This article is one of those articles on how to look prim and proper in hot and humid weather. Usually here in Malaysia it is too hot to wear any sort of jacket outdoors for longer than a few minutes. It is usually sans tie and jacket if one spends most of his time outdoors here. Of course, a nice unlined, unconstructed hopsack linen jacket and a very thin dress shirt could also do wonders. But let's have options for the average man here in the tropics. What would be the best shirt that would look good without a tie or a jacket?
One of the nicest ready to wear (RTW) button down collared shirts that one can find are those made by Brooks Brothers. Button-down collars have points fastened down by buttons on the front of the shirt. These shirts were first introduced by the American clothing company Brooks Brothers in 1896 and were patterned after the shirts of polo players (who used to wear proper button down shirts instead of the polo shirts we see today). They were used exclusively on sports shirts until the 1950s in America. It is still considered a more casual shirt style because of its collar - different from the usual spread or pointed collars, which are considered as formal. Some do say that traditionalist would not wear a button down collared shirt with a suit as it is a shirt specifically for a sport (polo) and not one to wear with a suit.
