Eldergays: What is up with your straight peers and the white t-shirt under a dress shirt thing?

Pics OP?

Are you talking about men who have their dress shirts dry cleaned so they wear an undershirt (that gets laundered) for cleanliness? You mean what generations of businessmen have done?

In the South, we wear them to prevent soiling dress shirts with sweat, especially in the summertime. I’ve noticed that sweat rings on clothing is more acceptable in the North.

Talking about wearing them with dress shirts but no ties, so that you see the white t-shirt, which seems to not get replaced as often as it should.

Who TF dry cleans dress shirts R2?

You bring them to the dry cleaners who then send them to the laundry services that washes and irons them for you, adds starch to the collar if you like and delivers on a hanger or in a box.

They’re undershirts OP. Like top sheets for your hygienically challenged generation.

I was taught that if a shirt had buttons, I should wear a good quality white tee shirt underneath. Oh, and if pants have belt loops, I best be wearing a belt!

For what it's worth, I find it extremely sexy when a man loosens his tie and removes his dress shirt, leaving the white tee shirt on only.

What's a top sheet R5?

Next up from OP; What is up with your straight peers and the please and thank you and the wiping the ass thing?

and what about underwear under shorts, sweats and dress pants OP?

R2 mistakes cleanliness with presentability.

Unsurprisingly. She has that tone, you know.

But undershirts have been considered part of a man's underwear for generations. A white undershirt will keep body hair from showing through a white shirt and suppress sweat marks.

And R2 mistakes dry cleaning as the inevitable unerring choice. My housekeeper has someone who does the laundry and ironing, and I much prefer NOT having my shirts dry-cleaned, which is a "last and only resort" choice for those clothes and other textiles that actually require it. Like my wool suits.

R10 is Patrick Bateman.

OP is Bam Bam Rubble and not taught well.

If you are wearing a white dress shirt, it’s kind of important to have an undershirt. You must stink up and ruin your shirts pretty easily.

I wear them so as not to get sweat stains on expensive shirts. They do make V neck T shirts.

What are you eldergays doing that you sweat so much when you are wearing a dress shirt?

Do you not work in air conditioned offices?

Do you not wear deodorant or anti-perspirant?

And a V-neck undershirt (not a "T shirt," which is a different sort of apparel, drawing attention to R14's lack of grounding on the subject) is inappropriate for business wear, formal wear, informal (black tie) wear and any use in a social setting not related to BBQs or sports.

I have MS. I have to be extremely careful with everything I wear because an extra layer in the wrong setting can leave me unconscious, literally. If I am at an afternoon business meeting in the summer with someone I know will want to stroll through her or his lavish garden (I have several people who are like this.) I have had some pinpoint oxford-ish shirts made that are light but opaque with extra fabric in the armpits. That way I don't have to wear an undershirt (which is not a t shirt).

An undershirt that is not a t shirt, T shirt, t-shirt, tee shirt or any combination of the commercial banner attire people wear, because undershirts are NOT t shirts.

Here's R16's video that he commissioned on the topic.

Women used to wear removable pads under their arms in summer. They were sort of the opposite of shoulder pads. The dresses/blouses had little built-in sleeves under the armpit to hold the pads. The pads protected your dress/blouse from sweat back in the day before anti perspirants.

R16 is truly the people's princess.

Armpit pads are now disposable. They have adhesive, like menstrual or incontinence pads.

I wear undershirts in winter, if I'm wearing a tie. It's good for cold weather.

This is why I'm a nudist. I never worry about what I'm wearing underneath something else.

The neighbors complain (and vomit), but I just stand in front of my big picture window and smile and wave at them as they run away.

Undershirts obscure stiffened nipplage.

For those of us more "portly" and "full figured gals," the T shirt will prevent the dreaded "jiggling."

OP will be surprised to find out the undershirts can be colors other than white! I've always been envious of guys who could pull off colored undershirts that matched their dress shirt/polo.

Has OP really never heard of undershirts?

I wear white v-neck undershirts under dress shirts, which I wear to the office sans tie with the top button open. You can't see the v-neck unless i lean forward or unbutton the second button. It creates a smooth look, wicks sweat from my body without soaking through the shirt, and ensures that light colored shirts remain fully opaque in any lighting or weather conditions. I had no idea this was a generational thing. OP seems a bit sheltered.

Undershirts are a must under a dress shirt if you have a hairy chest.

R15, have you gone through puberty yet? Sweating is normal for adults and it occurs in places on the body besides armpits.

Have you really never sweated before? Have you seen a doctor about it?

I remember years ago a gentleman came to interview for the top position at my employer and he was not wearing an undershirt and you could see his chest hair through his shirt. It was extremely unprofessional. They hired him anyway and it was a disaster. It was back when I was still working with the gay man who introduced me to DL and we were both aghast.

A hairy chest is a leading sign of mendacity, spite, and a slothful nature.

r25 And any room's lustful gazes are all mine when I wear a [italic] black [/italic] undershirt.

Sometimes I add pants and a shirt if it's a cold evening.

I'm female, and 53 but my dad wouldn't have been caught dead without an undershirt under his dress shirt. This was the way clothes were worn in the Silent Generation at least. All the older men did this.

Layering shirts causes skin tags you know.

I like the look of a man in a white dress shirt with a t-shirt underneath.

DL astounds- is the OP putting us on?

It's those perky nipples. I use those little round band-aids to obscure them. I hate layering of any sort.

R16, sorry for your MS, but I think for many a T shirt is considered an undershirt even if they are different. Everyone I know wears either a Jockey or Calvin Klein T under their shirts, if they wear one.

In my case, I collect vintage shirts and love Robert Graham- and I'm not risking $150-$500 on a shirt that will eventually be ruined by deodorant stains.

Even my T shirts are stained after a few months, and I throw them out and buy a new batch.

You have to in the south when wearing business shirts. Nothing grosser than big old sweat stains on your back and front. That being said,I hated when I had to dress for offices. I was always so hot during the summer.

In addition to absorbing sweat, a white undershirt makes a white dress shirt appear brighter. It finishes the look.

ElderLez r30 I had the same experience. And old guy came in for an interview with grey chesticle hair curling over and out of his unbuttoned shirt. Not only no undershirt but no tie for a mid level office job interview? We didn't hire him.

At another office I worked this middle aged guy wore light coloured cheeeaap and thin dress shirts which highlighted his giant aereolas and constantly hard nipples. Wow! I have never seen such massive aereolas on a man before or since.

So it seems that the undershirt thing is a midcentury middle class custom ("I was taught that if a shirt had buttons, I should wear a good quality white tee shirt underneath") designed to protect against sweaty shirts on shop floors and in un-air conditioned offices so that the office worker would not need to replace his sweat soaked shirts and would be able to prove that he was respectable and suited for one of the many new postwar office jobs.

I still don't understand how some of you are sweating so much at work, though perhaps you are Great Big Fat People for whom walking up or down a staircase results in massive perspiration and panting? Or perhaps you don't work office jobs but rather, are in warehouses and factories. But otherwise sitting or standing at a desk and then walking down the hallway to a meeting don't really involve a whole lot of physical exertion, especially in an air conditioned office building.

Finally, while I can see how chest hair would show through a thin, cheaply made shirt, it does not appear to be an issue with most well made shirts.

Like cologne, the t-shirt under the dress shirt seems to very much be generational/class-driven. (Though the wife beater seems to be the preferred undershirt for the working classes.)

I work with two men from old Boston Brahmin families and they both wear undershirts. I now know that according to the prisspots of Datalounge, they are apparently total white trash. The things I learn on DL!

To those that don't wear an undershirt, do your shirts not get deodorant stains?

R41 you dodged a bullet with that first one. As for the second hard, to mentally unsee the description.

They're called "undershirts" because they were originally intended to go under a regular or dress shirt. That's the explanation.

Here's one of Pete- you can clearly see a T shirt underneath. He certainly doesn't do manual labor on the job.

The need for them was to keep stain marks from appearing on your nice dress shirts. The invention of antiperspirant somewhat obviated their necessity, because if you use it, you won't need them to prevent ugly stainmarks from permanently wrecking your shirts--although they keep you warm in cold weather. But undershirts were invented before antiperspirant was (and today some people still won't use antiperspirant because of the mistaken belief they will damage your health, even though nothing has been proven on that score).

R42 you have a very narrow world view. Most of the world does not go from an air conditioned home to an air conditioned car to an air conditioned garage to an air conditioned office.

Before COVID, I used to go to the gym before work. Every man who wore a dress shirt wore an undershirt.

It’s called “knowing how to dress” op.

Also known as “not being seen in public looking like a joke”.

Underwear is softer and more comfortable to the skin than the fabric of many dress shirts

[quote] Most of the world does not go from an air conditioned home to an air conditioned car to an air conditioned garage to an air conditioned office.

I suppose that would be an issue in sub-Saharan Africa, but in most of the US, the lack of air conditioning is not an issue for 9 or 10 months a year

[quote] Before COVID, I used to go to the gym before work. Every man who wore a dress shirt wore an undershirt.

Wait... so they would work out in their dress shirts and wear a t-shirt underneath to catch the sweat? Why not just keep the dress shirt in their lockers and shower afterwards?

[quote] Underwear is softer and more comfortable to the skin than the fabric of many dress shirts

Then buy better dress shirts.

[Quote]Then buy better dress shirts.

Theory, Boss, Polo . . .dress shirts are not as soft or pliable as CK undershirts.

R52, you have reading comprehension issues and are an asshole.

Shouldn't you be saying that in Parseltongue, R54?

[quote] Theory, Boss, Polo .

Then buy better dress shirts.

Dress shirts aren't designed for the same purpose as underwear or styled the same way. And Theory, Polo and Boss are good dress shirts.

btw Was you mother a topless dancer named Brandy R55?

Just block that obtuse moron.

R55 doesn't like wearing underpants under his trench coat.

This is a YMF thread.

This is an idiotic thread. Wearing an undershirt under a dress shirt isn’t a class, socioeconomic, regional, or generational issue.

It is R60 but what do you expect from a thread started by the crotch fruit of Brandy and Johnny Walker?

It is because dress shirts were notoriously thin and you could see chest hair and man nipples. Also the white t-shirt would keep the shirt fresher - no sweat or pit stains, because dry cleaning is expensive.

[quote]Was that a popular look back in the 80s and 90s?

No OP. Only very, very old people who are still somehow alive wear white t-shirts under a business dress shirt. No-one under 80 does this.

White undershirts aren't confusing. Wearing your pants below the hips with underwear exposed. Is another story.

There's a post of Pete wearing one, but of course he's very old school.

I wonder who the dOPe thinks is buying all those Hanes, BVD, Jockey, Fruit of the Loom, CK, Boss . . .undershirts

1. Dress shirts were never dry cleaned. They were laundered and ironed at home or sent out with instructions regarding how much bleach to use. 2. Even today, I would find it odd if I saw someone take off a suit jacket and they had no undershirt under their button down. But who wears suits anymore? If it’s a more casual, thicker button down shirt you probably don’t need the undershirt. But I think it’s still the only way to wear a real dress shirt. You aren’t supposed to be showing your nipples in more formal situations.

[quote]You aren’t supposed to be showing your nipples in more formal situations.

But you can lick your fingers and play with them, that's ok.

How does R42 have 9 W&Ws? Tell me that's not sock puppets overvoting.

[quote]I suppose that would be an issue in sub-Saharan Africa, but in most of the US, the lack of air conditioning is not an issue for 9 or 10 months a year.

Wow that's... not remotely true. Most major cities from the sunbelt through the northeast corridor have brutal summers that last 3+ months.

Are you from outside the US, or have you never left your small town in North Dakota?

I always wear wife beaters under all my dress shorts.

[quote]This is a YMF thread.

It's an idiotic OP thread, that's for sure. And the fool is giving his moronic replies extra W&Ws with sock puppet accounts. What a loser.

Sorry, OP, but as a person with money and soap, I feel like we may as well be living on two different planets.

OPs father was a wife beater. That's the problem.

OP sleeps on a bare mattress, has 5 roommates, wears the same 4 shirts all the time, and smells.

I anxiously await more style questions from OP about "What's up with men's hair styles that don't resemble a bird's nest?" and "Why can't the crust of my wipings just stay in my ass crack and accumulate?"

At the place I worked we had an accountant. He wore dress shirts without an undershirt and you could see his nipple was pierced. In general, you see chest hair and nipples. While I personally like it - on the right persons - it's not a professional look.

[Quote]Wow that's... not remotely true. Most major cities from the sunbelt through the northeast corridor have brutal summers that last 3+ months.

and I wear and undershirt under a dress shirt in the cold weather for extra warmth as well as in the summer

^ an undershirt

Why can't any of you Americans just purchase decent quality dress shirts and wear an appropriate amount of clothing for the season?

How old are you R78?

FWIW the inappropriate chest hair through the shirt showing CEO type old man disaster in my anecdote was from South Africa so I don’t think this is a problem specific to people raised in the United States only.

[Quote] Why can't any of you Americans just purchase decent quality dress shirts and wear an appropriate amount of clothing for the season?

Many people like to underwear and socks for added comfort.

R80=

I like to cut a deep V in all my undershirts so they don’t show. Sorta like wearing no show socks. Or just wear wife beaters so the collar doesn’t show.

I prefer to wear a jacket or blazer over my dress shirt rather than wear an undershirt beneath it because jackets/blazers hide any sweat marks and wrinkles in the fabric.

It’s not about “hiding” the sweat marks. It’s about them not appearing in the first place.

*VERY OLD people R82.

Clark Gable killed the undershirt, for a while.

[quote] But who wears suits anymore?

Attorneys still wear suits. Not necessarily stylish or nice or well-maintained suits, but they still wear suits.

As stated, men don't "dry clean" their dress shirts, but a dry cleaner can launder the shirts and give them a good pressing / ironing (might have some starch involved). Not sure what it costs, per shirt, anymore, but it's maybe under $10. Hence, the guys that I know try to get at least a couple of days' use out of that shirt. The undershirt helps.

Yes, you don’t have to launder a shirt if you wear an undershirt.

R87 You need to get out more.

We got it covered

OP, are you a fucking retard or a troll?

Laundering, pressing and starching a ladies button down shirt costs $2.50 on Long Island. I assume men’s dress shirts are the same price.

Nothing triggers Eldergay like their firmly held beliefs about what is "proper" being called into question.

Even though the original question was about why so many older straight guys wear dingy white t-shirts under their open collar dress shirts now that hardly anyone wears ties anymore.

Not "what is the purpose of an undershirt"?

And to my earlier point about social class:

[quote] Not sure what it costs, per shirt, anymore, but it's maybe under $10. Hence, the guys that I know try to get at least a couple of days' use out of that shirt. The undershirt helps.

(FWIW, it's about $5 in NYC, on average, though likely less elsewhere.)

First they came for our ties, but ties made my face look fat, so I did not speak up

Then they came for our pocket squares, but I felt they ruined the lines of my jacket, so I did not speak up

Then they came for our cologne, but I did not have a signature scent, so I did not speak up.

Then they came for our sport coats and blazers but I felt that far too many men saw that as a sign that it was okay to wear blue jeans to the office, so I did not speak up.

Then they came for our crisp white undershirts......

I threw away my vintage cotton jockstraps on my 59th birthday.

In 1977 R98?

[Quote]Nothing triggers Eldergay like their firmly held beliefs about what is "proper" being called into question.

R96 maybe it's about how trivial the topic is

case in point⬇️

DOES ANYONE ACTUALLY MAKE COFFEE IN THEIR HOTEL ROOM ON TRIPS?

[Quote]Always, at least on business trips

I wake up early (5am) to work out and usually the hotel restaurant is not opened

If there is a Keurig or Nespresso I will drink the hotel's coffee, otherwise i travel with a couple of packets of instant and/or English Breakfast Tea.

Always drink coffee black so powdered creamer is not an issue

Fascinating!

[Quote]This is an idiotic thread. Wearing an undershirt under a dress shirt isn’t a class, socioeconomic, regional, or generational issue.

and unfortunately, some people appear passionate about this 'issue'

William and Kate last night at the basketball game, no t-shirt

William in a more traditional dress shirt, no t-shirt

Take 2 on R103...

Jack Scholssberg and Caroline Kennedy

No t-shirt

DL Dead Kennedy Icon JFK, Jr.

But Mother told me that Good Little Gentlemen of Quality always wore undershirts!!!

The British Royal Family and the Kennedys are just Trash!

German and Irish imposters!!!

Not white!!!

Hold me Hisstopher!!!

I live in Florida; an undershirt is mandatory. In our case it’s usually a tank undershirt because it’s so hot here. We also use gold bonds in conjunction with the undershirts. Even with a good AC system, after a shower you can sweat just from toweling off. The vents in the bathroom can lag behind the humidity after a shower.

We're scraping the bottom of the barrel for stupid instigating YMF thread topics, at this point.

Those are he-man princes or quasi-princes with huge cocks.

I have never given a single thought as to whether an undershirt is "lower class" or not. The things some of you prisspots obsess over are truly strange.

OP doesn't like undershirts because Mother and Grandmother always told him "undershirts are only for the lower classes," as the doctor administered the weekly enema.

The Enema Troll!!

You fascinate me.

You usually pop up after the Eldergays wax poetic about having lunch with Mother and Grandmother at Macy's and using proper manners.

But the weekly enema thing is so.... random.

What your mother must have done to you....

One of the dumbest threads in DL history. Zero humor in it too. Just some nasty little troll spinning his wheels for fun.

I still want to know what the fuck you Eldergays are doing at work that you're sweating like pigs , so much so that your shirts are developing giant sweat stains in December.

Get a job and find out R115 You've got to leave your mother's basement eventually

You know when the dreaded eldergays die off and the younger “friendly” millennials take over this site, we’ll have topics like these all the time, right?

I just noticed, as I read this thread, that the "I eat old people's excrement" troll has been sadly missing of late.

If you don't wear an undershirt with sleeves your white and light-colored dress shirts will have yellow pit stains from sweat moxed with deodorant. And also the nipple police will be after you.

In r103 and r103 it's impossible to tell if they are wearing an undershirt or not.

^^R104

Kai is wearing an undershirt

Scrubs wear undershirts

Mommy why do they call them UNDER shirts?

I always dressed my Sons with white T-shirts under their shirts, when they were little. My Husband didn't like it either. I used to see my Uncles dress that way and I thought it was "proper".

An undershirt in American English (vest in British and South Africa, banyan in the Indian Subcontinent, or singlet in Australia and New Zealand), is an article of underwear worn underneath a dress shirt (or sometimes T-shirt) intended to protect it from body sweat and odors. It can have short sleeves (T-shirt) or be sleeveless (A-shirt). The term most commonly refers to upper-body innerwear worn by males.

An undershirt may be worn to protect the body from stiff or otherwise uncomfortable fabric. It also makes dress shirts less transparent, to reduce the amount of sweat absorbed by the shirt's fabric. It can be worn during winter months as an extra layer of warmth, and reduces wear on the upper layers of clothing.[1][2]

This thread is amusing.

I remember, as a little boy in the 60s, a man who was cajoled to board a dunk tank. He was wearing what you would normally see a businessman wear, a shirt and tie, dress pants, dress shoes. He was dropped with the first ball. He emerged from the water and got back on the seat.

I saw he wasn't wearing a tee-shirt underneath. His dark nipples and hairy chest were right there under the wet cloth, even through the breast pocket on one of his pecs. It registered with me. It seemed so unlikely to see a man that way, almost like you shouldn't be seeing him.

What do you think of this white undershirt?

Don Draper wears undershirts.

[quote] Are you talking about men who have their dress shirts dry cleaned so they wear an undershirt (that gets laundered) for cleanliness? You mean what generations of businessmen have done?

r2 More ignorant nonsense from one of the giddy queens who wears a caftan. Eldergays, youngstergays, straight guys, everyone - when you dress for the office you wear a white t-shirt under your longsleeve dress shirt.

Not such a caveman r131!

Wait til you get to know him better, r132.

They don’t want to show their tibbies.

[quote] Not such a caveman

r132 ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[quote] Wait til you get to know him better

r133 To know me is to love me.

[quote]but in most of the US, the lack of air conditioning is not an issue for 9 or 10 months a year

Oh, my sides! 😂

^Bump