Yes, always, as it absorbs sweat better. Also, white shirts look whiter (despite the fact that I’m so pale I almost glow in the dark.)
If I’ll be wearing a tie, it’ll be crew-neck. If not, V-neck.
In the winter, for casual dress, I wear a sporty Tshirt under a sport shirt or military pocket shirt. It insulates better and I’ll wear the outer shirt twice before laundering (assuming I didn’t get sweaty, e.g., typical day at work as programmer).
See above. But my shirts generally stain around the neck before underarms, so I doubt the tshirt extends the life of a dress shirt much, for me. Also, I’m rarely in hot/humid/sweating environments when wearing a suit, minimizing underarm stains.
For a dark shirt and if you’re not sweating, how could it be a fashion felony if there are no observable effects?
I haven’t owned an undershirt since I started buying my own clothes. My mother used to buy them until I started dressing myself.
I’ll have to ask around because I see them in shops but I can’t recall ever seeing an Australian male wearing one since I was a child.
Fashion and etiquette guidelines and such are can be viewed as “best practices.” There’s no criminal penalty to wearing white shoes after Labor Day, not wearing an undershirt with your dress shirt, or not including a tissue insert when you send out invitations. You don’t want to? Cool.
So, what’s with all the outrage over this? Ironically - considering the web site - I think the issue is ignorance. Many of you don’t know the guidelines, so it seems unfair to be told you’re breaking them. Yet at the same time, I get the impression learning them - reducing or eliminating your ignorance on the subject- is somehow beneath everyone. I mean, you can Google the history of undershirts pretty easily, yet no one seems to have bothered.
I can easily understand the attitude that such things aren’t important. But what’s with all the crying about being disagreed with on something so trivial?
I have not worn an undershirt since I was about 8. In warm weather it’s too hot. Why would you add extra layers? Especially if you’re wearing a suit? In cold weather I’m not outside without a coat on so I don’t need an undershirt to stay comfortable indoors.
I think we’re departing the existence of such a guideline. I’m perfectly comfortable breaking the rules, but in this case I simply don’t believe these is a fashion guideline suggesting under shirts under dress shirts. I have googled, and some people advocate it, some advocate going without. It is impossible for me to believe I have regularly worn suits for 30 years and never heard of such a thing if it were real.
Also would a regular shirt be preferable to a v-neck as an undershirt?
It’s all shirts, all the way down.
Right, given this web site, I’m going to say: Cite? You’re the one asserting that there is a fashion rule, that others on this Board have simply never heard about.
So, what’s your authority for saying there is a fashion rule that others don’t know about?
Hell no. This is Florida. I’m hot enough wearing a suit without one.
Singlets are still worn, either as outer wear in summer for the younger ones, or as an undershirt for some men over 70 years old.
Always. But I’m a sweaty old man. But I did even when I was younger. I never went clubbing, where you might want to show off some chest with or without hair. But going to weddings, funerals, events and court, always, always, always.
I have never owned an undershirt, but I’ve been wearing shirts for work since the last millenium. Sometimes I’ll be working, wearing a shirt with a suit jacket and tie, sometimes no tie or jacket (depending on the environment/job/protocol).
I don’t think I’ve seen them for sale, or thought they were bedroom wear when I did see them. I’ve never heard of any rule which says I should wear one, or spoken to anyone about undershirts.
Well it seems this is a gentleman’s practice I may take up. You learn something new every day, eh? 
You still don’t understand. I may sweat a bit in a dress shirt, but if I add a second layer of clothing (the aforementioned undershirt), I’ll be much hotter and sweat more. The sweat will soak the undershirt, causing me to smell bad, and then soak into the dress shirt.
Net result: the undershirt makes things worse, not better. I would have done poorly in Victorian England with the undershirt, overshirt, waistcoat, and dresscoat.
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:94, topic:667041”]
You still don’t understand. I may sweat a bit in a dress shirt, but if I add a second layer of clothing (the aforementioned undershirt), I’ll be much hotter and sweat more. The sweat will soak the undershirt, causing me to smell bad, and then soak into the dress shirt.
Net result: the undershirt makes things worse, not better. I would have done poorly in Victorian England with the undershirt, overshirt, waistcoat, and dresscoat.
[/QUOTE]
They dressed like that because the weather in England was pretty cool and houses were generally unheated.
Oh, I was gifted at birth with divine authority on such issues. I thought that was clear. :rolleyes:
No. There will be no handholding or spoon-feeding on this issue, there will be no reference battle where I post a cite and you post a link countering it. If you can’t be bothered to research it, JustinC’s link above has a reasonable discussion of the topic, which incorporates pretty much all the reasoning behind the recommendation.
This, from my foreign perspective, has always struck me as a peculiarly American tradition. It is not standard attire in the UK, and you could hardly call British formal dress sloppy or lacking in tradition. I think it’s looks weird to see the the short sleeves of a t-shirt under a dress shirt. I don’t understand the comments about nipples or skin showing either - you must wear very thin shirts!
A fella might wear an undershirt in cold weather, but it isn’t standard practice. If you are wearing one, you shouldn’t be able to see it.
The purpose of the V-neck is to allow one to open the top button of the shirt and loosen one’s tie without the undershirt showing.
Oh, now it’s a recommendation. That’s a far cry from a guideline. 
[as this thread goes on, I find myself less and less interested in fighting about it. No skin off my back if someone wants to wear a shirt under a shirt. As I stated, I doubt I’d even know the difference.]
The hotter and more humid it is, the more I’d want an undershirt. That’s the purpose-- to soak up any sweat and keep your dress shirt clean. Do you really want to big pit stains on your dress shirt?