A Cause for Collars?

You learn something new every day. Today's exciting todo list brought me to the Kirkland Public Library. I needed to return a few books. While there, I headed over to the magazine rack and checked out the latest issue of Esquire, one of my usual travel magazines that I haven't read for a while. I flipped to an issue on men's suits. I'm not sure what it is about article's on such topics that interests me. I'm sure if I was actually required to don a suit on a daily basis I would quickly tire of it, but something about the fact that I can't (lest I me bet with stares and questions about why I was so dressed up) causes some odd fascination with the subject. One little tidbit of information caught me eye. The author suggested seeking lapel notches places high on the lapel of your suit jacket, up towards your shoulders. The ideal location would be such that if you were to 'close' the jacket (by 'unfolding' the collar and lapel), the notches would meet around your Adam's apple. But why? Well, evidently people actually used to do this with their jackets in order to keep the cold out, as the article put it. Fascinating. And all this time I assumed that collars/lapels were purely decorative, much like ties. Of course I then got to wondering if ties themselves served some purpose beyond the ornamental, but that seems unlikely. Interestingly, the up-wearing of collars (typically on shirts, not jackets) has been somewhat of a "fashion trend" recently. An awful one, but a trend nonetheless. Awful because, well, no one I know seems to think it's actually a good look, and because it demonstrates that some noticeable segment of society doesn't understand the difference between uniqueness and comformity.
As I was leaving the library, it was a bit chillier than when I entered as the rain had kicked up a notch. A light drizzle had also started. I turned up my lapel and collar to keep the cold out, and headed for home.