The Impact of a Collar - Ảnh hưởng của chiếc cổ áo

We often believe a jacket, long or short sleeve shirt can make all the difference to a smart look, but have you ever thought about the impact a collar can have? Most also aren’t aware the collar hasn’t always been the same as we see today. And certain periods throughout British history have played a huge part in changing collar trends. 

The Elizabethan era was home to the ruff collar - the equivalent of wearing a £1,500 watch now. This over the top style was purely used to display wealth and status.
 

Fig: Collar at different period

According to Ian Mortimer, ‘The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England’, the ruff collar was one of the most outrageous styles going: “At the height of the craze, in the 1580s and 1590s, ruffs are made up of up to six yards of starched material, with up to 600 pleats in them, extending eight inches or more from the neck”. 

However, the collar trend was soon abandoned as it was expensive to produce and difficult to maintain. 

Believe it or not, a certain English boarding school was responsible for the creation on the Eton collar. In the 19th century, Eton College - considered to be one of the most famous in the world, wanted to make their students more distinguishable against more common public schools. The school educated the likes of British prime ministers and aristocracy, so they needed to dress to impress. To fix the issue, they took standard collar points and rounded them off, which created the iconic Eton collar. Now, the style is typically known as the club collar in reference to the “special membership” it used to represent. 

British Prime Minister William Edwart Gladstone also created the Gladstone collar - a standing, Victorian style that was pressed so it would stick out at the side-fronts. That’s right, the style was so popular it was named after him! This is often cited as the inspiration behind today’s wing collar.