When it comes to shirts there are many different types of collars, from cut away, semi cut away, button down, rounded or club, Kensington or pointed and of course the Nehru.
We've seen quite an influx of the Nehru collar from out clients and we thoughts we'd give you a little history lesson on the style.
A mandarin collar is a short unfolded stand-up collar style on a shirt or jacket. Mandarin collars start at the neckline and typically rise vertically two to five centimetres. The style derives its Western name from the gowns worn by Mandarins in Imperial China.
The length along a Nehru or mandarin collar is straight, with either straight or rounded edges at top of the centre front. The edges of the collar either barely meet at the centre front or overlap slightly. Overlapping mandarin collars are often a continuation of a shirt's placket and have a button on the collar to secure the two sides of the shirt together.
The style Nehru is also found in some modern Indian men's clothing, such as the Nehru jacket.
Named for Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India 1947–1964, who commonly wore clothing with this type of collar.
It is suggested that the Nehru collar was developed when the Chinese removed the detachable collars from their shirts to make them more comfortable in the warm climate. The origin of this story is unknown and therefore can not be proven but considering they took cotton trousers and tailored them beautifully and the Americans nick-named them Chinos because they came from China, it is possible they took and everyday item like the shirt and adapted it to work for their lifestyle and climate.
The history behind the detachable collar is a simple one, pre and post world war in the 20s it was easier for men to remove the cuffs and collars from the shirts to wash them, as they got dirtiest quickest and they didn't want to compromise the cotton shirt body by over washing it.
Hence the invention of the detachable collar.
This has been made more popular due to shows like Boardwalk Empire and The Peaky Blinder.
Now known as the granddad collar we see it becoming increasingly popular with more and more clients asking for the granddad collar.
“PEOPLE WILL STARE. MAKE IT WORTH THEIR WHILE” -Harry Winston-
A Hand Tailored Suit, the tailoring company offering you a slice of London’s Savile Row for a cut of the cost. Bespoke custom clothing for Men, Women & Children, we offer only the finest of cloths from only the finest of cloth merchants from around the world. Call us in the UK 0121 368 1052/ or IRE +353(0) 1 513 6665 Our UK studio’s in Belfast and Birmingham, and our Irish studio’s in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, click here to contact us.