One Button Roll Two Suit?

[Fu Manchu]

I was in a thrift store outside New York City today and found a few old two button suits. They were "southwick" brand - one was a three piece and the other looked like it might be missing a vest. Union labels on both date them to the mid-50's to early 60's.

OK, so here's the question: After trying these on, it seemed like they were meant to roll the upper button, as the suit wouldn't sit correctly with this top button fastened. With the bottom button closed, it sat correctly, but it was very low on the waist. What the heck was going on? Any ideas?

Sorry - no pictures...

 

[AlanC]

That's a traditional 3 to 2 roll. You are correct that the top button should not be buttoned, only the middle. The 3/2 jacket is traditional from old line Ivy League shops like Brooks Brothers and J Press. Southwick and Norman Hilton are other traditional makers of this style.

Here's a picture illustrating it from the J Press website:

You can read a past discussion over the issue here. I tend to prefer the dartless 3/2 on more informal jackets like tweeds rather than worsted suits (although I do have some of those).

 

[slicedbread]

Alan, I believe he said that the suits were TWO button and it would look improper if the top of the two buttons were buttoned...Thus, only the bottom button was meant to be buttoned...

i may be wrong...ive certainly never heard of this kind of thing before...

 

[AlanC]

Hmmm. Perhaps I jumped the gun, then. I've not heard of such a thing, either. Southwick, however, is a famous maker of 3/2 suits.

 

[slicedbread]

perhaps they were three roll twos and both missing a button??

 

[Baron Kurtz]

They may just have been pressed badly. A common occurrence.

bk

 

[Fu Manchu]

Only two buttons

I know it was weird, but they only had two buttons - I checked above the roll. The fold of the lapels rolled naturally down to the lower of the two, which was super low, below my belly button. I had never seen anything like it, and I eventually put all three (there was a blazer like this, too) back on the rack despite the fact that they fit pretty well and were quality throughout. They were just.... strange!

[huh]

 

[neyus]

No I believe that there are such jackets.

They function the same as a one buton jacket, and the top button (the 2nd button) is pressed into the lapel

I have seen it before. However the examples I have seen have been unbuttoned, but I can imagine it would like like a one button suit jacket.

 

[Fletch]

That's a traditional 3 to 2 roll. You are correct that the top button should not be buttoned, only the middle. The 3/2 jacket is traditional from old line Ivy League shops like Brooks Brothers and J Press. Southwick and Norman Hilton are other traditional makers of this style.

Not sure how "traditional" it actually is. It was my impression it came in in the 1960s.

 

[Orgetorix]

Not sure how "traditional" it actually is. It was my impression it came in in the 1960s.

It began to be more popular postwar, in the late '40s and '50s. Flusser has a picture of Dean Acheson wearing it during his time in office, which was '49-'53. I think the style itself had been around on and around college campuses since at least the '30s, though.

 

[Fletch]

They might have been rolled to 2, but 2 took awhile to be "disabled" so to speak. I've never seen a pre 60s jacket that was like that - ie: with no back stitching around the 3 hole and the reshaping of the blade and inner layers around 2.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Thanks!

Thanks, Neyus.

Those were some weird suits, man. Even though they were my size, that roll just felt weird; with such a low button stance, it made me feel like I was concealing a large gut.

 

[AlanC]

Not sure how "traditional" it actually is. It was my impression it came in in the 1960s.

Depends on your definition of 'traditional', I guess. It's the traditional Brooks Brothers/J Press Ivy League style.

Cary Grant even liked them: