Lands’ End Canvas Poplin Jacket – $150.00
Picking a length of a suit jacket or blazer is a little like picking your pant break. There are basically three philosophies:
- Your jacket should completely cover your ass. Full coverage.
- You should use the “curved fingers” method (here’s how to do it) to determine the length of your blazer.
- The shorter the better. Chopped even. AKA the Thom Browne effect.
Pretty sure we’ve reached the extreme of #3 with the new poplin jacket from LEC shown above. It’s so short that is appears to be not much longer than one of their new cardigans.
Here’s a demonstration of all three jacket length philosophies, using a straight on shot of the Indochino Essential Navy, with a little photoshop magic. Now remember, I’ve got a real long torso, so full butt coverage on me won’t look the same on someone else. The middle pic is reality:
#1 – Full coverage looks droopy on some torsos. #2 – Length determined by curved finger method. #3 – Chopped.
A Few Observations Worth Noting:
- The less formal / sportier the jacket, the shorter it can get without looking silly.
- Put anything inside a still frame and it’s much easier to notice these kinds of things.
- If you’ve got short legs, a jacket that completely covers your rear might make you look unbalanced.
- If you’ve got long legs, a chopped jacket will make you look like you’re on stilts.
- You need to figure out which method works best for you.
- It’s really all personal preference. Wear what you feel your best in.
- If you run a men’s style website, spring for a professional photographer every once in awhile, because one day, a post from long ago in which you took pictures of yourself at a crappy angle might come back to bite you in your not-completely-covered-by-your-suit-jacket-rear.
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Curved all the way! However, I’ll allow a bit more leeway in regards to jacket length than sleeve length.
should be like a great insurance policy…must cover your ass…otherwise you are perilously close to a woman’s fit…
Curved fingers is the best for me. I’m your height, but must have a short torso or something, because most regular length jackets look really look too long on me unless they have a modern/shorter cut.
BTW, using a dark coat + dark pants to illustrate your point makes it really hard to see. Most LCD’s have terrible black levels. I can barely make out where the break between the jacket and pants is.
That Thom Browne article has quite possible changed my entire outlook on that style. I may have to find a brooks brothers when his more affordable line comes out. I’ve already adopted the no-break, shorter jacket, slightly fashion-forward philosophy…whats a couple more inches off both the pants and the jacket?
Agreed. Tough to see without adjusting my monitor.
This is an underrated factor in a jacket fitting well, and I would include outerwear. I prefer to lean towards shorter, but I think there is a distinction to be made between suit jackets and blazers. Suits lean towards the formality of rump coverage but a blazer you’re going to wear outside of work? Take a chance on shorter.
Long arms make the curved finger rule… tricky to say the least. I find myself going back and forth between covering the rear and the knuckle rule.
Seems like we have another opportunity for a professional photographer to make a push on Joe. haha.
My ideal jacket length is one that ends just about where my crotch ends. Which seems to be around cupped-fingers length. Much longer, and my legs start to look stumpy. Much shorter, and it starts to look a bit feminine, since women tend to wear their jackets and blazers at a shorter length than men.
To me, it’s more about finding a good visual proportion than it is about following a particular rule like covering your butt or reaching your hands. Depending on a guy’s height, build, and proportions, I would think there is some wiggle room in terms of ideal jacket length.
I was really stoked for that LEC jacket when I saw it on a mannequin, but when I saw it online on the model, I was immediately disappointed. The jacket doesn’t have to cover the butt, but that thing barely covers the belt loops. I just can’t do it.
Having arms of different lengths also makes it difficult. I’ve been buying jackets about an inch to an inch and a half too long because I was using the curved-finger rule and didn’t realize my right arm was longer than my left.
I agree. Getting the correct proportion is key.
For me, I tend to rely on the cupped-finger method as well, which on my shorter torso tends to cover most of my butt. Recently, I’ve started to notice that jackets look best (on me anyway) when the bottom hits right around the knuckles on my hand with my arm relaxed at my side.
But making people squint MAKES ME FEEL POWERFUL.
I’m 5′ 7″ with short legs. If I go with the “completely cover my ass” theroy, the jacket starts looking like I borrowed it from my dad. Mine is like 7/8ths covered and it looks fine.
My brother-in-law and my best friend are 5′ 4″, so I’m not sure what rule of thumb would work for them.
IMO, the real answer is “it depends”, not just by body type which I think everyone recognizes, but also by your suit style. Everything needs to be in balance.
If you’re wearing more of a classic fit suit, a shorter jacket just won’t look right. On the flip side, a longer jacket doesn’t really go with a slim fit suit.
I’m 5 ft 7 with long legs and a short torso. If I used the curved finger or knuckle methods I would be wearing dresses.
The only reliable method to tell if a sport coat or suit jacket are of the right length is by making sure that it covers the entirety of your azz. Accordingly, it should also cover at least the bottom of the pants fly when look at from the front. It can be up to an inch or so longer than that, but any shorter just makes you look like a circumsized penis.
Yup, I’m seeing (or not seeing) that now on a different monitor. Didn’t have that issue when I put it together. Apologies for that.
Curved. I’m 6’3″ and slim. seems to be the right fit for me.
5’9″ with longer legs, a shorter torso and longish arms. The knuckle rule gives me a jacket that covers my backside. I read another rule somewhere that the length from the base of the neck on the jacket to the end of the jacket, should roughly equal the distance from the floor to the end of the jacket. That seems to work for me.
Use the “curved finger method” or you will be out of style very quickly. Today I wore a jacket I purchased in the 70’s that met the curved finger test. Even though the collar notch placement is from another era, the comments were what a nice fit, good looking coat. They had no idea that the jacket was nearly four decades old. Still in style, short jackets, don’t throw your money away.
I’ll be honest, I just kind of eye it. If I had to pick out of the three options I would go with “full coverage” but I usually just put a jacket on and use my eyes to judge. I am short (5’5″) and heavy.
Pretty much agree with this – it’s more about the proportions/silhouette than a “curled fingers” rule. After >1 year of spending a bit too much time on style blogs, I’ve seen a wide enough variety of suit styles and fits that I pretty much know what I like as far as what looks visually balanced and flattering. I think jacket length also goes hand in hand with button stance, because that’s the other big factor of even proportions. I think your “end of crotch” estimate is a good starting place, although personally I might tend to go a touch shorter (fairly short legs).
I have long arms, so the “curved fingers” length is the same as the full coverage length.
Well – the “end of crotch” thing is how I see it in a mirror, from a high angle. So in reality it’s probably a touch shorter – close to the middle picture of Joe.
Lol. That LEC jacket is absolutely ridiculous!
Curved finger method–isn’t this blog about style being timeless, etc.
I’m rather tall (6’2″) with long legs, long arms, and a short torso. With my arms by my sides, my wrists are just below the bottom of my rear end. I use the full coverage method, which gives me a jacket shorter than if I used the curved finger test. This looks well on my slim frame, and accentuates my long legs, without the tackiness of having a jacket that doesn’t cover my rear.
I think your examples of different jacket lengths would have been more effective if you were wearing a contrasting pant.
Yeah, I can’t see a thing!
I’m guessing all the readers are just reading on our terrible, cheap work LCDs, where it’s extra hard to see.
It seems to be a problem with the brand, and it drives me nuts. I got their totally, totally awesome herringbone sportcoat, and was so excited while it shipped, until it arrived and I actually. It looked ridiculous–barely started to cover my butt, at least 4 inches too short on the finger test. Online, they have the model in a ridiculous sideways pose to hide how short the jacket is.
I was friggin’ BUMMED, man.
Yet the sweater I ordered the next week fits perfectly–might even be a couple inches too long, thoug hthe sleeves are perfect. What the hell…
I think my proportions are pretty close to what normal (i.e. J. Crew, NOT LEC) designers seem to have in mind. The finger test and “cover my butt” methods both lead to jackets that fit pretty damn perfectly.
yeah its hard to see
For some of us with monkey arms, 31 and #2 are the same.