Man's Shirt
This is a men's dress shirt with a small standing collar. It is typical of men's shirts of the second half of the 19th Century. It is difficult to date this shirt exactly, but it probably comes from the late 19th or early 20th Century and is probably French.
It is a pull over, with three small bone buttons on a placket front. It is long, and comes down to the wearer's knees.
The cuffs close with cuff links.
It is cut full, though not so full as shirts of the 18th Century. It is made of white cotton.
The shirt is gathered into the yolk in delicate pin tucks. The red smudge at the bottom of the placket is an embroidered laundry mark of the owner's initials.
I would note that commercially available reproduction shirts differ from this original in a few important ways. First, I have yet to see a repro that is anything like long enough (men's shirts were often their only underwear), repros nearly always have buttons that are way too big, and repros are often cut too full, and lack the well-fitted subtlety of the originals.
See more photos of original garments
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