mens button down shirt question!

my weekend look is starting to be a long sleeve button down with chino shorts and boat shoes (i also wear polos, but usually not t-shirts. i digress). the shirt is usually worn untucked (i'm very young, so i can get away with that right?) and the top button unbuttoned. I was wondering if it is ok to unbutton the buttons on each collar as well? I find that when I leave them buttoned it doesn't look right and makes my face look skinny. I prefer to have the collars pulled out.

Also, you know those extra buttons on the bottom of shirts... are you supposed to take those off once you buy the shirt?

I'm sure Joe will answer your question properly, but...

which looks better, buttoned collars or collars unbuttoned with the little button holes showing? If the color can be buttoned, it should be buttoned. If you don't like them buttoned, buy different shirts. And untucked shirts, unless you're wearing another shirt under them and wearing the shirt open (which I don't think looks right with these shirts, either), just make it look like you're trying to hide your belly or your butt. Or that you don't care.

Improperly yours,

Keep 'em buttoned. That's the POINT. The extra buttons are for replacing any that may get damaged or lost, so keep them there for a rainy day.

-Joe 'Dilettante' in SoFla

I was eclectic before eclectic was cool. Oh, wait a minute...eclectic isn't cool. Never mind.

Normally I'd agree to keep them buttoned, but in this case he sounds more like after a casual look, meaning it'd probably not hurt the image...

No. When people see you they will be convinced that you have never owned a button down shirt before and simply don't know that the buttons are there to be buttoned.

Then don't buy button downs!

They're extras for when the laundry mangles a button. No need to remove them until you replace another.

My thinking is that if he likes the look of a shirt the collar of which is untethered to the body, then he ought get a oxford (or pinpoint) cloth straight collar shirt.

Otherwise, why bother?

-Joe 'Dilettante' in SoFla

I was eclectic before eclectic was cool. Oh, wait a minute...eclectic isn't cool. Never mind.

Joe, you're trying to use logic in fashion? That's like saying people who drive 4 x 4's buy them for off-road use

Well, this is like saying he has a 4 x 4 but would like to leave it in 2 x 4 mode. For that just get the 2x4.

-Joe 'Dilettante' in SoFla

I was eclectic before eclectic was cool. Oh, wait a minute...eclectic isn't cool. Never mind.

This is starting to sound like Kirk & Spock

Some of us do. We find them handy in bad weather, too. For that matter, they're often useful for carrying large objects, pulling trailors, hauling people, and surviving collisions.

But of course, like most things fashionable, they're ultimately a personal

I was gonna say Bones and Spock, but hey...it's a pluralist society.

-Joe 'Dilettante' in SoFla

I was eclectic before eclectic was cool. Oh, wait a minute...eclectic isn't cool. Never mind.