Jacket style differences?

[adamgottschalk]

I searched the forums and didn't find much. Looking at the NYPL images, I notice there's talk of a number of different styles (I assume for the jackets specifically): sports style, lounge style, drape style, university style, young men's style, etc., sometimes combined (as in "young men's drape style", for example). Other than single or double-breasted, and two or three-button, I couldn't really make out differences.

Does it have to do with how the suit fits the body? The size of the lapels? Other?

 

[John in Covina]

Ask different people about "drape" and you'll get different answers. To some drape is simply a function of the cloth and how it lies, but to others it actually comes down to specifics such as a part of the style where on the back of the jacket by the arm holes there is a fold created similar to a "bi swing" back but not created the same not sitched like that. The Universities of England had students that did a lot with drape and the suits of the English King that abducated (Edward?) had a lot of truely marvelous suits with great styling.

As to the style, moving from a sack suit with box like demensions to the very masculine "exagerated" shoulders with a narrow waist comes in and changes proportionally as the fashion changed. Each time the youth section (young man's cut) was at the forefront of the changes as opposed to an older mans cut being more "classic" for business is how I understand it. The exagerations on some of these themes lead in to the Zoot Suit.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Right, there is always a sort of progression in fashion moving towards and away certain things. For instance at the moment are in a trend towards very tight fitting suits with low-rise flat front pants worn very short. This is a reaction to the early-to-mid 90s trend of loose fitting suits with pleated, cuffed pants of medium rise and break over the shoe.

As for "drape" aka "blade" it was indeed a style having mainly to do with the cut of the shoulders which allowed for a full chest, combined with a nipped-in waist, and full-cut high rise trousers.

 

[adamgottschalk]

Pockets

A female friend of mine pointed out that one difference between, say, a "sports" style and a "university" style is in the pockets. In this particular case (with the NYPL images), it seems the former is likely to have besom pockets on front and the latter flap pockets. Both my Dior business suits have flap pockets; my Italian blue-check sport coat (with the arms too long) has besom pockets on front.