Figure 1.--This Australian boy wears a blue and grey closed-front shirt. Note the large collar.

The standard closed-front shirt had long sleeves and a flap pocket, but they were also worn with short sleeves and with or without a front pocket--commonly with a button flap. I'm not sure how commonly ties were worn with these shirts. Some were made without collar buttons so were clarly not made to be worn with a tie. Some had collars that were wider than others. Wide collars appear to have been a popular style on the 1940s.

A HBC reader provides some thouhts on the styling of closed-fromt shirts. "HBC mentions on a page about U.S. post war styles that very large collars being worn by American boys during World War II. It rang a bell somewhere, and I looked through my images album. Of course, it was the Churchie uniform! Perhaps it had its origin as a combination U.S. and Australian military uniform. During War the U.S. sent troops to turn back the Japanese in New Guinea. At the time, Australian troops wore a closed front style shirt in khaki. Perhaps the Churchie uniform represented the two Allies in some way. I notice their shirt front is not precisely the same as the traditional bush shirt. The collar is different. It is not a collar-on-stand as most of the bush shirts are. It is an American collar, of the style worn by american boys in the 1940s. One thing I am learning from the HBC site is the very great detail that can be gleaned from photographs. It is a real exercise in historical detective work."

Created: October 28, 2001
Last updated: October 28, 2001