As so often I agree with David. I'd just add the observation that we often value most the art that hides art (see much backing and forthing on the topic of
sprezzatura in other threads). The tailor's skill is used to accentuate the positive and minimize the negative of a man's figuration, but if the armature is too visible we rate it less highly; it appears to try too hard to deceive and the deception shows. One part of the appeal of the "soft" cut is its understatement and assertion of "naturalness"--it's not far from the ethos, to paraphrase Ricci on Hackett, of "a man who hides his shoulders hides his self." As Scot rightly points out, the success of this style too depends on the skill of the tailor.
I mention this, since I too prefer
some substance in a jacket, in order to transfer the principle to the question of sleevehead prominence, wadding, and "roping" as it relates to cloth choice. In my experience, it takes an
extremely skillful tailor to cut a highly structured jacket, and especially a strongly roped sleevehead, that retains its composure out of a very light weight cloth, if a smooth, unpuckered sleevehead curve is desired. It's simply very difficult to keep the wadding, haircloth, or whatever structural components are used to support the arch of the sleevehead, from revealing their own shape through the lightweight cloth, especially after several wearings. I always think of the cloth-covered wings of early aircraft stretched over their wooden frames. It's not the wearer's shape but the engineered struts that we're seeing. Ricci's own prominent sleeveheads show the implications (and a less dramatic version is visible in Servillo's linen jackets in
La Grande Belleza) if one wants the various advantages of a full sleevehead but eschews the structural support: a sleevehead that puckers and wrinkles with movement and advertises its minimal underpinnings. It can be pinched and squashed and pushed back up when the jacket comes on and off. Whether one sees this as a fault is a question partly of taste. Clearly Ricci doesn't. It seems to me to comport perfectly with the nature of linen. With a 7-oz tropical wool, perhaps not so much. A springy mohair blend might pull it off.
All this to say that a heavy military tunic serge or a tight thornproof tweed would seem the better cloths to use if you like the crisp version of this sleevehead line. That's the context in which they were developed. See the young fellow second from right among the
Seafield estate staff, who has definite roping--but, as David points out, with some time it wears in perfectly nicely. I think the "never shoot in new tweeds" mandate will eventually take any hint of pretentiousness out of any sleevehead style as long as it's well cut so that the sleeve hangs properly. The same might not go for pagoda shoulder padding, but I'm prepared to be surprised.
. I think the shape has been achieved, although, interestingly, there is very little padding in either the chest or the shoulders (don't be fooled by my posture!). There is, however, quite a strong rope to the sleevehead and I am not sure if this works with this cloth. I am thinking of having it flattened, but then the roping is distinctive and removing it would make the shoulders look just like they do on millions of mass produced RTW. I'm torn - any views?
