shirt

Business shirt

In American English, shirt can refer to almost any upper-body garment other than coats and bras (the term "top" is sometimes used in ladieswear). In British English, a shirt is more specifically a garment with a collar, cuffs, and a full vertical opening with buttons; what is known in American English as a dress shirt.

Kinds of shirts

• shirt or dress shirt — a shirt with collar and full vertical opening with buttons; left and right sides of this shirt meet with the placket front.
  • blouse — lady's shirt; the term is also used for some men's military uniform shirts.
  • Hawaiian shirt or Aloha shirt — a colourful short-sleeve dress shirt, loose or not fitted and woven from very light fabric. Often informal. Also just called a "tropical shirt."
  • Camp shirt — a loose, straight-cut, short sleeved shirt or blouse with a simple placket front-opening and a "camp collar."
  • guayabera — an embroidered dress shirt with four pockets.
• T-shirt — a casual shirt without a collar or buttons, usually short-sleeved. It is a common shirt for informal events.
  • Ringer T-shirt — tee with a separate piece of fabric sewn on as the collar and sleeve hems.
  • halfshirt — a high-hemmed t-shirt.
  • tank top — a sleeveless T-shirt.
    • A-shirt or construction shirt — essentially a sleeveless t-shirt with large armholes and a large neck hole, often worn by labourers or athletes for increased movability. Sometimes called a "wife beater" when worn without a covering layer.
    • camisole — woman's undershirt with narrow straps, or a similar garment worn alone (often with bra). Also referred to as a cami, shelf top, spaghetti straps or strappy top.
• tennis shirt, golf shirt, or polo shirt — a v-neck shirt with a full collar; opening often closed with buttons or zipper running partway down the front. Short or long sleeve. Sometimes embroidered with club or designer insignia. Often worn with a sweater vest.
  • rugby shirt — typically a rugged long-sleeved polo shirt, of thick cotton or wool.
  • henley shirt — a collarless polo shirt.
• baseball shirt — usually distinguished by a three quarters sleeve, team insignia, and flat waistseam.
• sweatshirt — long-sleeved athletic shirt of heavier material, with or without hood.
• tunic — primitive shirt, distinguished by two-piece construction. Initially a men's garment, is normally seen in modern times being worn by women.
• nightshirt — often oversized, ruined or inexpensive light cloth undergarment shirt for sleeping.
• sleeveless shirt — A shirt with no sleeves. Contains only neck, bottom hem, body, and sometimes shoulders depending on type.
  • halter top — a shoulderless, sleeveless garment for women. It is mechanically analogous to an apron with a string around the back of the neck and across the lower back holding it in place.
  • tube top (in American English) or boob tube (in British English) — a shoulderless, sleeveless "tube" that wraps the torso (not reaching higher than the armpit, staying in place by elasticity or by a single strap that is attached to the front of the tube.

Tops which would generally not be called shirts:

• onesie or diaper shirt — a shirt for infants which includes a long back that is wrapped between the legs and buttoned to the front of the shirt.
• sweaters — heavy knitted upper garments.
• jackets, coats and similar outerwear

Parts of shirts

Many terms are used to describe and differentiate types of shirts (and upper-body garments in general) and their construction. The smallest differences may have significance to a cultural or occupational group. Recently, (late 20th century) it has become common to use tops to carry messages or advertising. Many of these distinctions apply to other upper-body garments, such as coats and sweaters.

Shoulders and arms

• with no covering of the shoulders or arms — a tube top (not reaching higher than the armpits, staying in place by elasticity)
• with only shoulder straps, such as spaghetti straps
• covering the shoulders, but without sleeves
• with short sleeves, varying from cap sleeves (not extending below the armpit) to half sleeves (elbow length)
• with three-quarter-length sleeves (reaching to a point between the elbow and the wrist)
• with long sleeves, may further be distinguished by the cuffs:
  • no buttons — a closed placket cuff
  • buttons (or analogous fasteners such as snaps) — single or multiple. A single button or pair aligned parallel with the cuff hem is considered a button cuff. Multiple buttons aligned perpendicular to the cuff hem, or parallel to the placket constitute a barrel cuff.
  • buttonholes designed for cufflinks
    • a French cuff, where the end half of the cuff is folded over the cuff itself and fastened with a cufflink. This type of cuff has four buttons and a short placket.
    • more formally, a link cuff — fastened like a French cuff, except is not folded over, but instead hemmed, at the edge of the sleeve.
• asymmetrical designs, such as one-shoulder, one-sleeve or with sleeves of different lengths

Lower hem of shirt

• leaving the belly button area bare (much more common for women than for men). See halfshirt.
• hanging to the waist
• covering the crotch
• covering part of the legs (essentially this is a dress; however, a piece of clothing is perceived either as a shirt (worn with trousers) or as a dress (in Western culture mainly worn by women)).
• going to the floor (as a pajama shirt)

Body

• vertical opening on the front side, all the way down, with buttons or zipper. When fastened with buttons, this opening is often called the placket front.
• similar opening, but in back.
• left and right front side not separable, put on over the head; with regard to upper front side opening:
  • V-shaped permanent opening on the top of the front side
  • no opening at the upper front side
  • vertical opening on the upper front side with buttons or zipper
    • men's shirts are often buttoned on the right whereas women's are often buttoned on the left.

Neck

• with polo-neck
• with v-neck but no collar
• with plunging neck
• with open or tassel neck
• with collar
  • windsor collar or spread collar — a dressier collar designed with a wide distance between points (the spread) to accommodate the windsor knot tie. The standard business collar.
  • tab collar — a collar with two small fabric tabs that fasten together behind a tie to maintain collar spread.
  • wing collar — best suited for the bow tie, often only worn for very formal occasions.
  • straight collar — or point collar, a version of the windsor collar that is distinguished by a narrower spread to better accommodate the four-in-hand knot, pratt knot, and the half-windsor knot. A moderate dress collar.
  • button-down collar — A collar with buttons that fasten the points or tips to a shirt. The most casual of collars worn with a tie.
  • band collar — essentially the lower part of a normal collar, first used as the original collar to which a separate collarpiece was attached. Rarely seen in modern fashion. Also casual.
  • turtle neck collar — A collar that covers most of the throat.
• without collar

Other features

• pockets – how many (if any), where, and with regard to closure: not closable, just a flap, or with a button or zipper.
• with or without hood

Some combinations are not applicable, of course, e.g. a tube top cannot have a collar. Of course, there are always exceptions. For example, a sweater does not qualify as a shirt unless it has a college logo on it.

Toplessness is the opposite of wearing a shirt of some kind, or a bikini top, etc. This is sometimes considered a kind of nudity, especially in the case of women.

See also

• Phillips Van Heusen
• Cardigan
• Jersey
• Jumper
• Bare chested
• First shirt, nick-name for a First Sergeant
• Brownshirts, known from the colour of their uniform of Sturmabteilung
• Curtain
• Dishrag
• Sleeveless shirt
• Jermyn Street, home of the oldest English shirtmakers

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