Crafted properly a suit can lend excellence to a man’s appearance. Besides, if carried systematically you might look the best dressed man in the room, no matter you are a routine office guy or a venturesome business magnet a well-cut suit can escalate your reputation instantly.
A suit is a pair of jacket and trousers cut from the same role of cloth. Traditionally the outfit is designed to be paired together. That means men should always wear jacket and pants together. Occasionally, if required, one can wear the suit jacket separately with other pants but regularly doing so will drain the glare and colour out of the garment making it unfit to combine with its better half.
A Suit Jacket
Picking a particular type of suit jacket can be trickier if you are new to this game. Suit colour, jacket type, jacket proportions will vary for each wearer. You need to figure out everything beforehand and make sure it looks appropriate on you.
Some men may want their jacket to cut sharp silhouette while most men would love to have slightly looser fit. Your body type will generally be a key factor to determine every aspect of the suit.
Complexion as well profession will determine what colour palette will flatter you the most. Navy and grey colours will meet most men’s requirements while black and brown might follow the queue.
Suit will predominantly come with few varying silhouettes like slim, tailored or regular; besides the design configuration will differ for each man according to the body proportions.
A standard two buttoned single breasted configuration will complement a large variety of men. Although, some men might need to switch to one or three buttoned stances, in special cases.
Parts Of A Suit Jacket
Collar
No hyperbole that a collar stands atop everything else, since it sticks closest to the face your overall look will be significantly controlled by the collar type you choose. It joins lapel in the front of the jacket body. Together they function as a single unit but can be separated to alter the fit around shoulders and neck.
Of the three lapel types both notch and peak lapel have a visible attached collar except a shawl lapel which runs all the way around neck and itself forms the collar part.
Jacket collar relative to shirt collar should end ½ of an inch lower but stick closely to it. Any gap between the two collars might suggest minor adjustments in the collar length.
Shoulders
Shoulders will make you or break you. Shoulder of the jacket should fall exactly on your shoulder edge. Too wide shoulder will sag along the upper arm and too short a shoulder will ride up the natural shoulders-both will look out of place.
The tapering of the shoulder should be a sharp slant line. Any ripples or imperfections would need tailoring. Men should stand upright with shoulders stretched back (naturally) for the measurement of a suit.
Moreover man with tapered shoulders will need padding to achieve more square shoulders. Wider or square shoulders require no padding.
Lapels
Notched lapel features a recess at the point where it joins the collar of the suit jacket. It is by far the most common and acceptable lapel construction among men.
Peak Lapel is characterized by the pointed edges at an angle. The points project further than the collar being more noticeable. You may also choose a peak lapel for your single-breasted jacket. A double-breasted jacket would always have peak lapels.
shawl lapel ranks the highest in formality and is reserved for special suit types – Tuxedo or Dinner Suit. A shawl lapel is a single piece designed to join in the middle of the jacket front, slightly above the first button. It is a curved design which widens near the upper chest and shoulders.
Armhole
An armhole is the part of jacket where sleeve joins the body. Armhole makes it possible for the wearer to put his arms into the sleeves. A lower/large armhole makes small sleeves and gives a sloppy appearance. It also restricts arm movements- The jacket will also swing with your arm- while the trunk part should always stay in place.
Conversely a higher- relatively smaller armhole will create longer sleeves- better curves around the chest –Sleeves can accommodate long arms- Lend more flexibility to the arms- Keep the jacket shape intact during activity.
Sleeve
Jacket sleeves are another important aspect. A nice sleeve should run close to upper arm and fall naturally to the wrist. Cuff of a jacket sleeve should recede about 1 cm above the shirt cuff.
Jacket’s sleeve cuff would usually have 3 or 4 buttons- lined up at the lower edge of cuff. The buttons, however, serve no functional purpose but give a tasteful appeal to the sleeves. The position of the buttons is an individual preference. Men can select one out of spaced, contiguous or an overlapping button pattern.
Pockets
A suit coat will have a breast pocket and two main pockets either flap or hacking pockets. A third type of pocket called patch pockets are now a days rare to be seen, usually found in a sports jacket.
Breast pocket is a relatively smaller pocket designed to hold a pocket square which is a style accessory.
Flap pockets make the main pockets and include an extra piece of identical cloth to cover pocket openings. It looks stylish and improves a suit.
Slant slightly angled pockets can replace flap pockets in some jackets. It eases the movement of fingers into and out of the pocket.
Ticket pocket- A small pocket stitched slightly above the main pockets.
Vents
A vent is the slit made in the rear lower part of the suit jacket to allow comfort while bending or sitting. It was originally invented for the horse sports while the rider sat on the saddle he could easily incline when needed.
A suit coat can have no vent- one middle vent [single-vented] or two side [double-vented] vents.
Double-vent
The most comfortable vent style is double as it offers more freedom of movement and looks most elegant
It keeps your trousers seat unexposed and creates least waves- while your hands are in the pockets- when you are bending or sitting. That means your clothing is more in control even when your attention is elsewhere.
Single-vent
Invented for the horse riders to allow more comfort and freedom- of course to keep the suit jacket neatly in place while the rider leaned forward or sideways Although in fashion, single-vent is less function and stylish than a double-vent.
A man having had double-vent in his first suit jacket would incline towards it naturally.
No-vent
Not seen in modern day suits jackets and sports coats. Who would make this blunder of having a suit jacket tailored with no vent when he knows above two options?
Suit Jacket Fastening Custom
Special outfit is controlled by strict protocols; social, official or the event type. In general men wear suits with two or three buttons and in the ignorance or customarily fasten all the buttons. Besides, most men don’t close the buttons while standing wherein they should be fastening first button in two buttoned jacket and middle one in three-buttoned coat.
In fact here the subject is “What are buttoning custom of a suit jacket?” What, according to the convention and style rules, men should follow and keep from faux pas.
One-Button suit jacket
Most common suit jacket men wear is the single-breasted.
As a rule always do your button in a standing position. While sitting undo the button; this allows you to unwind and sit comfortably and does not pull the fabric of the jacket in the middle causing ripples. Button up the jacket again when you stand.
Repeated action of sitting with a buttoned up jacket might result in loosening of the stitches and enlarging of the buttonhole due to strain.
Two-Button suit jacket
First and foremost remember you are wearing a suit jacket. Now that you have two buttons on the jacket confusion arises, which button to do or should I close all both buttons. Buttoning of the the top one and leaving the bottom one undone is a general convention but not a strict rule. A suit jacket length and button positions depend upon a persons height and lapel length.
Three-Button suit jacket
A three buttoned suit jacket is less common than a two-buttoned jacket. Since there are three buttons on the jacket you may like to be very sure about buttoning rules.
Always do the middle button; close the third button if you are with other dressed up people or in a business meeting where every detail counts.
Buttoning A Double Breasted jacket
Commonly a double breasted jacket would have six buttons [rarely 8 or 4 on a short men], 3 in each column, only one column functional.
- When 2 out of six are functional their stance will be vertical [exactly one above the other] but top one will be askew, positioned farther from lapel.
- If all 3 out of six buttons are functional then all all 3×3 will be vertically aligned in each row, to be fastened.
- While sitting lowest button can be undone and redone when you stand again. Besides all rules your comfort is top priority.
