Today's dissection is devoted to this season's most popular neck piece: the detachable collar.
First, a little bit of history: It is believed that the detachable collar was first invented in 1827 in Troy, New York, by Mrs. Hannah Lord Montague, a housewife who was having difficulties with her husband's "ring-around-the-collar" and therefore proceeded to snip it off his shirt to wash it, then sewing it back on. The manufacture of detachable collars and the associated shirts eventually became a significant industry in Troy.
Surely, with the prescribed format of men's clothing firmly in place in the 1900's, detachable collar and cuff styles offered a sophisticated yet practical bit of variety within the code of white shirt, paired with brown, black or grey trousers, a waistcoat, topcoat, gloves and a hat. These pieces quickly became a hit at a time when laundering garments was extremely expensive. Precisely, they could be cheaply purchased and guaranteed a clean and polished look by way of being detachable, while the body of the shirt was laundered as needed.
Sears Catalog, Fall 1889
Detachable collar, 1910
And now--a look at the 21st century, and browsing through my own little collection of trinkets...
I personally am all over my Gemma Lister gold sequined Peter Pan collar. Here again, we are dealing with the play on masculine and feminine codes: the round edges balance out the roughness that can be suggested by merely wearing a collar in the first place. A piece quite modernized from those presented above, and let's not forget - who else but an advocate of femininity would wear a SEQUINED piece? Certainly NOT ta man living a century ago!
Like what you see? Get your own here!
Sears Catalogue page is from about 1900 - the celluloid styles are named after Spanish-American War (1898) heroes.
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