Monday, June 24, 2013

Suit Jacket Fit And Length



Suit Jacket Fit
A properly-fitting jacket will have its waist button just below the wearer's actual waist, and should have sleeves that leave room for a minimum of 1" of the wearer's dress shirt cuff to be visible. A very general way of determining if a jacket is long enough is to curl one's fingers at the second knuckle around the bottom of the jacket. If the jacket's hem just reaches where the fingers join to the hand, then it fits properly; if the hem touches the curled fingers – or worse, bunches up – then the jacket is too long. Another gauge is to measure from the top of the spine to the floor and divide in half. Both techniques, however, are only generalizations, and cannot take into account any unusual variations; performed correctly, both will give a relatively good measure for a ready-made suit, while a bespoke or made-to-measure suit will involve more accurate measurement. In the same line, a jacket's sleeves should be well fitted to the particular dimensions of the wearer's arm, and should taper as necessary to avoid the appearance of flaring out towards the hand. The cuffs should be wide enough to allow free movement, though not so wide as to hang loosely when the arms are raised; likewise, they should not be as narrow as to resemble the elasticized cuffs on rain jackets.
Suit Jacket Length
Inherent in all the above elements is the jacket's length. A jacket that is too short will expose undesirable portions of the wearer's anatomy, while a jacket that is overly long will dwarf the wearer, potentially giving the appearance of a 1930s film gangster, or in the case of extremely long sleeves, an orangutan. Because of the modern trend towards lowering the gorge and waist buttons on jackets, as well as the tendency of many men to wear their pants at their hips, rather than at the waist, most men have become accustomed to jackets that are too long.  
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