The Collar Pin

by Sven Raphael Schneider on April 11, 2010 in Accessories, Clothing, Miscellaneous, Our Best Articles, Shirts, Wardrobe

Safety Collar Pin

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Recently, we published an article about collar stays and today we will not move very far away from this area of the shirt because we now focus on collar pins. Although you can rarely see gentlemen wearing collar pins nowadays, I think they look quite elegant and debonair and often underline one’s personal style. In case you like to wear tab collars, you should seriously consider wearing a collar pin

since it elevates the tie knot in the same way.

The History of the Collar Pin

Fred Astaire Collar Pin

Historically, the collar pin first surfaced in the beginning of the 20th century. The turndown collar was still in its infancy and unlike today very strongly starched and hard. Silk collars however, were simply to delicate for the starch and hence someone had the idea to connect the collar with a pin in order to give it a better shape and a neat look. At the same time the tie was slightly elevated which also looked quite sophisticated. Over the following decades the collar pin cycled in and out of fashion: Fred Astaire wore it frequently in the 20s and 30s and it was also spotted in movies – Paul Muni in Scarface is a perfect example for that. In Germany, it became popular in the 1950s again as well as in the 1960s in the US. In 1987, it was Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street who infamously wore his boldly striped shirts as well as his a collar pins and thus caused a little revival of the collar pin. At the moment the TV Series Mad Men shows certain characters wearing a collar pin.

Basically, there are three different kind of collar pins:

The Collar Pin

Collar Pin - Safety Pin

The classic collar pin looks quite similar to a big safety pin. It can easily be worn with all kinds of club collars or collars narrow collars. All you have to do is to connect your collar with the pin under your tie. This will result in two little small holes in your collar once you take out the pin. However this is not a problem at all since those holes should have disappeared after the shirt returns from the laundry.

The Barbell

Moreover, there are straight pins with a little cube or element on each side, whereas at least one of them can be screwed on and off. It looks similar to a barbell.  This type of collar pin requires a certain shirt collar with two holes. Today, chances to find such a shirt collar of the rack are probably worse than winning the lottery. Therefore you will need a made to measure or bespoke shirt.

The Collar Bar

Piccadilly collar with pinhall for collar pin or bar

The third option is better referred to as a collar bar than a collar pin since it has a clasp on each end in order to hold the collar together. Often, those collar bars are richly decorated or even have precious or semi precious stones in them.

Personally, I prefer the first two options because I like the way they hold the collar in place whereas the collar bars are not able to give me that same amount of shape. Additionally, I am not too fond of the elaborately decorated bars.

Even though the collar pin is often associated with a white collar environment, it was originally reserved for informal attire. Back in the day, formal attire always required a stiff collar, and the silk collar was anything but that, as I mentioned before. If you want to wear your collar pin with your business suit or your Tweed Outfit, does not really matter in my opinion – it can look splendid in any case!

In any case you should insure to have a small tie knot because otherwise your collar will wrinkle and look unfavorable. This means you should choose a tie with very little or no lining at all and tie a simple not.

Where to Buy a Collar Pin, Barbell or Collar Bar?

Collar Pin-Barbell-Bar-Safety Pin

If you are now eager to shop for a collar pin, you might be lucky at an antique flea market although I think the world wide web offers plenty of options. Inexpensive pins can be found on ebay or if you prefer collar bars you might find one at Paul Stuart or J. Press. Should you on the other hand prefer a collar pin crafted in gold, you should look here or there for example. A small, rather affordable selection of collar pins can be found here. Your local jeweler might also have a selection or can make a custom collar pin for you.

A Shirt for Collar Pin with a Pinhall & Piccadilly Collar

Also, If you are looking for a Ready-To-Wear shirt with little holes (also known as pinhall) for a barbell, you should take a look at J. Press (If you cannot see it, search for Pinhall). Back in the day, a Piccadilly collar, a white detachable collar with rounded corners was often times worn with a collar pin.

If collar pins are too long, they do not hold the collar together and look bad. Therefore you should pay attention to the size. In the 30s, collar pins where usually between 1.5 – 2 inches whereas today they are often larger than that. Go for the smaller ones – they will look better.

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Tags: barbell, collar bar, collar pin, Fred Astaire, Gordon Gekko, J. Press, Mad Men, Paul Stuart Print article