How Long Are Suit Jackets Supposed To Be

Suit jackets are the foundation of the male work wardrobe. An impeccably tailored jacket might express confidence, expertise, and diligence – but one of the most common wardrobe bloopers is looking at your pants, not your jacket.

This primer will go back to the drawing board on this essential of style, your forward fold in the battle between form and function.

The Importance of Proper Fit in Men’s Fashion

You can take an ordinary-looking man, dress him in a beautifully put-together suit that fits him well, and he’ll look fantastic. Conversely, you can take a great-looking man, put him in a badly fitting suit, and he’ll look like a schlub. Here’s a definition of ‘well-fitting’ to show how the details can radically affect both what the suit does to the physical form beneath and how it makes the wearer look. ‘Well-fitting’ consists of shoulders that lie flat sleeves that fall naturally to the wrists armholes that don’t cut into the armpits nor sag away from the base of the neck a button stance signifying the proper height of the shoulders.

A Visual Harmony

When every piece is tailored to enhance your figure, you create a visual balance. The correct jacket length complements your leg length, and no piece short-circuits the equation, dominating everything else. The result is good grooming and professionalism.

The Dangers of Disregard

On the other hand, an ill-fitting jacket can create chaos, and break up the continuity of the body’s symmetry. Sleeves too long, sleeves too short, the coat ending at the knees, the coat rising above the hips: all are visual distractions, and detract from how you look.

Determining the Ideal Length

When deciding if a suit jacket is too short, it’s not about rules, it’s about the spirit of your outfit. Here’s how to tell when your jacket is the right length for you.

The Golden Rules

Conventionally, your suit jacket’s bottom should reach the middle of the hand at rest with straight-down arms. As this length exposes your shirt cuff between 1/4 and 1/2 inch, per convention, that’s how much the shirt cuff should be visible.

Personal Variables

Good tailoring is always a matter of taste, so your optimum jacket length might depend on your physique or even on the current trends – or cultural norms – that will influence which styles are suitable for you. A tall man, for example, might feel that long jackets are more flattering than short; while a similarly built shorter man might find the cut needs to be a fraction slighter shorter.

The Customary Inspection

Stand up nice and straight for a moment, and fold your arms to your side. The bottom of your jacket should cover your seat. But, of course, these are starting points, not commandments.

Impact on Appearance

A jacket’s button position – the true measurement of jacket length – makes a tremendous difference to how things look. It certainly has the power to influence how you project height, weight, and silhouette.

Height and Length Perception

Having a jacket that ends too short will cause your legs to seem shorter.

Weight and Width Perception

The length of a jacket also has an impact on the visual perception of your width – a longer jacket will widen the torso while a shorter length will add definition and streamline the upper body. Any of these optical illusions should be kept in mind, especially if you struggle with body image.

The Stylist’s Secret

High fashion stylists will shorten or lengthen the jacket of a shooting model precisely to create a specific atmosphere or message – the stylists intuitively recognize that there is usually something very specific in the lines of the garment, and they are careful to cut them in precisely the right way for the narrative of the entire look.

Tailoring Tips

The downside is that, if she makes the jacket in exactly the length that you think is just so, but it turns out that you aren’t this shape, then the jacket you bought for much more than you would have normally spent might not be what you want after all. This is where a good tailor can work magic, usually, I hope, within a reasonable range of malleability.

What Can Be Done

You can shorten the jacket – but by much, you simply cannot. It might not be catastrophic to shorten it by three or four inches – but that’s as far as you can go, even working with the original seams. If you want to go much shorter or farther you run the risk of making the jacket visible.

Professional Counsel

If you’ve bought yourself a quality suit (or find yourself visiting a boutique that includes bespoke or made-to-measure options), these guys often do the best job of spruiking since ideally, they will want to keep the integrity of the jacket while giving it the best fit around your shoulders. Listen to them.

DIY Alternatives

Minor adjustments? No problem, with the innumerable DIY guides on the net. But whose cup of tea would a DIY reduction or a pea coat? And again just call a professional. Breaking a coat’s back is the stuff of a Garden State meltdown.

Conclusion

I don’t want to discourage you: this is one of the early, easy steps in your journey towards fit and fashion with a suit jacket, but it is a step that you mustn’t skip. Get used to it. You might be surprised: understanding more about it will make you feel, look and be better.

The next time you put on your favorite suit – or walk into a fitting room – consider what we have discussed here. If you want to adhere to tradition, or if you want to pave your way, if you want to look good or feel good, getting the length of your suit jacket right could well make all the difference.

Remember, your suit is the canvas you’ve chosen to frame this perfect masterpiece you’ve been given, the artist with a distinct style and identity. So make the frame fit – then, when you stroll out the door, you can start your day with your bigger best foot forward.