It’s the holy grail of affordable men’s style. The inexpensive blazer or sportcoat. These are the jackets that look like a million bucks, either off the rack or after some adjustments by a tailor, despite costing nowhere near an arm and a leg. Here are some suggestions for what to keep in mind the next time you’re in the market for for an inexpensive blazer or sportcoat.
Couldn’t think of a good article today Joe?
“A Reasonable Tail Length”
Currently, this is the biggest pain in the (perpetually uncovered by my blazer) rear. I’ve gone ahead and bought a few shorter cropped blazers because the price and fit everywhere else was spot on—I’m looking at you JCP—but damned if I don’t wish for an extra inch or two in the tail whenever I wear them.
Well, there was a very attractive young lady who, in the previous article, really liked that look on men…
I agree with you FG that it comes down to what you are comfortable with. I’ve had both your experience, and the opposite experience: I’ve thought a few blazers I’ve seen were too short, but then when I tried them on, they ended up looking great.
Those JCP ones, for example, I didn’t have a problem with the tail, but I had a problem with the shoulders. 😛
I guess the question is: Do you dress for yourself or do you dress for others?
Are production costs more expensive to make a heavily padded shoulder than a natural shoulder? I look at some of these blazers especially from JCP and Macy and wonder do shoppers really look for overly padded shoulders? Recently I’ve been preferring a more natural shape for how it drapes on my shoulder. Okay, I’ve the word “shoulders” too many times in this comment 🙁
I’m 6’1″, or just a touch under, so the issue for me is that I’m very often right at the line between regular and tall. I always buy 42R because I’m more comfortable with a slightly shorter than slightly longer fit. Shoulders on the other hand can be tricky for me too. At a fairly athletic and broad 205 lbs., some slim fits leave me feeling like the Hulk, while the same brand’s classic or regular fit will be humungous. That’s why I’ve all but abandoned online retail unless I know in advance the way a particular brand fits.
It might actually be the other way around. Could be totally wrong here, but if memory serves, a more natural shoulder can be more expensive to produce since there’s less to anchor the cloth to.
That’s way over-simplifying, and could be completely wrong, but I thought at some point that might have been the case.
Both.
I dress for Style Girlfriend, then myself, then other people.
Ha, yes both. One actually comes before the other when you really break it down.
I think that’s right, Joe. Also, cheaper fabrics don’t drape as nicely or as naturally. They need the sturdier shoulder pads to maintain their shape and create the arcs necessary for the jacket’s construction.
Can we please add “Reasonable Lapel Width?” The wimpy lapels on the Ludlow and its brethren have prevented me from buying them because they won’t look good with any of my shirts (I prefer a strong, Italian collar) and will be overwhelmed by anything but the most bolo-esque skinny ties.
Small ties aren’t trendy anymore, and these suits are designed while looking backward at style, not forward. Designers like Tom Ford are pushing a more heavyweight lapel style that looks way better on us guys that eat carbs. Skinny lapels are a dying breed and we should be hunting them to extinction.
Skim tall builds will always look good in the ludlow sized lapel and a skinnier tie.
Trendy or not, id agree that the folk who are larger/bulkier/fatter (commonly referred to as the “athletic” build) should probably stay away from this style as it just doesn’t complement their body habitus.
I’ve always figured that minimal padding requires a certain amount of skill to pull off whereas anyone can make football gear. I just figured that the skill costs more than the padding.
This x 1000.
Maybe it’s just me being modern, but “a reasonable tail length” for me ends mid-butt.
Personally, I think a jacket that extends down further than this point feels too big and ill-fitted. They remind me of elderly men who wear jackets that are way too big for their frame; I don’t want to look like this. The sweet spot for jacket length is mid-butt – long enough to cover your wallet, but short enough to have a modern silhouette.
Much love for Megan, but if you’re dressing for her, you’re going to be wearing a lot of sweatpants.
I’ll add that most bargain shoppers are generally not the savviest when it comes to finer points of style – dappered community excepted, of course.
Bulked up shoulders are a main-stay of American style, and that’s what a typical sportcoat/suit buyer expects. That’s changing of course, and it might be a chicken or the egg thing, but heavy shoulders are in the bulk of product volume I’d guess.
Also, as my tailor pointed out, a mostly unlined jacket costs more to make than a lined one – when you’re going to cover up all the stitching it doesn’t have to be presentable or neat. A well done unlined jacket – especially with piping – is pretty labor intensive.
To me though, minimal lining makes a tremendous difference in how the jacket wears and conforms to the body. I’m only a few years removed from t-shirts, polos and jeans all the time, so toned-down shoulders and the more natural drape were what I needed to feel comfortable wearing them.
There’s much debate about this. To me, most guys know when they look their best. I’ve got a pretty long torso compared to my legs, so if I always went with jackets that covered 100% of my butt, I’d look a little goofy sometimes.
As always, there’s leeway.
I agree with you — I hope that holds though! It seems like wider lapels are now to fashion what slimmer lapels once were — they’re still worn right now to make a statement, but might soon be in vogue in a lot of places, just my thought at least. But, regardless of trend, slimmer builds look better with slimmer lapels/tie. It does seem like we’ve reached a tipping point though….
As a shorter guy, I like mid-butt.
…to elongate my legs. Whew, awkwardness avoided.
This is why the 2.5″ to 3″ notch lapel is timeless. It is neither too narrow nor too wide. It looks good on any sized and shaped frame. It will never go out of fashion. Which means it’ll always be in style.
He likes mid-butt and he cannot lie.
HAH!!!
“Non-functioning sleeve buttons”
I can’t stand my non-functioning ones. It’s a reminder of how this sport coat or blazer is not quite the quality of my other ones with functioning sleeve buttons. If you’re in the store and can check length, I would never choose non-functioning over functioning. Buying online…MAYBE.
I really need to find some cheap unlined cotton and linen blazers and sport coats while the trend is still with shorter tail lengths. That will make sure I can use the coats more as a 3 season and with kilts. The weather has been good for jackets this week, but by the end of the week it will break over 80* again.