First of all the coat is stunning. Realizing you probably were leaning to interpreting instead of replicating the DoW, could you comment on your decision to forego the cuffed sleeves and the addition of front buttons? The DoW's stature has been discussed before but did this factor into your choice of proportions (lapel width). Maybe your thoughts would be helpful to others when using a photographic history. Well done!
The choice of cloth attracted me to the Duke’s DB more than anything else. It is supremely elegant and understated. I searched for quite some time to find a heavyweight barleycorn in a subtle gray before I stumbled upon the Moorbrook birdseye. So my DB was really an original work inspired by a simple piece of cloth.
I am not a terrible amount of fun at a fitting. My aim is to reduce a garment’s expression down to the absolute minimum. Cuffed sleeves, especially when made from a very heavy cloth, appear ungainly and awkward to my eye. I prefer cleanliness of line. But my own physical limitations have a part to play in the decision as well. Men who have long torsos and short legs and arms should be cautious in their use of cuffs of any kind.
Details and added on options are not the beauty of bespoke, they are the pitfalls of bespoke.
As regards the 6 x 2 DB, it is the signature choice, a timeless classic in every respect.
As regards lapel width it is a question of composition. In the Duke’s day, wider lapels were in vogue. And wider lapels can be very handsome and refined if they are composed properly. And there are a few secrets involved, of course. The secret is in the measure of the overlap. If the dimensions of the overlap are in harmony with the width of the lapel, the image can be elegant. See the pictures of the Duke, Gable and Fairbanks above as examples.
If the overlap is either too narrow or too wide, the wider lapel does not work. One mostly sees too narrow overlaps that tend to exaggerate the width of the lapels creating an overly pronounced V shape. Think of the relationship between the overlap and lapel in the way we do the trunk of a tree and its principal branches. Would we see a sapling with huge branches or an immense, centuries old trunk with thin stems instead of branches? No, the upper structure of the tree is in harmony with the trunk.
In the DB, if the overlap, button point and lapel height and width are in harmony, the eye reposes on the overall image and there is no movement ie we see the whole garment in an instant of time. This elicits a pleasing aesthetic effect. If, for example, the overlap is too narrow, the button point too low, and the lapel too wide, the eye races to the dominant lapel and loses the rest of the coat. The point is that if you create movement or distraction in your cut, it will be extroverted. It will cease to be “unseen.”
Of prime importance is understanding the amount of overlap your figure can bear as this will have an effect on the width of lapel you can wear as well. An example comes from Naples where we see DBs cut for short and stout men with massive overlaps and very wide lapels, the dreaded “fireplug” cut. Small and stocky men simply cannot wear deeply set overlaps, it makes them look wider than they already are. And the exaggerated wide lapels make them look shorter than they are…it’s the double’s double indemnity. Likewise, on a slender man who is over a foot taller than Windsor, wearing a narrow overlap and narrow lapels will have the effect of lengthening and slimming an already slim figure. This is not an advantageous use of a tailor’s time.
