Let’s talk about Shoulder Divots

Who cares.

But first, some background: Shoulder divots can be caused by the arm hole of a jacket not matching up in shape to the angle and shape of the wearer’s shoulder. They also seem to become more pronounced when… y’know, a guy actually moves his arms around, instead of having them resting right at his side. (Like if he straightens his cuff, sticks a hand in his pocket, etc.)

GQ recently ran a post criticizing some of the men at this year’s Oscars whose jackets showed divots. They even drew bright red circles around the divots (which is understandable, since most wouldn’t have noticed the indiscretion anyway).

“Small detail, big problem” they said. After accusing these guys of failure, GQ then pointed to “some of the Best Dressed guys at the Oscars” in the very same post.

The “10 Best-Dressed” in fact. And in that slide show of best-dressed, what was seen?

I drew these unruly, unruly circles.

 

 

Dents! Wrinkles! Bunching! If guys who make millions in the entertainment industry, many in large part due to their image, end up with these oh-so-dreaded divots, then how bad can they really be? And more importantly, if those guys get em’, how the hell can us in the normal rank and file be expected to have smooth, wrinkle free fabric draping over our delts? Look, this has to be in part due to suits getting slimmer, armholes getting higher, yet fitness (and therefor, larger shoulders) continuing to be popular. So what should we do? Skip the Turkish get-ups? Go broke buying only custom goods? Panic?

The answer is that we really shouldn’t give that much of a damn. It’s not that big of a deal. Nobody really notices.

So get over it. Unless it’s an extremely bad case, move on.

Good is great. Great is rare. Chasing perfection can be a ridiculous, pricey waste of time. Especially if part of that “perfection” involves limiting the use of your arms.