Don’t forget that this is NOT a shirt collar for men with short necks (they will look even shorter with this shirt collar). Read more about that in our Dress Shirt Collar Guide,our post on Unique Yet Cool Shirt Collars, French Cuff Dress Shirts or Custom Made Shirts – 3 secrets the Tailor Didn’t Tell You.

There is a rare breed of shirts that instantly reflects confidence and style in the eyes of the masses and more importantly your peers.

It has most likely happened to you before, someone walks by you on the street or walks in the room and in those first seconds you realize that his shirt is a winner.

I must admit it is a rather rare happening, but there are ways to getting a shirt like that for yourself.

These are the three main components to think about:

The Fit
The fit of a shirt is by far the most important. Even with a fabric that is of the worst blend of chemicals and with the lowest yarn count, a well fitted shirt can do miracles. That’s one of the reasons why we are such fans of tailored shirts.

There is really no way that your shirt will be a true winner without it fitting you well and by that I mean truly following your dimensions. However, for the people with normal limb and body sizes out there you can be lucky enough to find a suitable match without having to go to the tailor.

All in all, make sure to get the shirt made to measure, then especially solid color shirts can be winners.

The Pattern and Color
It can be really tricky to determine what shirt pattern is impressive and which one is just too much. A few of my personal favorites include broad white stripes with thinner stripes that are blue or brown.

Be sure to sign up for the completely free eBook in the upper right column, where this subject will be looked at in far more detail. You can read more about it here.

The Collar
For a firm and confident look the collar has to follow suit. Make sure that your collar is stiff and firm so that it does not go all over the place when there is a bit of wind.

Another option is simply to go for magnetic collar stays, which is a pretty new invention. They pretty much make any collar look sharp, they are called Wurkin Stiffs.

Again do be sure to opt in for the free eBook in the upper right column. Collars and tips about collars will be a large focus in the “Shirt Element” section. Among others this will include washing tips and collar coordination tips.

The basic rule:

Do not wear collars that are the same shape as your face. Doing this simply emphasizes your face shape and does not complement it.

The Round or Wide Face:

To avoid emphasizing the round face, do not wear cutaway or spread collars. The most ideal would be to go for the narrow and pointed collars such as the pointed collar. The pointed collar will make the face look longer instead of wider.

The Long or Slender Face:

These faces on the other hand should go for cut away or spread collars to widen their faces. This would work as a good counterbalance.

Angular Faces or Faces with Strong Jaw Lines:

Wearing long pointed collars that are Soprano style removes the emphasis on the strong jaw line.

Saggy Neckline or Double Chin:

Hard neck collars have a good push up effect on double chins and saggy necklines. They also hide it better than soft collars.

Long or Short Necks:

Collars can have different heights. Good tailors find a way to make long necks look shorter and short necks look longer. For short necks the tailor decreases the height of the collar and vice versa for long necks.

There is a lot more of these tips and guides in our FREE Men’s Button Down Dress Shirt Guide , sign up for it by entering your email in the upper right column.

Or take a look at our post on Unique Yet Cool Dress Shirt Collars.