Ashirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist).
Originally anundergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, inAmerican English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. InBritish English, a shirt is more specifically a garment with acollar, sleeves withcuffs, and a full vertical opening with buttons or snaps (North Americans would call that a "dress shirt", a specific type of collared shirt). A shirt can also be worn with anecktie under the shirt collar.
The shirt was an item of clothing that only men could wear as underwear, until the twentieth century.[2] Although the women'schemise was a closely related garment to the men's, it is the men's garment that became the modern shirt.[3] In theMiddle Ages, it was a plain, undyed garment worn next to the skin and under regular garments. In medieval artworks, the shirt is only visible (uncovered) on humble characters, such asshepherds, prisoners, andpenitents.[4] In the seventeenth century, men's shirts were allowed to show, with much the sameerotic import as visible underwear today.[5] In the eighteenth century, instead of underpants, men "relied on the long tails of shirts ... to serve the function of drawers.[6] Eighteenth-century costume historianJoseph Strutt believed that men who did not wear shirts to bed were indecent.[7] Even as late as 1879, a visible shirt with nothing over it was considered improper.[2]
The shirt sometimes had frills at the neck or cuffs. In the sixteenth century, men's shirts often hadembroidery, and sometimes frills orlace at the neck and cuffs and through the eighteenth-century long neck frills, orjabots, were fashionable.[8][9] Coloured shirts began to appear in the early nineteenth century, as can be seen in the paintings ofGeorge Caleb Bingham. They were considered casual wear, for lower-class workers only, until the twentieth century. For a gentleman, "to wear a sky-blue shirt was unthinkable in 1860, but had become standard by 1920 and, in 1980, constituted the most commonplace event."[10]
European and American women began wearing shirts in 1860, when theGaribaldi shirt, a red shirt as worn by the freedom fighters underGiuseppe Garibaldi, was popularized byEmpress Eugénie of France.[11][12] At the end of the nineteenth century, theCentury Dictionary described an ordinary shirt as "of cotton, with linen bosom, wristbands and cuffs prepared for stiffening with starch, the collar and wristbands being usually separate and adjustable".
The first documented appearance of the expression "To give the shirt off one's back", happened in 1771 as an idiom that indicates extreme desperation or generosity and is still in common usage. In 1827 Hannah Montague, a housewife in upstate New York, invents thedetachable collar. Tired of constantly washing her husband's entire shirt when only the collar needed it, she cut off his collars and devised a way of attaching them to the neckband after washing. It was not until the 1930s thatcollar stays became popular, although these early accessories resembled tie clips more than the small collar stiffeners available today. They connected the collar points to the necktie, keeping them in place.[13][better source needed]
Camp shirt – a loose, straight-cut, short sleeved shirt orblouse with a simple placket front-opening and a "camp collar".
Dress shirt – shirt with a formal (somewhat stiff) collar, a full-length opening at the front from the collar to the hem (usually buttoned), and sleeves with cuffs
White shirt – usually dress shirt which is white in colour
Guayabera – an embroidered dress shirt with four pockets.
Poet shirt – a loose-fitting shirt or blouse with full bishop sleeves, usually with large frills on the front and on the cuffs.
T-shirt – also "tee shirt", a casual shirt without a collar or buttons, made of a stretchy, finely knit fabric, usually cotton, and usually short-sleeved. Originally worn under other shirts, it is now a common shirt for everyday wear in some countries.[14]
Long-sleeved T-shirt – a T-shirt with long sleeves that extend to cover the arms.
Ringer T-shirt – tee with a separate piece of fabric sewn onto the collar and sleeve hems.
Raglan T-shirt – a T-shirt with araglan sleeve; a sleeve that extends in one piece fully to the collar, leaving a diagonal seam from underarm to collarbone.
Halfshirt – a high-hemmed T-shirt, typically falling between the bottom of the sternum and navel.
Sleeveless shirt – a shirt manufactured without sleeves, or one whose sleeves have been cut off, also called a tank top
A-shirt orvest or singlet (inBritish English) – essentially a sleeveless shirt with large armholes and a large neck hole, often worn by labourers or athletes for increased movability.
Camisole – woman's undershirt with narrow straps, or a similar garment worn alone (often withbra). Also referred to as acami,shelf top,spaghetti straps orstrappy top
Polo shirt (alsotennis shirt orgolf shirt) – a pullover soft collar short-sleeved shirt with an abbreviated button placket at the neck and a longer back than front (the "tennis tail").
Rugby shirt – a long-sleeved polo shirt, traditionally of rugged construction in thick cotton or wool, but often softer today
Baseball shirt (jersey) – usually distinguished by a three-quarters sleeve, team insignia, and flat waist seam
Sweatshirt – long-sleeved athletic shirt of heavier material, with or withouthood
Tunic – primitive shirt, distinguished by two-piece construction. Initially a men's garment, is normally seen in modern times being worn by women
Shirtwaist – historically (circa. 1890–1920) a woman's tailored shirt (also called a "tailored waist") cut like a man's dress shirt;[15] in contemporary usage, a woman's dress cut like a men's dress shirt to the waist, then extended into dress length at the bottom
Nightshirt – often oversized, ruined or inexpensive light cloth undergarment shirt forsleeping.
Halter top – a shoulderless, sleeveless garment for women. It is mechanically analogous to anapron with a string around the back of the neck and across the lower back holding it in place.
Top shirt – a long-sleeved collarless polo shirt
Heavy shirt – a shirt made with heavier fabric (typically more than 6 oz./yd.², often ranging from 6 oz. to 9 oz.+, or 180 to 220 GSM)[16][17]
Onesie or diaper shirt – a shirt forinfants which is buttoned in the front between the legs
Tube top (inAmerican English) or boob tube (inBritish 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
Overshirt- a heavier type of shirt that can be worn over the shirt as ajacket.
Thousand-miler shirt - historically (until circa 1960s) a light brown colored shirt worn predominantly by Americantravelling salesmen in first half of 20th century and known as a thousand-miler because it did not show dirt from long business trips on the road.[18] Also a dark shirt or one made of heavy serviceable fabric as worn by sailors or railway workers especially during thesteam age.
Punishment shirts were special shirts made for the condemned, either those cursed supernaturally, such as the poisoned shirt that killedCreusa (daughter of Creon), theShirt of Nessus used to killHercules, those used to execute people in ancient Rome, such as theTunica molesta, and those used in church heresy trials such as theSanbenito
Parts of shirt
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 twentieth century, into the twenty-first century) it has become common to use tops as a form of advertisement. Many of these distinctions apply to other upper-body garments, such ascoats andsweaters.
have shoulderless sleeves, short or long, with or without shoulder straps, that expose the shoulders, but cover the rest of the arm from the biceps and triceps down to at least the elbow
have short sleeves, varying from cap sleeves (covering only the shoulder and not extending below the armpit) to half sleeves (elbow length), with some having quarter-length sleeves (reaching to a point that covers half of the biceps and triceps area)
have three-quarter-length sleeves (reaching to a point between the elbow and the wrist)
have long sleeves (reaching a point to the wrist to a little beyond wrist)
buttons (or analogous fasteners such assnaps) – single or multiple. A single button or pair aligned parallel with thecuff hem is considered abutton cuff. Multiple buttons aligned perpendicular to thecuff hem, or parallel to theplacket constitute abarrel cuff.
aFrench cuff, where the end half of thecuff is folded over thecuff itself and fastened with acufflink. This type ofcuff has four buttons and a shortplacket.
more formally, a link cuff – fastened like aFrench 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.
covering part of the legs (essentially this is adress; however, a piece of clothing is perceived either as a shirt (worn withtrousers) or as a dress (inWestern culture mainly worn by women)).
going to the floor (as a pajama shirt)
Body
vertical opening on the front side, all the way down, withbuttons orzipper. When fastened with buttons, this opening is often called theplacket 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 usually buttoned on the right whereas women's are usually buttoned on the left.[19]
windsor collar orspread collar – a dressier collar designed with a wide distance between points (thespread) to accommodate thewindsor 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 – orpoint collar, a version of the windsor collar that is distinguished by a narrower spread to better accommodate thefour-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.
Some combinations are not applicable, e.g. a tube top cannot have a collar.
Measures and sizes
The main measures for a jacket are:
Shoulders
Bust
Waist
Hip
Sleeve
Length, from the neck to the waist or hip.
Sizes
Asia Size M = US/EU Size XS.
Asia Size L = US/EU Size S.
Asia Size XL = US/EU Size M.
Asia Size XXL = US/EU Size L.
Asia Size XXXL = US/EU Size XL.
Asia Size XXXXL = US/EU Size XXL.
Types of fabric
There are two main categories of fibres used: natural fibre and man-made fibre (synthetics or petroleum based). Some natural fibres are linen, the first used historically,hemp,cotton, the most used,ramie,wool,silk and more recentlybamboo orsoya. Some synthetic fibres arepolyester,tencel,viscose, etc. Polyester mixed with cotton (poly-cotton) is often used. Fabrics for shirts are called shirtings. The four main weaves for shirtings areplain weave,oxford,twill andsatin.Broadcloth,poplin andend-on-end are variations of the plain weave. After weaving,finishing can be applied to the fabric.
In addition,red shirts have been used to symbolize a variety of different political groups, includingGaribaldi's Italian revolutionaries, nineteenth-century American street gangs, andsocialist militias in Spain and Mexico during the 1930s.
Different colored shirts signified the major opposing sides that featured prominently in the2008 Thai political crisis, with red having been worn by the supporters of the populistPeople's Power Party (PPP), and yellow being worn by the supporters of the royalist and anti-Thaksin Shinawatra movement thePeople's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). Each side is commonly referred to as the 'red shirts' and 'yellow shirts' respectively, though the later opponents of the later Thaksin supporting groups have largely ceased wearing yellow shirts to protest rallies.
In the UK, theSocial Credit movement of the thirties wore green shirts.
The party leaders ofDravidar Kazhagam in India wear only black shirts to symbolise atheism.
Whatever its color, the shirt itself means a certain wealth and social status. In Spain in the 19th century, then inArgentina during the time ofJuan Perón, the worddescamisados ("shirtless") means the masses of the poor.
^C. Willett and Phillis Cunnington,The History of Underclothes, Dover Publications Inc., New York 1992.ISBN0-486-27124-2 pp. 54
^Linda Baumgarten, "What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America", The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, in association with theYale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut 2002,ISBN0-300-09580-5, p. 27
^Linda Baumgarten, "What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America", The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, in association with theYale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut 2002,ISBN0-300-09580-5, pp. 20-22
^C. Willet and Phillis Cunnington, "The History of Underclothes", Dover Publications Inc., New York 1992.ISBN0-486-27124-2 pp. 36–39
^C. Willet and Phillis Cunnington, "The History of Underclothes", Dover Publications Inc., New York 1992.ISBN0-486-27124-2 pp. 73
^Michel Pastoureau and Jody Gladding (translator), "The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes", Columbia University Press, New York 2001ISBN0-7434-5326-3, p. 65
^For example, see Laura I. Baldt, A.M.,Clothing for Women: Selection, Design and Construction, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, PA 1924 (second edition), p. 312
