didnt monogramming originate as a way to mark laundry or something??? I would like to learn a bit more about it's origins aswell...I am a huge fan of it myself, I have almost all of my shirts monogrammed on the left cuff regardless of French or barrel cuffs...I wouldnt do it to a formal shirt...but other than that I think when it comes to shirt monogramming, just about anything goes...

*****

"When you wear lapels like the swellest of swells, you can pass any mirror and...
smile
...You've either got or you haven't got style!!!"​

 

It sounds as though your question is about shirt monogramming.

They originated when shirts were made by hand, as a way to identify them. Since commercial laundries use other methods of identification, they are now more about ego.

The most common location for a monogram is on the left chest, where a pocket would be (and hopefully isn't). Some people find that a tad loud.

Another location is the cuff. More people find that just a bit too noisy.

One subtlety that isn't loud at all but does assuage the ego is to have them sewn into the inside of your shirt collar instead of the shirtmaker's label. They are your shirts, and you are probaly not named Turnbull or Asser.




------------------------
Fortuna elegantes adiuvit.

 

Why on earth should there be a 'protocol'?

There seems to be too much desire to rigidly standardise on the grounds that certain things are 'done' ie somehow traditional or good taste and others less so.

Monogrammes can be placed where YOU want. Shirts - on a cuff or the breast pocket. Coats - on the lining wherever you want to see it.

Let's ghet away from this view of if it was done x years ago it must be right, if not it is crass. If something fits better then maybe but slavish devotion to days gone by is ridiciulous.

 

quote:Originally posted by GBR

Why on earth should there be a 'protocol'?

There seems to be too much desire to rigidly standardise on the grounds that certain things are 'done' ie somehow traditional or good taste and others less so.

Monogrammes can be placed where YOU want. Shirts - on a cuff or the breast pocket. Coats - on the lining wherever you want to see it.

Let's ghet away from this view of if it was done x years ago it must be right, if not it is crass. If something fits better then maybe but slavish devotion to days gone by is ridiciulous.

I aggree whole heartedly with you sir...I mean, do those who cling to bygone fashions still go to the barber and get leaches when they have a nagging cough???or do they take a horse and buggy down the cobblestone to the town square to barter goods for the weekly mercantile??? I guess technically speaking, they shouldnt even be on the computer, because no such device existed in 1880 or whatever era they're saying was the golden age of rightness...

If a person likes old fashioned style, good...but that's all it is is style...there is no right and wrong...I love Italian style, but I dont drive a Fiat or eat "macaroni with gravy" every day, does that make me wrong???style is very subjective...

...at least that's the way I see it...

*****

"When you wear lapels like the swellest of swells, you can pass any mirror and...
smile
...You've either got or you haven't got style!!!"​

 

If you're young and you want them, get them. Even if for no reason at all. It's your life. Live it the way you want.

If you're old, like me, just get 'em. At least you'll have a head start each morning when you try to remember who the hell you are.

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some say that the color of the thread should be as discrete as possible: If your shirt is white, the monogram should be pearl. If your shirt is blue, the monogram should be a similar shade of blue, and so on... Never a full name but rather initials. I have a friend who asks his tailor to write his full first name, which I find terribly tacky.

I also prefer the monogram on the cuff, rather than on the lower chest.

 

Flusser frowns on the cuff. I prefer the shirt-tail, but if it is going to be visible, I like it about an inch above the waistband, and midway between the suspender strap and the placket, in a matching thread. Subtlety is a virtue.

 

quote: Flusser frowns on the cuff.

Hell ... if you've kept track of recent developments, he now seems to frown on the whole concept of even having a sleeve!

quote:some say that the color of the thread should be as discrete as possible: If your shirt is white, the monogram should be pearl. If your shirt is blue, the monogram should be a similar shade of blue, and so on... Never a full name but rather initials. I have a friend who asks his tailor to write his full first name, which I find terribly tacky.

Entirely correct - except that the best color for white is called 'silver-grey'. Pearl tends to look "dirty" when applied to white.

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"he now seems to frown on the whole concept of even having a sleeve!"

Perhaps the idea is to have your initials tatooed on your forearm so your short sleeve shirts are automatically monogrammed.


------------------------
Fortuna elegantes adiuvit.

 

quote:Originally posted by DressPRMex

some say that the color of the thread should be as discrete as possible: If your shirt is white, the monogram should be pearl. If your shirt is blue, the monogram should be a similar shade of blue, and so on... Never a full name but rather initials. I have a friend who asks his tailor to write his full first name, which I find terribly tacky.

I also prefer the monogram on the cuff, rather than on the lower chest.

I think your friend may have been the guy who changed my oil yesterday.

"Since it's a traditional, preppy look it's best if balanced by a relatively small four-in-hand knot." He sips his martini, recrossing his legs. "Next question?"

 

Alex, you once posted something that gave the approximate percentage of shirts that you made with monograms and then broke that figure down into the location of the monograms. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you repost that?

 

mendozar, as we can see momogramming is pretty individualized.

Here is what I am doing these days. Lately, I have gone over to monograms on my right sleve rather than the left, which is BTW the standard protocall for cuff positioning as I have always understood it. I have regular, FC and LC shirts monogrammed, too

I have always like a discreet tone-on-tone look, with the thread being only a little darker than the shirt color itself as Alex is suggesting. I've gone 100% to that now, and I suppose about 60% of my shirts are monogrammed at the moment. They are often complimented.

Since I am right handed, the monogram is a bit more in the forefront at the office, dinner and cocktails. However, since it is fairly blended into the shirt color it is still far from in-your-face. I like that idea, but this entire monogram concept is very, well, shall we say personalized. (NPI)

Best to all.



Dan

 

quote:I think your friend may have been the guy who changed my oil yesterday.

Hehehe... Funny thing is he does happen to work with oil, he is an energy Lawyer who does pretty well.

 

The only place I'd get a monogram is shirt tail, below waist. Though I think the Brethren used to (still do?) monogram on left elbow.

 

quote:Alex, you once posted something that gave the approximate percentage of shirts that you made with monograms and then broke that figure down into the location of the monograms. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you repost that?

About half get monograms. More than half of those get them on the front chest or pocket. Of the chest ones, about 75% get them at pocket level and the remainder at 1-2" above the waist. A few get them hidden down on the shirt tail. These are the guys who hang out at their local watering holes using pickup lines such as, "Would you like to see my etchings?". Even fewer get them on the sleeve itself. If you add the 'more than half' with the 'few' and the 'even fewer' ... the remaining percentage get them on the cuff. The tremendou$ downside to cuff monograms is the obvious necessity to replace the monogram each time you replace the cuffs.

Sorry - but I have no clue where the original post is.

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quote:Originally posted by Alexander Kabbaz

If you're old, like me, just get 'em. At least you'll have a head start each morning when you try to remember who the hell you are.

That reminds me of an old bit on Spitting Image, where the puppet of PM Thatcher is visiting a nursing home. She asks one of the old residents, 'do you know who I am?' and the resident answers, 'No, but if you ask Matron she'll tell you.'

 

quote:Originally posted by Alexander Kabbaz

A few get them hidden down on the shirt tail. These are the guys who hang out at their local watering holes using pickup lines such as, "Would you like to see my etchings?".

Thank you. When you say "hidden down on the shirt tail," do you mean on the shirt tail in back or something like at the bottom of the front placket?

 

quote:Originally posted by jcusey

quote:Originally posted by Alexander Kabbaz

A few get them hidden down on the shirt tail. These are the guys who hang out at their local watering holes using pickup lines such as, "Would you like to see my etchings?".

Thank you. When you say "hidden down on the shirt tail," do you mean on the shirt tail in back or something like at the bottom of the front placket?

I like the bottom of front placket myself. I am one of "those" guys. I try to pass off my Brooks shirts as Kabaz shirts but always get found out.

 

I had my cuffs monogrammed on my first shirt order over twenty years ago. I didn't care for them and haven't ordered them on my shirts since. My father had his name monogrammed in script on the inside yoke of his shirts.

 

quote:Thank you. When you say "hidden down on the shirt tail," do you mean on the shirt tail in back or something like at the bottom of the front placket?

About 2" above the hem and 3" out from the center on the left front. Why? You have etchings to show?

quote:I like the bottom of front placket myself. I am one of "those" guys. I try to pass off my Brooks shirts as Kabaz shirts but always get found out.

No sweat. Wanna buy some labels?

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Kabbaz-Kelly & Sons Fine Custom Clothiers
* Bespoke Shirts & Furnishings * Zimmerli Swiss Underwear **
* Alex Begg Cashmere * Pantherella Socks *​

 

quote:Originally posted by Alexander Kabbaz

About 2" above the hem and 3" out from the center on the left front. Why? You have etchings to show?

Not really, but I might could convince a pretty young lass that I do. [}]

 

I have an automatically negative reaction to monograms placed in certain spots on a shirt. I think the cuff and collar are the two places that make me reflexively start wondering about the wearer's background and stop listening about what he has to say. The type of reaction is a little bit like the shirts you see with the strips of the body fabric on the edges of the collar and/or cuffs.

I dont get a lot of monograms, I think they are a waste of money, but I dont mind the small handmade sort, even just a single initial (perhaps with your coronet above it?)in indigo on every shirt color, except for blue, when for some reason, white appeals to me.

Wild shirts with monograms can bury the effect.

____________________
Nobody expects the sartorial inquisition

 

Lisa Birnbach has an excellent overview of the politics of monogramming in her perennial classic The Official Preppy Handbook. There are definate do's and donts when it comes to monogramming. Do monogram shirts discreetly. Don't monogram your buisness suits, your dog's collar (austentatious), or your china (it will look like you stole it from a hotel). Monogramming your car is usually a no-no unless it you spell your initials with tasteful nautical signal flags on the car door, for instance.

"Since it's a traditional, preppy look it's best if balanced by a relatively small four-in-hand knot." He sips his martini, recrossing his legs. "Next question?"

 

Originally posted by Film_Noir_Buff:
"I have an automatically negative reaction to monograms placed in certain spots on a shirt. I think the cuff and collar are the two places that make me reflexively start wondering about the wearer's background and stop listening about what he has to say."

FNB, Interesting. Why?

Dan

 

How charming it always is to see that there are still some on this board who will take every opportunity to establish their 'superiority' by backhanded references to people who work for a living...

The hardcore tradsters can correct me if I am wrong but I don't think that flaunting perceived social standing is particularly old money, trad or tasteful.

quote:Originally posted by Allthingstrad
I think your friend may have been the guy who changed my oil yesterday.

"Since it's a traditional, preppy look it's best if balanced by a relatively small four-in-hand knot." He sips his martini, recrossing his legs. "Next question?"