Men's Tops

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During its earliest days, shirts for men did not have any collars. Instead, they had long puffy sleeves and were commonly used by sculptors, painters and other artists. This medieval design is where the present button-down shirt of today originated.

The most common shirt used by men today is the polo shirt. Conceptualized by Rene Lacoste, a popular French tennis player, during the late 1920s, the polo shirt was originally meant to be the new standard outfit for athletes who at the time were confined to wearing stiff uniforms that hampered their movements. After a couple of decades, athletes began to lose interest in the polo shirt in favor of new designs. But during the 1960s, renowned fashion designer Ralph Lauren brought the polo shirt back into the limelight by making it the star of his new Polo collection. Although tennis players have long ceased to use this outfit for their games, there was a much brighter future for the polo shirt in the mainstream market.

Another distinctive shirt that has been in fashion several times in the past is the granddad shirt, a collarless long sleeved shirt used mostly in tropical countries and other places with extraordinarily hot summers. A version of this shirt was made popular in Asia by Jawaharlal Nehru, the former Prime Minister of India. Typically called the Nehru Jacket, this shirt is still very widely used in the region, as well as in other parts of South Asia. Some movie stars are also known for frequently donning this outfit, such as Steven Seagal and the late Sammy Davis Jr.

As of today, the most popular type of shirt for a man is the button-down variety. However, it is not very clear as to who developed it or when this version first came to be. Many fashion students speculate that it was the brainchild of an American who had watched a polo game and was inspired by how the collars were buttoned down to prevent them from flapping with the wind. There are also theories that it was a New Yorker who thought of the concept after being constantly bothered when his collar kept flapping in the breeze.

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