Flared skirt

[old henry]

Couch, I have posted the old flare manipulation on my blog as I do not know how to post photos here. ( http://www.frankshattuck.com ) The suit above looks very good but a quarter inch here and a quarter inch there add up especially when the tailor is cutting a spiffy fitted suit. I stand by my assessment.
I recently had a customer in Maine send his coat back to me TWICE because I saw small unsightly things. He was very happy but I was not. I never cut a first suit without, usually, two muslin pattern tests. Get the paper as close to perfect as possible as soon as possible. This jumps me right to a second or third order fit on a first suit. If I can get the customer to spend hours in my shop it really pays off.
There is a donkey Flannel suit of mine floating around the LL somewhere. My customer loved it and posted photos right away. The coat looke great but the trousers do not. They are drooping at the seat and the cloth is hitting his calves. Flat seat not addressed. An obvious observation for a tailor to make but I missed it. I now do a Muslin pant fitting too.

[bond_and_beyond]

The reason I raised this subject was that all my jackets from one tailor flare from the waist button downwards, and there is always a slight horizontal distance between the thigh and the bottom of the jacket.

I don't think in my case this is a flaw relating to the shoulders as (i) the flare does not in any way seem affected by any movement in the shoulders and (ii) my tailor insists this is his cutting style. He cuts at an outward, almost straight, angle from the waist.

My understanding had been that this was typical for the English constructed (as opposed to soft) tailoring.

EDIT TO INCLUDE PHOTOS REFERRED TO BY OLD HENRY IN POST BELOW:





BB

[old henry]

Your suit has a well executed flared skirt. The whole effect of your tailors cutting is a relaxed effortless well balanced suit. The shoulders are perfect. Too bad you cannot post.
Ps.. vents are a good barometer of balance. If they are not laying plumb the balance is off.if the shoulder points need a bit more height it will swing the skirt away from the body opening the vents.

[hectorm]

Very interesting points of view posted on this thread.
To my naked eye, Mr. Grunwald´s flared skirt look on the picture above is not aesthetically at his best, not because the bottom of his jacket doesn´t hug the trousers, but because the jacket is too short for a flared one. Notice how the distance from the mid button to the hem is substantially shorter than from that button up to the top of the collar. A bit longer quarters would render all this into balance even if there were still (more) distance between the hem and the trousers.
Also, I have always thought that there is a tendency in British tailoring to cut its generally flat front trousers on the slim side when compared to the classic fullness of draping of its jackets.

[bond_and_beyond]

Added photos in post above.

BB

[hectorm]

Thank you for posting the pictures BB
To my eye, your tailor cuts a very elegant English jacket. And the horizontal separation that you mention is negligible.
On the other hand, regarding the question of general balance, as with many English suits, your trousers seem like they taper a bit too much creating a top heavy silhouette. Maybe it's the way you like it precisely, but the proportions of your garments posted in the Warm weather wedding suit thread look much more harmonious.

[bond_and_beyond]

Thank you for posting the pictures BB
To my eye, your tailor cuts a very elegant English jacket. And the horizontal separation that you mention is negligible.
On the other hand, regarding the question of general balance, as with many English suits, your trousers seem like they taper a bit too much creating a top heavy silhouette. Maybe it's the way you like it precisely, but the proportions of your garments posted in the Warm weather wedding suit thread look much more harmonious.

Thanks Hectorm. I guess it has been an evolution in my prefences. The bottom photo in my post above was the second suit made to me by this tailor almost 6 years ago in a style very close to his "house style". The photo above (red tie) was the sixth suit he made me, three years ago. The coat had in that time "evolved" (on my suggestion) to softer / less padded shoulder, softer canvas, less flare and a shorter length.

The Piuma suit from the wedding suit thread is my ninth suit from this tailor, and we have now worked to softened it even more, especially the shoulders, and shortening the length some more.

The trousers however have remained more or less unchanged over the 9 suits, only change is that for my last 2 I have opted for Daks tops and added 1/2 inch to the knee measurement. They are double forward pleated and full in the hips with a fairly sharp taper towards the bottom of the leg. Just the way I love them.

BB

[hectorm]

I guess it has been an evolution in my prefences.

I believe that the evolution in preferences that you mention has been in the right direction and your suits are looking better and better. It seems that you have everything under control, and that you are enjoying the journey too.
Cheers

[old henry]

That's a well cut suit