Another remarkable variation is to be found in the collars of some dress suits. A little point is left on the collar known to tailors as the “toothpick,” which runs across the nick into the lapel (see Figure [34]). This structure is probably a survival of some particular kind of collar.
It might be pointed out here that the facings and collar that are of silk or velvet represent the lining of the coat which came into view when the collar was turned down and the lapels turned back. The case is quite similar to that of the cuffs on uniforms, and to be quite consistent, the whole coat should be lined with what is usually used now only as a kind of trimming.
It is but a short step from the features that we have been discussing, to the linen collar and the shirt front. The cutting away of the outer garment to bring the shirt into view is a relic of the time when only those who were very well to do could afford to wear linen, and they showed it, in order to indicate their social position, or at any rate their financial resources. At the same time, the women cut their dresses low so as to show their underlinen; and not content with this, they further, at the end of the thirteenth century, slit their gowns from the armpits to the hips. The openings thus made were laced across, so that the linen garments beneath could easily be seen.
The white shirt has long survived, and in spite of its depreciated value has up to quite recently posed as a badge of respectability. Now at last there are signs that its sway is over, and that soon it will come to be only a garment of ceremony.
The linen collar of to-day is quite a small affair compared with some of its forerunners. An interesting relic is to be seen in the two little linen flaps which we call bands (see Figure [35]). These are still worn by preachers in conjunction with the Geneva gown, by barristers, and by Blue-coat boys (see Figure [36]), and we can easily trace their relationship to the collar. Until a few years ago the choristers at Jesus College, Cambridge, wore a peculiar collar which ended in two flaps much resembling bands, and the descent of this from the large structures which were called falling bands is not difficult to trace.
Fig. 35.—Modern bands.
