Spread, Point or Cutaway: How to Choose a Shirt Collar and Cuff

A shirt holds a dozen decisions, and two of them sit where everybody looks. The collar frames your face in every photograph taken of you. The cuff is the part your own hands see all day.

On the order to commission shirts in, and how many you need, we have written separately in Custom Dress Shirts: What to Order First. This is the other half of that conversation. Not how many, but which collar and which cuff.

Why the collar is most of the shirt

A collar does three things at once, and they pull in different directions. It sits against your neck, so its height has to agree with how much neck you have. It frames your face, so its spread either balances your features or argues with them. And it meets the jacket, so it needs length in the leaf to stand against the lapel and roll rather than lie flat. Ready-made shirts settle on one middling height and spread, because a factory cutting to a neck size cannot do otherwise.

The collars, one at a time

• Point. Narrow points set close together, falling almost straight down. The most conservative shape there is, and the only one that reads as formal unaided. It wants a small knot, and its near-vertical lines narrow a broad face.
• Semi-spread. The points opened to a moderate angle. If you were only ever going to own one collar, this is it. It carries a tie properly and does not collapse worn open at the neck.
• Spread. The points pushed further apart, leaving a wide gap for the knot. It balances a long or narrow face and fills the opening of a jacket handsomely.
• Cutaway. The spread taken to its conclusion, points swept back until they sit almost behind the lapels. Elegant, deliberate, and not quiet. It needs a substantial knot or the gap looks empty.
• Button-down. Longer points fastened to the body of the shirt, which gives a soft roll instead of a flat stand. Right with oxford, tweed and flannel. Wrong under a dinner jacket. Unlined, it is the best collar for wearing without a tie.
• Tab. A short point collar with a fabric tab fastening behind the knot to push it forward. Fussy to do up, and worth it: the knot sits up and out, and the collar cannot gape.

Which collar suits which face

The useful principle is that a collar should contradict the face above it rather than agree with it. A long, narrow face is widened by a spread or a cutaway and lengthened by a point collar. A broad face is narrowed by a point or a modest semi-spread. Height follows the neck. A long neck carries a taller collar well and looks unfinished in a short one. Half an inch either way is the whole difference.

The collar and the knot

Collar and knot are one decision, not two, and most people meet them backwards. A four-in-hand, the small asymmetric knot, sits best in a point or semi-spread. A half Windsor fills a semi-spread. A full Windsor is wide, wants a spread or a cutaway, and looks strangled in a point collar. The question at a first fitting is not which collar you like, but which knot you actually tie.

When a collar needs a tie, and when it does not

Some collars are structural without a tie and some are not. Take the tie off a cutaway and the points fall outward towards the shoulders. Take it off an unlined button-down and nothing happens, which is the point. If you mean to wear shirts open at the neck, and in Los Angeles most people do, say so and we will give you a lower collar with more structure in the band.

Collar stays and construction

Underneath the cloth, a collar is built. The interlining decides how firmly it stands: a fused one is crisp and uniform and eventually goes dead, a sewn-in one softens rather than failing. The depth of the band decides how the collar meets the neck, and the length of the leaf whether it rolls over the lapel or hides beneath it. Removable stays in metal or horn keep the points flat and come out before washing.

Single cuff or double

A single cuff, also called a barrel cuff, fastens with one or two buttons and is the everyday choice. Two buttons give some adjustment on a slim wrist. A double cuff, which the Americans call French, folds back on itself and fastens with links. It belongs with a suit, and with black tie it is not optional. It sits better under a jacket sleeve, because the fold gives it body.

Whichever you choose, the cuff has to do two incompatible things. It must be close enough that the shirt does not travel over the back of your hand when you reach across a table, and open enough to pass the wrist without a struggle. Those are two measurements, and ready-made shirts take neither.

What a bespoke collar gets you

An individual pattern lets us set the height, spread, leaf length, band depth and interlining for your neck, your face and the knot you tie, then repeat all of it across every shirt you order afterwards. That repetition is what makes a wardrobe look deliberate rather than accumulated.

Every garment here is fully bespoke and cut to your own pattern, shirts included. We do not offer a made-to-measure line at any price. Max, the house atelier, has made every garment by hand in Southern Brittany since 2010, and the same care goes into a collar as the lapel on a jacket, which our bespoke tailoring page sets out in full. Shirts are $295 and take two to four weeks. Cloth, front and cuff options sit on our page for custom shirts Los Angeles.

Questions we are often asked

What is the most versatile shirt collar?

A semi-spread. It carries every common knot, looks right with a suit, and holds its shape worn open at the neck. If you are ordering one collar and repeating it, order that one.

What is the difference between a spread collar and a cutaway?

Degree. A spread opens the points to leave a wide gap for the knot. A cutaway keeps going until they sweep back almost behind the lapels, which is more striking and less forgiving if your knot is small.

Can you wear a cutaway collar without a tie?

You can, but it rarely looks settled, because the points fall outward with nothing holding them. For open-necked wear we would suggest a lower semi-spread or an unlined button-down.

Are double cuffs too formal for the office?

Not in a suit, and not in Los Angeles. They are a step more formal than a barrel cuff and read as considered rather than dressy. With an odd jacket and no tie they are a stretch.

Which collar suits a round face?

A point collar or a narrow semi-spread, with a little height in the band. The near-vertical lines narrow the face between them. A cutaway does the opposite.

Do collar stays come out before washing?

Yes, always, if they are the removable kind. Washing a shirt with metal stays in marks the points and in time cuts them. We can sew them in permanently.

Come and try some on

Collars are easier to decide on in a mirror than on a page. The consultation takes an hour, costs nothing, and includes around thirty measurements and three photographs. What the hour involves is described on our page for book a fitting.

We are appointment-only, seven days a week, at 221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA 90293. Book a private consultation, or telephone 310-503-3592 and we will find a time.