A tab collar is a deliberate thing. A small tab of cloth or metal runs through slots on each collar point and fastens underneath the knot, pulling the points together and lifting the tie away from the shirt front. The effect is unmistakable. The tie is pushed forward and up, the knot stands proud, and the whole collar reads with a precision that nothing else quite achieves. The best-dressed men of the early and middle twentieth century wore it, the Duke of Windsor and Fred Astaire among them, and it still marks out somebody who has thought hard about their clothes.
How the tab actually works
The tab passes through two small worked buttonholes, one in each collar point, and buttons or clips together in the middle underneath the knot. Once fastened it draws the two points towards each other behind the tie, which forces the tie up and forward off the shirt. The knot lifts, the collar tidies itself, and collar and tie start to look like one designed object rather than two separate items that happen to be in the same place.
We make our tab collars with a sewn cloth tab rather than a metal collar bar. It is more comfortable across a long day and it goes through the wash without anybody having to remember to take it off. The tab is cut from the same cloth as the collar, so white on white as a rule, or a contrast if you ask for one. The buttonholes are worked cleanly into the points and disappear entirely when the collar is laid flat.
Keep the knot small
Because the tab pulls the points together, the opening narrows, and a narrow to medium knot is what belongs there. A four-in-hand or a small Pratt. A full Windsor would be far too much for the space. Whatever you tie, tie it neatly and symmetrically, because a tab collar puts the knot on display more than any other collar and every bit of untidiness shows.
Give the tie some body as well. A medium-weight silk twill or a grenadine will hold its shape once the tab lifts it. A very light foulard tends to wilt and undo all the good work. A knitted tie in silk or wool also sits beautifully here, and it matches the slightly period feel of the collar without tipping over into costume.
Where it belongs and what people read into it
A tab collar is correct in any formal professional setting. It reads as well dressed, well ahead of a button-down and roughly level with a spread collar, because the construction itself signals care. It comes into its own in places where personal style is expected alongside formality, so creative direction, senior management, chambers where how a man dresses is part of how he is known.
What it communicates is quite specific. It says the wearer knows enough about dress to make a choice most people never make. It is not a flourish and it is certainly not a performance. Most people who see it will simply think you look very well put together and will never work out which detail did it. That is exactly what it is for.