The London Lounge

This is the cloth (which is a great Cheviot, by the way, and has been in storage for too long):



Now, I was thinking about an unusual (for me) configuration: one button with crescent pockets, barchetta breast pocket, double vents. Notch lapels. The shoulders would be slightly extended but with minimal padding/wadding and only very slight roping. Fairly soft structure.

I'm reasonably slim, but with narrow sloping shoulders and with an increasing hip/derriere circumference. I'm about 1.75 m, no idea how much that is in feet, but I guess significantly less than six.

What would be your thoughts? Should I play it safer and go with 3-roll-2 or 2 buttons? What about the pockets? I thought they wouldn't stand out too much because the pattern would mask them a bit -- am I misguided about that? I'm inclined to have at least one unusual thing, but I'm not sure whether it should be the pockets or the button configuration. Or both.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

How do you plan to use the jacket in your wardrobe? Do you have a number of other tweed jackets in the 3-roll-2 or -2.5 configuration already? Does a one-button closure give a line you like (quarters and lapels)?

I'm so used to thinking of tweeds in cool weather that I default to the 3-roll-2.5--that's how Edwin is making this cloth up for me as we speak--to allow for buttoning up at need. I also have trouble imagining a one-button looking good with a very soft, full, drapey silhouette. It seems a more 'architectural' cut to me and so suggests a reasonably tidy body. Maybe I'm subliminally conditioned by Huntsman on that point.

But if you're not going for too much extra volume with the extended shoulders and soft construction, and since you're not especially tall, I can imagine a one-button being done quite well and looking very smart in this cloth in the hands of the right tailor. The crescent pockets and barchetta strike me as having a relaxed feel and so should be at home both on tweed and softer make, and maybe on a coat with fewer buttons they will seem less busy. Windsor's crescent-pocketed tweed was his two-button model, I believe, rather than a three-roll-to-anything.

So I see nothing discouraging in the configuration you describe; success will all be in the cutting and execution--given your suggestion of breadth around the hip line, the subtle balancing of shoulder width, chest swell, lapel angle/length/belly, waist suppression, and openness of quarters will make or break the result. I can picture a splendid hypothetical Fellowes illustration of just such a jacket, with a wool challis scarf, and sack-wristed tobacco peccary gloves . . . .

With cloth like this I would go as simple as possible and let the cloth just be what it is. . Simple , subtle. No one thing to draw the eye. I would do patch pockets and loose them in the pattern and weave. 2 or 3 button. Subtle , simple. Easy. Let this cloth just be..

Admirable advice, Old Henry!

Radical, if your shoulders are very sloped and your derriere increasing, perhaps too little padding is not the best idea. Crescent pockets and wide hips are something I don't imagine very well together - the roundness of the pockets adds to the roundness of the area, while an interruption (patches, flaps) might be welcome on the wider expanse of cloth covering your hips. If you like the Windsor-style two button, try it. One-button cuffs would be a nice and subtle touch, too.

The unusual thing will be the fact that nothing is unusual, although everything could have been on a bespoke coat

Thanks, all, for the helpful responses.

My initial idea was ideed to try the Windsor 2-roll-1 (for lack of a better word) cut. I was very favourably impressed by Costi's coat in that cut--which had crescent pockets, if I recall. But then I thought that it may be too unusual for the tailor, and that the low buttoning point may not go well with my no longer perfectly flat stomach. I'm still not sure about this, and I may consult with the tailor to see what he thinks.

The point on the curvature of the crescent pockets is really good, and I hadn't thought about it. If I do go for it I will do only a very slight curve. Ditto about the shoulders.

I have one-button cuffs on two of my tweed coats, a 2B LL gun club with flapped pockets and a 3B Harris with four gusseted pockets. I have two more tweeds: a ligher solid 3-roll-2.5 with three patch pockets and an old 3B RTW Zegna PoW which is on the way out of my rotation.

Now I'm thinking that I could go with 1B and straight besom pockets, to do the 'country cloth in city cut' thing.

Yes, city cut, but not too formal. Instead of besom pockets, perhaps you could do jetted and flapped - you can always tuck in the flaps or let them outside if your eye calls for a visual interruption there. Do check with your tailor to see what he thinks of the Windsor 2B for you, it is a cut that doesn't put the waist much into evidence (since none of the buttons is placed at the equator) so it might be to your advantage if it is not cut too tight.

radicaldog wrote:My initial idea was indeed to try the Windsor 2-roll-1 (for lack of a better word) cut. I was very favourably impressed by Costi's coat in that cut--which had crescent pockets, if I recall. But then I thought that it may be too unusual for the tailor, and that the low buttoning point may not go well with my no longer perfectly flat stomach. I'm still not sure about this, and I may consult with the tailor to see what he thinks.

It's also good to take into consideration in this decision the relative length of the wearer's legs to the torso. The low-buttoning two-button model can not only emphasize any width across the hips/stomach; it can also make the torso seem longer and the legs shorter, as compared to a higher-buttoning one- or three-button jacket, given the same length of skirt. This can be compensated for, of course, but some possible compensations (such as shortening the skirt) may work against a slimming effect across the waist/hips.

Thanks again for all your input. The result: I went with crescent pockets and Windsor cut, but with centre vent. Apologies for the picture quality.







And a construction detail for those who are interested in this sort of thing: no front dart (to preserve the check, the tailor said), and a very curved side cut that only extends from the armhole to the pockets.

RD,

You have been taking photography lessons from me?

The coat looks great. Of course I have always liked that tweed and your tailor has done it great justice.
The crescent pockets and 2b Windsor set work very well together.

You might want to use side vents to slim down the look of the back and sides a bit. It will also elongate the line.

Cheers

Michael

Great jacket, RD! What growing derriere?! - I thought you had something to worry about; the Windsor style works great for you and I like the cut of the front quarters. Enjoy it!

Belated thanks for the feedback!

3b for me, with side vents and straight side pockets with flaps. The cloth is crisp enough to look like a true 3b when unbuttoned, but rolls to 2.5 when buttoned and 2 when seated.

The body of the cloth also works stunningly well with the soft tailoring. Squarer shoulders than A&S typically delivers, and much more suggestion--fraudulent, of course-- of waist suppression than has been possible in the past.

The body of the cloth also works stunningly well with the soft tailoring. Squarer shoulders than A&S typically delivers, and much more suggestion--fraudulent, of course-- of waist suppression than has been possible in the past.

For years I have been writing about the interest of combining heavy high twist cloth with soft tailoring for the effects you have described very well.

Do you see why a 10 ozs airy weave goes to a round mush of a shoulder when made soft, while a stout cheviot makes the shoulders seem squarer and gives the coat shape. And the real benefit will occur over time as the coat wears and forms to your body because ....its only you and the tweed baby!

Cheers

Michael