Buttoning your jacket

[jgilbert]

all my jackets are 2 button SB and I onlt button the top.
I do not like driving while wearing the jacket. So if just walking from car to office, I will not button the jacket. However if seeng a customer, will to so.

Having not own a three pc suit in years, and when I did I did not button the jacket.

 

[Edward]

Speaking of DB jackets;I've seen many photos of men in the 30's~50's era wearing the top and bottom buttons done up and It looks-in my opinion-just fine. Now maybe it was only the editors of fashion magazines and the like who disapproved of this. I would say if it doesn't cause the jacket to bulge or crease in an unattractive manner it really doesn't matter. I've also seen numbers of men with the DB left open and well...that's another can of worms entirely...

Isn't that why they took to putting vents in a dB? I agree, open a DB looks dreadful (yet I don't have the same negative feeling about a DB overcoat worn open...). Closed.... I'm not a fan of the single-button fasten DBs, don't know why they just never did it for me. on 3x2 jackets, I can see undoing the bottom button for sitting down, but standing with the jacket hanging correctly, the bottom button not fastened looks like it's missing. For whatever reason, this would never bother me on a sb jacket.

 

[Mid-fogey]

My man...

DB jacket, top fastening button done up, bottom not:

Doing up the bottom button doesn't look right to me.

...you look awesome. Where is your lid?

 

[Alan Eardley]

How does this translate for waistcoats? I have always habitually leftthe bottom button undone on a waistcoat, butI've never been able to figure out when this is "correct."

Edward,

For this to look 'correct' (whatever that means) the waistcoat should be cut to be worn in this way - some are and some are not. The difference is the position of the lowest button-hole (and corresponding button) which should be so that the front of the waistcoat curves or 'belllies out' when the button is fastened. When left undone, the front flattens and looks 'correct'.

The other style 'splays' and just looks like you forgot to fasten the bottom button (INHO).

Alan

 

[Benny Holiday]

...you look awesome. Where is your lid?

Thank you kind sir. Never fear, the lid wasn't far away!

 

[carebear]

Rooster, I don't think that's a revolver; I think it's a cigar.

I think it's a cane being held almost point on to the viewer (though my first thought was the same as Rooster's until I considered apparant context).

Anyway...

If all my suits and jackets (3 and 2 button SB's) are "modern" and don't change fit when the bottom button is buttoned, does that mean they is no "cutaway".

Is cutaway more of a vintage styling?

 

[Mario]

Just found this interesting photo of Cary Grant from 1951 with the lower button on his jacket fastened.

 

[Matt Deckard]

That style hack ruins more and more mores of fashion.

 

[tnitz]

Bottom button

All conveyed about jackets conforms to what I was taught.

However, I was specifically taught to ALWAYS button the bottom button on the waistcoat, unbuttoning it when sitting and refastening it when rising. And that's what I do and I recall my Grandfather always doing that (we had different teachers) at supper.

But, as suggested, that may have to do with the particular style of waistcoat.

 

[Derek WC]

I recently watched a film with Spencer Tracy wearing a three piece suit with his double breasted jacked un-buttoned and it looked surprisingly fine.

Can't remember the name and can't find any pictures.

 

[BanjoMerlin]

My tailor way back when always asked if the buyer intended to wear the jacket with one or two buttons fastened. He said if he made the jacket for one button to be fastened it would look bad with both buttoned but if he made it for two buttons to be fastened it wouldn't look too bad with only one. On a DB jacket if only one button was to be fastened he would sew the bottom button into the button hole to maintain symmetry.

He could also make the jacket for neither button to be fastened. He had a lot of plain-clothes police officers for clients.

 

[Tailor Tom]

Your tailor was right

My tailor way back when always asked if the buyer intended to wear the jacket with one or two buttons fastened. He said if he made the jacket for one button to be fastened it would look bad with both buttoned but if he made it for two buttons to be fastened it wouldn't look too bad with only one. On a DB jacket if only one button was to be fastened he would sew the bottom button into the button hole to maintain symmetry.

He could also make the jacket for neither button to be fastened. He had a lot of plain-clothes police officers for clients.

Your Tailor was spot on. It has much to do with how the canvas and tape is done in the inside of the coat, as to how it hangs. This is specially clear in a 3 button. The canvas can be made to roll to the top, the middle or to a spot in between the 2 buttons. If it is made to roll to the top, please button it. if made to roll to the second, button it there. the third option is a "convertible" as such and can be worn either way.
And yes, you can cut a coat so it hangs perfectly with no buttons buttoned at all.

 

[Tomasso]

Just found this interesting photo of Cary Grant from 1951 with the lower button on his jacket fastened.

Cary was all over the place when it came to buttoning his jackets......

 

[Mr Vim]

Boy you could say that again. Cary, we're very dissapointed.

When I was a squirt, my dad always wore suits and it bothered me that he would follow the rules of buttoning (of which I was completely ignorant) I bothered him so many times about it he finally taught me everything he knew about suits, hats, shaving, the works.

Now I find myself remembering these things as I read about them. Ah memories.

 

[Mario]

Boy you could say that again. Cary, we're very dissapointed.

Now, now. Let's not get carried (Cary'd? ) away... There obviously are jackets out there that are supposed to be worn with the lower button fastened, even if this might just be an option.

 

[Tomasso]

There obviously are jackets out there that are supposed to be worn with the lower button fastened, even if this might just be an option.

True but Cary, being a style maven, was constantly flaunting and tweaking established sartorial norms. As did Astaire.

 

[George A.Bailey]

Do these buttoning guidelines apply to overcoats as well? Is every button fastened, or just certain ones, like with a suit jacket?

Here's a few examples of partially buttoned overcoats:

Take a look at Mr. Churchill's coat.

I've seen this image a few times, I knew it was just a matter of time before I used it myself.

 

[Undertow]

From what I gather, an overcoat serves a utilitarian purpose as opposed to a suit - not that suits don't serve their own purposes in their own ways.

I believe one should use all buttons on a coat as long as practical, just as one should doff one's hat indoors, or remove sunglasses at night.

However, as there are so many "rules" that don't hold much water, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if one could leave a button undone just as you would a suit or vest.

 

[Steveb1]

I always follow the one button rule...
SB 2 button - Top button only
SB 3 button - Center button only
DB - Top or Bottom depending on the cut (very rarely the inside button, too much hassle)

 

[James71]

With regards to a three button SB suit, my philosophy has always been "Sometimes, always, never".

(from the top down of course!)