#cuff links

Dress Shirt

The phantom’s dress shirt has a pleated front with a wing collar. For this, I started with a basic tuxedo shirt that I found at a local vintage store. I noticed that the pleats on it were much smaller than the ones the phantoms had in pictures, which sent me down a rabbit hole of shirt pleat trends.

What I learned was that most modern tux shirts have 1/8 or 1/16 inch pleats while a lot of phantoms have 1/2 or 1/4 inch pleats. I also found through googling “white tie guide” that most white tie/formal dress guides tell you not to wear pleated shirts and that pleated shirts are for black tie/semi-formal dress with tuxedos. But! Then I found some historical tailoring books, which had pleats.

Turns out, towards the end of the 19th century, both pleats and ruffles were still occasionally used for formal dress but were on the way out because society had decided they were frivolous and effeminate.

I found a shirt (left) from roughly the 1930s with wider pleats at a different local vintage store. This one also required studs, which the shirt did not come with (I will circle back to studs and cuff links later in this post). This shirt has double cuffs (also called French cuffs), which mean they fold back over before they’re fastened with cuff links. I noticed that phantoms tended to have single cuffs, so I went back on my research trail.

This is where I learned that in the late 19th century single cuffs were more common for formal dress. Shirts also had detachable shirt cuffs and collars, which was done to make it easier to wash and replace them without having to get a new shirt. In the late 19th century, they were also only just starting to make dress shirts that unbuttoned all the way down, and before that they only unbuttoned part of the way.

I started passively keeping an eye out on Etsy and eBay to see if I could find a shirt that fit me that had all these features. It took me a bit more than a year, but I eventually found one that was my size and from around 1900. It didn’t have a collar though, so I had to find one of those as well.

One of the fun things I learned when getting this shirt, was that the button tab around the bellybutton area is actually used to button the shirt to the waistcoat and trousers to prevent it from riding up.

Shirts and shirt collars are usually sized by measuring around your neck for the collar. The rest of the shirt is often large and not form fitted at all, making it more adaptable to weight changes and easier to make.

The most important thing to pay attention to for shirts is neck measurement. I learned this the hard way when I bought a shirt off eBay and did not realize that it was about half an inch too small for my neck. Don’t be like me 😂

You can measure around your neck with a tape measure and leave some space for comfortable breathing/swallowing/moving. If you have a dress shirt already, measure around the neck and compare that measurement to the listing. If a seller doesn’t list the neck measurement, it’s a good idea to message and ask.

Aside from the neck, you’ll want to make sure the arms are long enough by measuring from your shoulder to your wrist (it’s fine if they’re too long, you can cinch them in or use sleeve garters). It may also be worth checking the length of the bib front to make sure that it works with your waistcoat and doesn’t end too soon (I haven’t had any issues with this, but some waistcoats are quite low cut and may not come up high enough for certain shirt styles).

I will say, dress shirts from the late 19th century are probably the hardest thing to find in good condition because they are either sitting against the skin or against underwear, exposing them to sweat, skin oils, and friction between layers.

Luckily, aside from minor details, this is a piece of clothing that has not changed significantly in the last 100 years or so. You can find plenty of modern pleated shirts with wing collars along with bow ties, and shirt studs for sale today for a wide range of budgets. There are also historical costume shops that sell replicas like Historical Emporium or Darcy Clothing.

When it comes to cleaning these shirts, usually I toss them into a bucket with oxyclean (recommended to me by a costumer friend who has experience getting sweat and makeup out of all kinds of fabrics), rinse them, then hang to dry. It should get the makeup stains out, even if you use waterproof makeup. They can be ironed or hung in a warm steamy room to help relax wrinkles.

Shirt Studs and Cuff Links

Some phantoms have shirt studs and/or cuff links, and some don’t. One of the shirts I have needs shirt studs and cuff links, and the other only requires cuff links. The first thing I did was buy a set of fairly cheap studs and cuff links off of Amazon (and then immediately proceeded to have an allergic reaction to the metal). I still use those, but with an undershirt so they’re not against my bare skin.

My research into studs and men’s jewelry told me that both buttons and studs were common, but studs became more common to help with stiff starched shirt fronts that were hard to button.

Most of the phantoms have darker studs and cuff links, so I got a set of darker ones. However, fashion guides from the time tell men to use plain gold, silver, or pearl for their shirt studs for white tie/formal dress, while the darker tones are for black tie/semi-formal dress.

Vintage cuff link and shirt stud sets are fairly common on eBay, Etsy, and other online antique stores; however, they can be quite pricey. I managed to get the one above from around the 1930s pretty cheaply off of eBay.

One of the things I discovered while looking at the old sets was that cuff links used to be connected by a chain, rather than the twisty clasp most of them have today, so they had facings on both sides of the cuff. This design can be seen on some phantoms as well.

When getting shirt studs and cuff links, it’s a good idea to measure the holes in your shirt to make sure they fit. My shirt doesn’t work with the vintage studs because the holes are too big and the studs fall through (I found this out the hard way on the way to a con).

Bow Tie

Last but not least, you’ll probably want a bow tie. From what I’ve found, there’s a lot of variation in phantom bow ties. Some of them have a narrow style that is called batwing or sometimes “Edwardian” and others have a more butterfly shape. They’re usually cream or white, some with smooth fabric, others with a marcella or piqué fabric (the ones that look like they have small bumps).

Fortunately, bow ties are still around, and you can find them for quite cheap, both pre-tied or self-tie. I found all of mine at a local vintage shop. I have two pre-tied and one self-tie. I prefer the pre-tied ones because they’re just easier and more convenient.

Like the shirts, you size them by measuring around your neck, with some space left for the shirt and breathing. A lot of them, especially the pre-tied ones are adjustable, which helps. They also accumulate makeup quite quickly, as you can see in the picture. I clean mine by tossing them into the oxyclean mix with the shirts and then hanging them to dry after rinsing.

More info on shirts, studs, and bow ties. I did a lot of reading on the Gentleman’s Gazette when I was looking for details. There is a lot there that you can learn, and they have a ton of useful reference photos. I will say though that a lot of the articles on this site have a bit of a judgy tone and can be over the top, so take what they say with a grain of salt.