Soft versus Structured

[Scot]

The merits of the soft-tailored coat as opposed to the structured is a discussion that runs though many threads in this forum. My purpose in raising it again is to ask whether the choice is a simple one between two alternatives. Is there a spectrum between the two? Can one combine features of soft tailoring with features of structured tailoring in one coat - for instance, a natural shoulder on an otherwise structured garment? One imagines that this must be possible but that it takes a knowledgable bespeaker if it is to come off.

[manton]

Certainly there is a spectrum. A lot of factors go into making a coat soft of structured: the nature of the canvas, the number of layers, its internal distribution (what areas it covers/where it is present and where it is not), how it is sewn, etc.

Some tailors stock a variety of materials for canvas and vary what they use based on the cloth of the garment and the client's preference. The first time I went to a particular tailor in New York, I ordered a cotton suit, and he showed me three rolls of canvas and recommended the softest of the three. I told him to use what he thought was best. From that point on I have asked for that every time.

Other tailors may simply have what they have. A&S and its offshoots do the canvas in a certain way and are loathe to change it because that is their signature. I think a tailor with different rolls of canvas laying around for the client's choice is probably not that common. I am told that Poole does this, but I have never used them myself.

Anyway, the point is, there is no bright line. I like soft and get everything soft, or try to. One experiment that I was never altogether happy with is a coat that has an unpadded shoulder (done very well, I might add) but a canvas that I consider too stiff. So that is certainly possible.