When was the men's shirt born as we know it today?

19th century shirt Men's shirt hasn't always been as we know it today and it has undergone very important transformations since its birth. In the Middle Ages, men's shirt was a prerogative of the aristocracy , then it spread more and more, but at that time it was considered as a piece of underwear, not to be shown: it was of linen or cotton and was used essentially to protect the skin from heavier clothing, in fact, nothing was worn under men's shirts. Between the end of the 1700s and the beginning of the 18th century, men's fashion changed a lot and the splendor of the Baroque gave way to tailored suits that soon became the essential garment for the men of the time: the men's shirt was long up to the mid-thigh with ruffles on the front and a collar so high as to touch the jaw; it didn't open completely on the front and slipped off the head. From the mid-nineteenth century, the white shirts give way to the colored ones , exclusively to be worn on daytime while male clothes become less opulent: already towards the end of the century, men's clothing is structured like the current one and the shirt begins to take the modern shape we all know today, in addition to becoming the most loved and widespread male garment .