Collar (clothing)

Shaped neckwear that fastens around or frames the neck William Shakespeare in a sheer linen collar of the early 17th century, a direct ancestor of the modern shirt collar. In clothing, a collar is the part of a shirt, dress, coat or blouse that fastens around or frames the neck. Among clothing construction professionals, a collar is differentiated from other necklines such as revers and lapels, by being made from a separate piece of fabric, rather than a folded or cut part of the same piece of fabric used for the main body of the garment. A collar may be permanently attached to the main body of the garment (e.g. by stitching) or detachable. Word usage The Oxford English Dictionary traces collar in its modern meaning to c. 1300, when collars served as neck-protecting armour. History Today's shirt collars descend from the rectangular band of linen around the neck of 16th century shirts. Separate ruffs exist alongside attached ruffled collars from the mid-16th century, usually to allow starching and other fine finishing,[citation needed] or to make collar-laundering easier. During the medieval period and sporadically thereafter, people wore ornamental collars as a form of jewelry. Ter