Grandfather shirt

A grandfather shirt or grandad shirt is a long-sleeved shirt. Historically laundry was done less often and the environment more polluted and male grooming products hair oil or pomades prone to marking or rendering ones shirt collar.

Thumb — A Swedish teenager (centre) wearing grandad style shirt, 2008

This was dealt with by changeable collars often stiffened or heavily starched to create a better impression.

Undergarments were usually worn, lessening the need to change the shirt by preventing staining.

Stiff collars were by nature uncomfortable and while typically worn with a form of necktie or not in many circumstances they were unnecessary or considered uncomfortable and not worn.

The shirt was often worn for more than one day and might even be worn for nightwear yet such matters were considered a private affair and records are anecdotal.

Materials used in shirt making differ and while coarser fabrics such as linen and flannels were used finer fabrics including silks were favoured.

The climate and relative wealth were usually factors, as were tradition, vernacular fabric and local tailoring styles.

The over the head or a fully buttoned garment has an equivalent in most societies and cultures and a well made shirt can last for many years if carefully made from good materials and properly laundered and worn lightly.

One British shirt maker offered two collars with each shirt bought, the double 2 brand, believed to be now defunct.

Traditional London shirt makers occasionally offer collarless shirts, although these are mainly worn by members of the legal profession, although Dandies still might have one or two.

Certain fabrics lend themselves to colour-ways cotton flannels are often white with coloured vertical stripes. Longer shirts may be used as nightshirts or pajamas. The nightshirt version can include a matching nightcap.

The style of shirt (called a union shirt) was also worn by working-class men in the United Kingdom during the industrial era. At this period, the lack of a turndown or collar "cape" was filled by the use of a detachable collar or a scarf of some sort as access to freshly laundered collars was difficult or deemed unnecessary.

The 2010s decade has also seen the garment feature as a mainstream fashion item for men.^[1] As it did in the 20th century where original collarless shirts were cheaply available and widely worn for aesthetic reasons, later making commercial returns from various fashion houses and widely worn by both sexes as simple and practical garments.

The grandfather shirt is also made of Irish linen heavy cotton twill or occasionally cotton or wool flannel. Wool flannel is somewhat costly and difficult to maintain and wear yet still found.

The linen version is colloquially known as a 'Sunday shirt'. Sunday shirts are often paired with black trousers or Irish tweed pants and worn to Mass, christenings, funerals, and weddings.

In popular culture, a variety of traditional Irish clothing was featured on the BBC series Ballykissangel, and the Irish folk band The Clancy Brothers were often photographed wearing traditional Irish clothes.

A similar collarless shirt or tunic, known as a kurta, is traditionally worn in the Islamic world and South Asia. This usually has three or four buttons, and is often decorated with intricate embroidery.^{[citation needed]}

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Grandfather shirt

See also

References

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