Calvin Klein BODY Topstitched Plaid Blazer – $63.74 (reg. $169.95)
Part of the Calvin Klein Extra 25% off clearance FINAL Sale, meaning, no returns and no exchanges.
Maybe the model has really gangly arms. Maybe he’s got the torso of a praying mantis so his jeans sit lower. Maybe it’s his one o’clock lean. Whatever it is, doesn’t this guy’s blazer appear to be getting a little close to too short?
Billowing is bad. Fitted is good. But should the trimness of your X axis also apply to your Y? The old trusted method of ensuring your jacket is neither too long or too short is pictured below. Let your arms hang relaxed at your sides. Curl your fingers up like you were going to grasp the handles on a wheelbarrow
It could be his posture in the first pic. Take a look at the shot taken from the back. He’s standing straight up there, and it doesn’t look half bad. On sale for more than $100 off, all cotton, trim CK “Body” fit, and a nice glen plaid pattern. Very subtle peak lapels too. Could be a great find if it doesn’t make you look like a Topman Model.
How do you like your jackets? A little on the short side? Longer than most? Leave it all in the comments below…
The tried and true method. Cotton Sports Jacket by GAP – $68.60 w/code GAP30. Full review here.
Looks a tad short, but not as bad as some offenders (Topman: case in point). For that price though, it’d be an easy to excuse an inch or two of shortness.
For suit jackets and anything I plan to wear primarily with slacks, I always go with the finger curling rule. Anything shorter just doesn’t look professional.
However, for casual blazers sometimes I will go a little shorter. I will only go with a slightly shorter length if I intend to only wear it with jeans/colored chinos. My limit is the the blazer reaching the end of the wrists/start of the palms.
I think SLIGHTLY shorter than the hand rule is now fashionable. And a bit too short looks better than too long. But I think this is overdoing it.
I like the blazer to cover my butt. Too short is when it’s not covering *most* of my butt. IMO, this model looks to have long arms; I think if it satisfied the finger rule, the blazer would be too long on him. Just look how long it’d be relative to his pockets from the back view.
That said, this one’s too short. I’ll always take too short over too long though.
“fashion” has for several years done the shrinking suit look. Pants with flood hems and short jackets have been quite the rage. I have noticed that the trend has dyed down a bit, but GQ still throws around the look. The one above actually looks pretty sporty and useable vs some of the borrowed my little brother’s suit look
I’ve never gone by a wheelbarrow rule especially because each man’s arm length varies. My understanding is that jackets are to be long enough to just cover your posterior when standing up straight. Again, difficult to perfect with iff the rack bc each man’s build varies. This also gets complicated when jeans, typically low rise, are worn which tend to hang lower than a man’s rear, or sag, This can cause the jacket to appear too short even though it’s actually fitted properly.
My understanding is the bottom of the blazer should (literally) cover your butt. So using that fairly cut and dry rule, it does seem a bit on the short side.
I don’t think it looks bad though, but my father who takes a fairly conservative approach to suiting might think it looks ridiculous. Fashion seems to be dictating a generally tighter, slimmer look and the model appears to be in line with that.
FWIW, I think the blazer is gorgeous and I would wear it in a heartbeat, especially given the price. How can a tailor come into play here? I doubt they can make a jacket any longer, but is it feasible to go a size up (say from a R to an L) and then have them shorten it?
My understanding is the bottom of the blazer should (literally) cover your butt. So using that fairly cut and dry rule, it does seem a bit on the short side.
I don’t think it looks bad though, but my father who takes a fairly conservative approach to suiting might think it looks ridiculous. Fashion seems to be dictating a generally tighter, slimmer look and the model appears to be in line with that.
FWIW, I think the blazer is gorgeous and I would wear it in a heartbeat, especially given the price. How can a tailor come into play here? I doubt they can make a jacket any longer, but is it feasible to go a size up (say from a R to an L) and then have them shorten it?
Looks a bit short to me, but maybe only because of the color/pattern. If it were darker and looked less like a suit jacket missing its pants I would say it’s fine for the jeans look or maybe slim, non-creased khakis. As a short guy (5’7″) I like having less jacket and more pants, but I try and stick to the wheelbarrow method for suit jackets and especially for blazers.
Using your hands as a benchmark is misleading, since there is wide variation in the length of people’s length. I have somewhat shorter arms, and if I go by the knuckles rule, my blazers would be somewhat short. Not ridiculously short, but short. The best rule is simply to make sure the blazer covers the curvature of the butt, +/- an inch or so.
Not as bad as this one, which is definitely too short: http://www.calvinklein.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10832627&clickid=prod_cs
I agree with others that using your hands as a guide can be misleading if you have unusually long or short arms. I prefer the “cover your butt” guideline, especially when it comes to suits worn to work. For sport jackets worn casually you can go a little shorter, but NOT like the Topman model who looks ridiculous. A jacket that doesn’t cover all or most of your rump looks weird-like when women wear leggings as pants.
Another thing to consider is how fitted is the jacket/blazer. A close fitting coat can be on the longer side and still look quite okay, while baggy and long will definitely look bad.
On the picture above, the length of the coat is almost at the level of the sleeve length. That’s another indication it is too short, and it really throws off the balance of the coat. I would think that it needs to extend at lest until the base of the mode’s thumb to have semblance of classic proportion (while still plenty short to be considered sporty or whatever).The second picture is about right, but borderline – i don’t think it should go even a milimeter shorter..Finally, some tailors use formulas, which is an approach I personally am skeptical about, but they give close enough results; one of them is your height in inches, divided by two, minus four.
This is ridiculous, although they got one thing rigth: a short coat should probably be one buttoned as a rule
I would honestly not notice it if it wasn’t pointed out to me. I think I notice color scheme, arm length, and matching more than small things such as that.
I think it’s all about proportion to your own body. Personally, I like mine a taste shorter than the “finger curl” method.
I’m a short guy with a long torso and even shorter legs (5’4” with a 28″ inseam). for me, the “cover your butt” rule tends to make my legs look even shorter than they are. I’d wear a jacket like this in a heartbeat.
I saw a dude selling suits with this tight/short cut jacket…he turned around and had a small rip on the arm hole seam. This is the reason the shrinking suit is dumb. Nothing beats a good ol’ fashioned well fitted suit with room to drape. If I see a guy with a short jacket and with a super tight fit — I’m 90% sure he lives with his mom.
When we’re talking about casual sport coats and blazers, I think shorter is fine. It doesn’t work well on a suit jacket, but when you’re wearing a jacket with jeans, I think you’ve already breaking some sort of rule, so you might as well go shorter. Plus, the regular length ones look weird when you’re wearing skinny jeans.
I find that jackets are really inconsistent with their length.
For me, the “proper” length of hitting just where your fingers curl results in a jacket that covers around 2/3 of my body. (I must have a short torso or something).
I think the trick is to just make sure the end of your jacket roughly splits your body in half.
In five years, photos of these short jackets will look as bad as ruffled tuxedo shirt fronts from 1970’s proms.
Maybe so, but the Beatles on Ed Sullivan have always looked pretty fierce to me, and they’re rocking suit jackets this short.
Clearly too short in my opinion… I don’t like how jackets are getting shorter and shorter, it just doesn’t look cool.
I adhere to the finger curl method, plus I like how the jacket length draws a not-too-obvious eye to my junk. Not too short there.