https://twitter.com/dieworkwear/status/1764554822551019669
The most common problem I see with suits today is men wearing jackets that are far too short. 🧵
There are two reasons for this. First, this is the cut you’ll most commonly find on the market, as a result of early 2000s trends pushed by designers such as Thom Browne and Hedi Slimane, who were reacting to overly long 1990s styles.
The second reason is a lack of familiarity with tailoring. Most men are not used to wearing tailored clothing; they are used to casualwear, which typically has shorter jackets. Casual jackets such as truckers and bombers can be short (this is fine, as this is their style).
However, tailored clothing is not the same as casualwear, and if you’re not used to wearing suits or sport coats, a proper jacket may feel too long to you at first. So, how do you know if something is correct?
You may have heard “the rule of thumb.” That is, the idea that a jacket should come down to some knuckle on your thumb or be long enough for your fingers to just curl under the hem when your arms are hanging by your side. The problem is that not all bodies are built the same.
Here are two men with properly cut jackets. The first man’s jacket comes down to his second thumb knuckle. The other man’s jacket comes down to his first thumb knuckle. If the second man copied the first man’s, his jacket would be way too long.
A better “rule of thumb” is to think of your jacket’s length as a ratio of the total outfit. A suit jacket or sport coat should roughly bisect you halfway from the back of your collar to the floor when you’re wearing heeled shoes. This gives the most flattering proportions.
The problem with short jackets is that they can make you look “hippy” Meaning, they accentuate your hips.
Many men insist on wearing slim, short jackets because they think the style makes them look trimmer. In fact, it often makes them look wider. Look at the two jackets below. The first jacket has a square silhouette; the second has a rectangular silhouette.
This should be obvious: when you shorten a rectangle, it becomes a square. By comparison, a square silhouette will look boxier and wider; a rectangular silhouette will look elongating. This logic can be taken to extremes with truckers vs overcoats
Short tailored jackets are not flattering for another reason: to keep proper distance from buttoning point to hem, a short jacket has to have a higher buttoning point. Compare the two men on the far right. Which looks better? One with a high or low buttoning point?
Before someone mistakes this as an argument about body shape, it’s purely about tailoring. My friend @DavidLaneDesign here is heavier than Matt Gaetz, but his tailoring follows the same principle (jacket bisects halfway from collar to floor). He looks great.
There is a caveat: sometimes sport coats look better when they’re a little shorter than suit jackets. And sometimes double-breasted jackets look better when they’re a little shorter than a single-breasted. As always, it’s best to go by your eye.
But until you’ve trained your eye, the “jacket should bisect you halfway from your collar to the floor” is a good rule of thumb and will prevent you from wearing the most egregiously bad outfits.
A friend of mine who owns a tailoring shop once told me his rule of thumb: if you can fasten your jacket and imagine yourself peeing without wetting the jacket, it’s too short. I will not debate or test this rule. But knowledge is power, so I thought I would pass it along.
Lastly, if your fear is that only old men wear long jackets, I would argue that older men should be your North Star when it comes to tailoring. Do what they do, as they’ve worn tailoring longer than you.
