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If you’ve ever come across words like tartan and plaid then you are on the right track.
Checkered dress shirts are not really made to be formal shirts. They are more for casual attire. Of course the slight exceptions to checks in the office are the smaller patterned ones, offering a more understated look.
Large checks will associate you with rangers from the South rather than the operations manager of your company. Remember the office wardrobe mantra simplicity is key. For dress shirt variety outside of working hours, checks provide many differrent choices. Gingham shirts have been making a comeback in both men and women’s styles.
The fabric is woven to create a checkered effect by overlapping solid colored thick stripes over another.
Checks can also be two toned, incorporating two different colored stripes in the same format, to establish a color scheme. Indeed, red dress shirts or black dress shirts, with gingham pattern, are staple autumn shirts. The only disadvantage of gingham dress shirts is their tendency to wrinkle easily.
Different regions have different methods of identifying checkered patterns on a dress shirt. In North America, plaid is considered the criss-crossing bands highlighted by a thin stripe of color to accentuate the checkered pattern. In Britain, plaid is equivalent to a blanket, and the pattern itself is called tartan. It is very rare to see a tartan dress shirt, in fact, it might even go as far as to being inappropriate as the fabric has deep cultural roots and meaning.
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From: (checkered dress shirt) http://www.shirtsmyway.com/shirtspedia/checkered-dress-shirts.php