Collar Bar

Collar Bar

Historically, the collar bars and pins first surfaced in the beginning of the 20th century. The turndown collar was still in its infancy and, unlike today, was very strongly starched and hard. Silk collars however, were simply too delicate for the starch and so someone had the idea to connect the collar with a pin in order to give it a better shape and a neat look. As a result of this pin, the tie was slightly elevated which also looked quite sophisticated. Over the following decades, the collar bar cycled in and out of fashion: Fred Astaire wore it frequently in the 20’s and 30’s and it was also spotted in movies – Paul Muni in Scarface is a perfect example for that. In 1987, Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street infamously wore his boldly striped shirts as well as his collar pins and thus caused a little revival of this accessory and today, the TV Series Mad Men shows certain characters wearing collar bars.

Basically, there are two different kind of collar and pins: the collar clips and the collar pin. As you might assume the clip style clips to the collar and the pin style pins through the material of the collar. Both can be worn under your necktie, to elevate the knot of the tie and make it more crisp. But they are also a wonderful accessory to crisp up your collar even when you don’t want to wear tie as that finishing touch to your outfit. See photos for details on individual pieces. Each one comes gift boxed.  Brass and Silver colored.  2 1/2″ long.