Description

Casual Shirts:

The shirt was an item of clothing that only men could wear as underwear, until the twentieth century. Although the women’s chemise was a closely related garment to the men’s, it is the men’s garment that became the modern shirt. In the Middle Ages, it was a plain, undyed garment worn next to the skin and under regular garments. Men’s shirts were allowed to show, with much the same erotic import as visible underwear today. Instead of underpants, men “relied on the long tails of shirts … to serve the function of drawers.

The shirt sometimes had frills at the neck or cuffs. Men’s shirts often had embroidery, and sometimes frills or lace at the neck and cuffs and through the eighteenth-century long neck frills, or jabots, were fashionable.

Types:

Camp shirt – a loose, straight-cut, short-sleeved shirt or blouse 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 a dress shirt which its color is white.
Dinner shirt – a shirt specifically made to be worn with male evening wear, e.g. a black-tie or white tie.
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 on as the collar and sleeve hems.
Half shirt – a high-hemmed T-shirt.
Sleeveless shirt – a shirt manufactured without sleeves, or one whose sleeves have been cut off, also called a tank top
A-shirt or vest or singlet – essentially a sleeveless shirt with large.
armholes and a large neck hole, often worn by laborers or athletes for increased movability.
Camisole – woman’s undershirt with narrow straps, or a similar garment worn alone (often with bra). Also referred to as a cami, shelf top, spaghetti straps or strappy top
Polo shirt (also tennis shirt or golf 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”).
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 without a hood.
Top shirt – a long-sleeved collarless polo shirt.
Heavy shirt – a shirt with the heavy size that covers up under the neck.

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 as coats and sweaters.