the same time.
Not since the early 1950s here. In any case, I dislike the tieless-but-jacketed look.. It reappeared for a time in the 1970s and seems to have taken over since the 1990s.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
It's somewhat akin to wearing a polo shirt with the collar up, especially when worn under a genuine oxford cloth button down collar shirt, which, these days, may be worn untucked.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,081
Location
London, UK
There was a craze in the UK in the early sixties of wearing a shirt with the back of the collar up and the front wings down. No idea how it got started, but it died out when in the mid sixties ladies blouses were worn in similar style. Can't be seen to look all girly.
View attachment 64771

I wonder was it an attempt to imitate the effect of a wing collar for daywear? It certainly looks a bit like it.

For a long time, it was stylish, sort of, to wear the collar of the shirt outside the jacket if no tie were being worn. It was also commonly done in Europe and the U.K. at the same time. In fact, it was even done in the army when I was in, wearing the collar of the fatigue jacket (shirt) outside and over the collar of the field jacket (officially "coat"). That look appears in many military photos in the French and German Armies as well as the U.S. Army in the 1950s and 1960s but none that I've noticed in the British Army. Also with sweaters in the French army for sweaters with collars.

Yeah, wearing the shirt collar out over the jacket lapel was common in the UK as a casual thing really from the forties onwards. A lot of peopled think of it as a bitg seventies nowadays as that was the last time it was popular. It has always looked more 'put together' to me than the currently popular tie-less with no effort to do anything with the collar look, but there you go. The one in the OP seems to be different, though - it does look to me like an effrot to mimic a wing collar rather than just folding the collar over the top of the jacket. Note, though, that I'm assuming (based on what the OP has said about it being worn that way throughout the film) that this was a deliberate look, rather than the shirt starting off folded over the collar in the conventional way, then riding up over the course of time...
 

Hal

Practically Family
Messages
590
Location
UK
When the weather is very cold I raise the collar of my shirt and jacket for added warmth. Works wonders against wind.
In the winter I increasingly revert to jacket and tie for a similar reason - the closed collar gives a thermal advantage.
 
Messages
73
Location
London, UK
In the 1930s stylish men would wear the collar of their polo shirt popped over their jacket. This only workshop with a spearpoint collar poli shirt with a deep placket or something like this
c00444604ac33351950cee50a9a3a9ed.jpg



Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk
 
Messages
17,215
Location
New York City
In the 1930s stylish men would wear the collar of their polo shirt popped over their jacket. This only workshop with a spearpoint collar poli shirt with a deep placket or something like this
c00444604ac33351950cee50a9a3a9ed.jpg



Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

I have seen that in movies and pictures from the '30s, but it was not ubiquitous as I've also seen it not done (i.e., shirt collar not "popped" over sport coat collar) quite frequently as well in that time period.

IMHO, it wasn't a great look back in the '30s and the '70s version with aggressive colors, exaggerated lapels and polyesters only made it worse. Also, while it was a '30s thing as noted, if one tried it today, the echo in most people's minds would be of the '70s (not a fashion echo anyone wants to set off).
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,081
Location
London, UK
Also, while it was a '30s thing as noted, if one tried it today, the echo in most people's minds would be of the '70s (not a fashion echo anyone wants to set off).

Eh. If we cut out all the gret stuff from the 30s and 40s becasue we worry somebody else might look at us and think "Ha! Seventies!", we'd lose a lot!
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,253
Messages
3,077,340
Members
54,183
Latest member
UrbanGraveDave
Top