“Button-down” is the most misused word in men’s clothing. A button-down, you know, is a men’s dress or “business” shirt which has collars that are each secured down to the front panel of the shirt by… a button! Shocking, I know. But we have become confused however with the button-front shirt, which nearly all men’s office-type shirts are, as they have buttons as well, just down the front, not at the collar-tips, and also the popular phrase, “button-down culture,” which technically means a culture of uniformity. (And when I say “dress shirt,” I do not mean the shirt intended for use in formal evening wear, or what we would call black tie - what is also popularly referred to as the “tuxedo,” which, please don’t say tuxedo. I mean shirts that are not t-shirts, basically, my dudes.) So now that we are all very clear on what a button-down shirt is, we can talk about when it is acceptable for a man to wear it.