To avoid any confusion straight off the bat, the definition of a dress shirt is different in the UK and the US. In the former, it is generally used to define any shirt suitable for formalwear, such as black tie, whereas in the States it means any smart shirt. So for the purposes of this article, we’ll encompass all smart shirts.
Perhaps the best way to define a dress shirt is by asserting what it isn’t: casual. A dress shirt is primarily designed to be worn with tailoring and will therefore come with a stiff collar with an interfacing,