dickeys

Dickeys

A dickey (alternately written as dickie or dicky sometimes known as a tuxedo front or tux front) is a type of false shirt-front - originally known as a detachable bosom - designed to be worn with a tuxedo or men's white tie, usually attached to the collar and then tucked into the waistcoat or cummerbund. Better dickies have a trouser tab at the end to secure it down so avoiding the dickey from comically popping out. The rigid plastic dickey came into fashion in the latter years of the 19th century, and was one of the first successful commercial applications of celluloid.

The invention of the dickey was to make the bosom front of a full dress shirt a separate entity in itself, like the detachable collar, so it could be laundered and starched more easily unlike a traditional shirt with the bosom attached. The use of the dickey was considered bad style by traditionalists and had fallen out of use but since shirts with an attached bosom are now rare in themselves now that traditional evening dress is no longer regularly worn and because there are very few places that could professionally launder and starch full dress shirts outside the UK, the dickey has had somewhat of a revival as it could be easily laundered and starched at home. A white dickey and collar is now seen as a symbol of wealth and class.

Dickeys

 

Dickeys

Dickeys

Dickeys

Dickeys

Dickeys

Dickeys

Dickeys

Dickeys