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"Planning on flexing your sartorial muscles in the blog arena? You'll need to come packing. And no, we're not referring to your pocket square game. Every week on The Eye, we'll cover a basic term you need to know right now... before you get laughed off the internet.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nThese days, it would seem that there's nothing designers love more than turning something simple into something complicated. Take the shirt collar for example: it's been modified into a spread, a club, a cutaway, or a point, tabbed, shortened, even cut oversized. It can all feel a bit overwhelming. Now, we're all for options but sometimes it's best just to stick to the basics and when it comes to shirt collars, there's nothing more fundamental than the good old button-down.\n\nRight up there with the navy blazer, blue jeans, and penny loafers, the button-down shirt is one of those all-important pieces that remains a cornerstone of American style. Yet, the button-down's roots can actually be found across the Atlantic on the polo fields of England. It was on land like this that in 1896 John E. Brooks (yes, of that Brooks family) first came up with idea for the button-down collar. Brooks had been invited to attend a polo match during his trip abroad and, as he watched the game, he noticed that the player's shirts had collars which were fastened down in a style that he had never seen before.\n\nAt the time, polo players were required to wear traditional collared shirts, but riding around on giant stallions during games would cause these collars to flap up, creating a visual distraction. To remedy this, players had buttons sewn onto their collars, fastening them down for matches. The buttons gave the collars an exaggerated arch -- also known as a collar roll -- that instantly caught old John E.'s attention. Upon returning stateside, he brought the design to Brooks Brothers headquarter and the company began mass-producing their legendary \"polo collar\" shirts. At first, the button-down was worn as a traditional dress shirt, but in the 30's, tennis players and other athletes across America were drawn to the shirts--for much the same reason as the original British polo players. Pretty soon the button-down became the ultimate casual shirt.\n\nA bold take on the classic button-down\n\nFacebookPinterestspring-preview-gq-7.jpeg\n\nThat sporty spirit still endures today. The button-down is still the backbone of any self respecting man's wardrobe, perfect for everything from a lazy Saturday brunch to that big board meeting. So when you're picking out your next shirt, follow John E.'s lead and just roll with it.\n\nJake Gallagher writes the blog Wax-Wane. He lives in Manhattan.\n\nRead more Dropping Knowledge:\n\n Dropping Knowledge: Shantung\n\nDropping Knowledge: The Fishtail Parka\n\nDropping Knowledge: The Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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