Shirt
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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.
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- 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.
- A-shirt or construction shirt os singlet (in British English) — 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.
- shirtwaist — a dress which actually is really a shirt.
- 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 that would generally not be considered 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
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[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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
[edit] 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.
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.
[edit] Famous shirtmakers
[edit] Shirts and politics
Redshirts was the name used by Garibaldi's troops in Italian Unification.
In 1920s and 1930s, the fascism choose coloured shirts for made explicit its ideology:
- Black shirts was used by italian fascio, and in Britain, Finland and Germany (SS)
- Brownshirts was used by german nazis of SA
- Blueshirts was the name of the fascist mouvement in Ireland and Canada, and the colour of spanish Falange Española, French Solidarité Française and Chinese Blue Shirts Society.
- Greenshirts was used in Hungary, Romania and Brasil
- Camisas Doradas (golden shirts) in Mexico
- Silver Shirts in the United States of America
- Red Shirts in Turkey
[edit] 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
