The History of the Button Down
It was John E. Brooks who first made the button down shirt a fashion item. After watching a polo match in England, he went back to his American company and immediately started manufacturing them – first known as polo collar shirts.
The button down really became a distinct fashion move when the Italians adopted it in the mid-1900s. Style legend Gianni Agnelli incorporated the button-down shirt into his personal uniform, wearing it unfastened for a look of instantly recognizable sprezzatura.
During the post-war era, a sexual revolution coincided with second-wave feminism and the women’s liberation movement. The button down became a statement. By women wearing a men’s dress shirt, it symbolized independence and a desire for gender equality. A men’s shirt or masculine clothing was the satorial equivalent to be taken seriously in the workplace, and in society.
