Buttoning

Hello. I'm new to this forum, and while I've been lurking for a while, I decided to finally sign up and get an account. So, I had a question on buttoning sport coats - I know that when it comes to suits, it is recommended that you leave your bottom one undone, and the rest buttoned up (if you will). Now, while I've seen people club sport coats into this, does this apply to sport coats as well? In fact, I've this exact houndstooth patterned sport coat, and was surprised to see that the model shown has all the buttons buttoned up. To give you a little more perspective, I work in a place where depending on where I am at, I am either expected to be quite formal, or relatively casual (i.e. business casuals). The sport coat is for those occasions when I'm not in a suit and when I'm suddenly expected to have a tie and a jacket. Any ideas? Thoughts? Thanks! Update: My apologies on the incomplete title - I meant to say, "Buttoning Sportcoats", but I guess I never got around to completing it.

For a single breasted coat, the waist button -- which is the only button on a one button coat, the top button on a two button, and the middle button on a three button -- should be buttoned when standing. Some say it doesn't matter, and you can leave the coat unbuttoned. Not some thing I generally do or like, but hey. Others will say that it should be buttoned even when sitting, but most people unbutton a single-breasted coat when sitting.

Some three button coats are so made that you can button both the middle and the top buttons; some are made so that the top button is for show and can't be buttoned. Personally, I don't much like true 3-buttons (the ones that close to the top) and think that, if you're going to wear one, you definitely should not button the top button.

It looks seriously awful ever to button the bottom button of any single breasted coat, ever.

All of this applies equally to suit coats as well as odd jackets (sport coats).

DBs are a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

I guess it's distracting to button the bottom button because so many people think you're not supposed to.

But on a jacket like the one in your picture it looks like the bottom button is high enough that you could button it if you wanted to.

Turkey-

This article (http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/...l-jackets.html) talks about a paddock jacket, which can have both buttons closed. I don't think that the Macy's jacket is styled this way.

Those do not look like the DoW's jackets. The ones that he wore with both buttons closed had no waist button. The top button was higher than the waist, and the bottom button lower. I don't think they looked particularly good, but they were at least unusual.

The photos of Kennedy appear to show him wearing a regular two button, with the top button at the waist, and the bottom closed. (Though in the middle pic the bottom is open.)

Anyway, the whole discussion is neither here nor there because the only way to get a coat like the duke's is to bespeak it. Anything the OP is likely to come across in real life if going to have a waist button.

Thanks a ton for all your responses. So, while I guess I could wear both buttons, why tempt fate, right?