Did gentlemen in 1920s use collar stiffeners(or collar stays,whatever)?

[hPPYs]

In my opinion,collar stiffeners are used to replace stiff collars of detachable collars.
Is it correct?
or in 1920s when gentlemen who wear stiff collars were not unusual,did they use collar stiffeners?

 

[Shangas]

They're called 'collar stays'. Those little hard plasticky bits that slide under your collar to keep the shape.

It depends on the collar, really. Back in the old days, collars were detatchable and you changed them every week or so. You stiffened them by adding copius amounts of laundry starch to them during the ironing process. The starch not only kept the collars nice and stiff and prevented them from losing their shape, they also made the collars easier to clean.

Wing collars would've used starch, but the fold-down collars (such as, perhaps the Eton Collar, I think it's called), probably would've had collar-stays or a collar-bar to help keep the shape. These days, collar stays are removable, but it's my understanding that back in the Golden Era, collar stays (for collars that required them) sometimes had the stays permanently sewn into the fabric so that they couldn't be removed and the collar's shape wouldn't be compromised.

 

[Nick D]

There were collar stays in the '20s but they were uncommon. They used starch to a degree that modern launderers aren't even equipped to provide it. The whole collar was required to be hard, and collar stays only keep the points from curling up. Semi-starched and soft collars of the period did that over the course of the day (even with a collar bar long enough points will curl).

Here's an interesting bit about the history of collar stays: http://collarink.com/about.html

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Here's a bit of unknown history for you.


The modern collar stay (made of plastic, straight and flat, removable, and inserted into the diagonal 'pocket' of a shirt collar's underside) was invented by Max Rittenberg, a longtime (1912-1967) employee of "Alexander & Oviatt"/"Oviatt's", Los Angeles's finest haberdashery during the Golden Era. Mr. Rittenberg designed the stay and the diagonal 'pocket' for the haberdashery's self-manufactured shirts, but failed to get his boss --James Oviatt-- to patent it. Instead, he gave the idea to a friend, a representative for the Van Heusen shirt company ... which duly filed patents. The rest is history.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Mine are made of metal.

 

[MisterCairo]

Mine in one shirt went for a swim in the wash and haven't been seen since!

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Mine in one shirt went for a swim in the wash and haven't been seen since!

That is why I have gotten into the habit of putting them in at the beginning of the day & taking them out before the go into the hamper.

 

[sproily]

I actually have those collar stays that work with springs

 

[hPPYs]

I actually have those collar stays that work with springs

Aha,those are really something.

 

[hPPYs]

Thank you very much,friends.

Eventually,I have my conclusion that collar stays are too modern for me,but I wouldn't,of course,say no to them.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Here is another version

 

[Feraud]

An interesting item from 1918