What to look for in a jacket

Now to get into the nuts and bolts of a man's wardrobe - the big ideas of small details. It is fair to say that the lapel hole of your suit needs to be a flat lapel hole rather than a key-hole. The picture on the right shows that the maker cares little or knows nothing about perminent fashion by using this stitch for the lapel hole but a lot of big names commit this sartorial error (this particular jacket is made by Hugo Boss). The lapel needn't be functioning, although prefered, and the ideal length is 1 and 1/8 inches.

The lapel itself looks richer when the edges of the lapel are hand or machine stitched. The modern process of fusing the material without stich looks sloppy and flat. A machine stich shows some effort and looks great on the jacket; this stiching might extend the length of the jacket including the bottom and might also be found around the pockets. A hand picked stitch will be less uniform in the stitch gap and will often be found on bespoke suits. This is certainly not a reqisat but is generally up to the client who is getting the suit made.

When the 'Italian' look, popularized by Armani in the early 80's, took to the hearts of a new generation it was defined by a soft, unconstructed jacket that seemed to drape the body rather than accentuate with canvasing parts of the chest that needed some help. Without the heavy canvasing it became clear to the manufacturing world that this look needs to stay. Less canvas, less time, less structure, less money. So good luck finding a jacket that has a thick canvas in the United States, its really a pity because the roll of the lapel looks so good. There are two pics at the top showing a lapel from the bottom of the jacket up to the top. The one on the bottom is a Pierre Cardin that sells for a few hundred dollars at mens stores and, as you see, has very little cavasing in the lapel and hence no great roll to the jacket. The beauty on the top is a Saxon Hawk (who?) from the U.K. and, we see, the jacket's lapel has a great shape to it. Which one would you rather be wearing?

The buttons on the cuff should idealy be four buttons 'kissing' meaning they abut each other. No one knows why four is ideal its just the way Savile Row does it. At all costs try not to buy a jacket without detailing around the buttons. As you can see at the top the Cardin has the buttons just fastened to the fabric and no detailing. The Hawke, on the otherhand, with its detailing looks like the buttons were made to the customer's arm length. Most suits do not bother putting the stitching on the cuff buttons being that this will cost more money to manufacture. Of course working buttons are still the highest form of cuffs you can get.

These are just some of the details that I look for when buying a jacket, making sure the collar and the shoulders fit properly along with some of these details and a tailor can do the rest.