Engineered Garments Banded Collar Dress

A band collar is not a collar that has been removed. It is the half of a collar that was always there. A conventional shirt collar is two pieces: a stand, which is the strip that goes around the neck and holds everything up, and a leaf, which is the part that folds over and lies on the shoulders. Leave the leaf off and the stand is a band collar, and for most of the nineteenth century that is precisely what a shirt was, because the leaf was a separate detachable object that got starched and buttoned on when a man went out.

What it does to a dress is remove a horizontal line. A folded collar draws attention outward across the shoulders and sets a second shape on top of the neckline. A band ends the garment at the throat and lets the button placket run straight up without interruption, which on a full-length button-front dress is the whole difference between a shirtdress and something quieter. The waist tie is the other adjustment: buttoned through and tied, it is a fitted dress, and untied it falls straight.

A cotton plaid button-front dress with a tie waist is the kind of garment that gets worn constantly and is almost never well cut. The band collar is what keeps this one from reading as a shirtdress.

One hundred percent cotton in a plaid, made in the USA. Band neckline, button front, and a tie at the waist. Relaxed silhouette. Colour: Olive.

Relaxed through the body, with the tie setting the waist, so it takes a range rather than a point and can be worn fitted or straight. The full button front means it can also be worn open, over a trouser, as a long layer. Cotton relaxes across a day and recovers in the wash.

Open, over the Square Neck Shirt with the STK Pant in navy corduroy. Closed and tied, on its own. Under the Cutaway Jacket Crochet.

Wash cool and hang to dry, and untie the waist first so the tie does not knot in the drum. Olive is a compound dye and moves under strong sun faster than a simple one, so dry it out of direct light. Our cotton care guidance covers the rest.

The Cagoule Dress is the long open layer beside this buttoned one. The Square Neck Shirt and the STK Pant in navy corduroy go underneath, and the Cutaway Jacket Crochet goes over. There is more on the house on the Engineered Garments designer page. Everything we carry from Engineered Garments is listed together.