The Third Button

This morning I was watching a commercial that I had seen many times. Like so many I watch, after a while, I start to look at other things in the commercial instead of paying attention to the message itself.

In this particular commercial, a woman jumps up from her desk chair and high five’s a man sitting across the table from her. You can’t see his face, only his head and back.

I’ve seen this so many times I can’t count. This time I looked at the back of the man and noticed he had a shirt with a button on the back of his collar.

I remember when these shirts became popular in the Fifties. Originally, they were very utilitarian. It was to keep the collars from blowing around in the breeze as the players would ride their horses in polo matches.

These “polo” shirts quickly became the rage and every preppy young man had to wear them. I liked the button on the back collar. That is until I began to wear a tie with the shirt. It made putting a tie on even more difficult than just navigating the two on the collars in the front.

I remember seeing The Beach Boys wearing them before they began wearing the surfing shirts. And my favorite group, The Kingston Trio wore them when they played at the Hungry i in San Francisco. I have a vinyl cover to prove it.

Then the rear button disappeared. I don’t know why. Maybe, because everyone thought it was not needed; another button to button. I was glad it disappeared. Until the last few years when I noticed the collars on most sport shirts were getting softer. The back of the collars rolled up too easy.

Now they’re back. Not in a big way, but you can buy a shirt with that button there.

Of course, there is the continuing argument about whether a button-downed shirt, whether 2 or 3 buttons, is a dress shirt or a sport shirt.

And it’s no longer called a polo shirt. That’s something entirely different.