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The button stance thread

Reevolving

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I felt this private exchange would help others trying to understand the elusive button stance concept. Please add your thoughts on button stances. Additional examples with pictures are especially appreciated, to reinforce the concept.
Originally Posted by Matt S
The top button serves as a fulcrum that balances the upper and lower halves of the suit coat. The length is also about an inch too short, which further throws things off. Imagine how high the button would look if the coat was lengthened an inch. There's nothing wrong with the lapel width. If the jacket is shorter than normal, if the button is in the middle it will look too high. The natural place for the top button is on the waist. You can see in the suit in question that the button is much higher than the waist. The three-piece suit you picture has the button just a little below the waist. A lower button stance, however, makes for a more masculine look. It emphasizes the v-shaped torso. A too high button stance makes most men look more pear-shaped. I hope this explains it.
33armgj.jpg
0b16cc05.jpg
 

EZETHATSME

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My personal preference for button stance is usually shown in TC (Houston), gregaz and Spoo's coats. From what I can tell from photos, their builds are similar to mine, and I find the button placement they show to be ideal.

EZ
 

aj_del

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I personally like a lower buttoning point. Of all the pics posted, Spoo's looks best to me. BTW, I am thinking of getting this suit. What do you think of it in terms of buttoning point as much as can be made out from a single pic.
caruso_1303270888a.jpg
 

Superfluous

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Originally Posted by Reevolving
I felt this private exchange would help others trying to understand the elusive button stance concept.
Please add your thoughts on button stances. Additional examples with pictures are especially appreciated, to reinforce the concept.


0b16cc05.jpg


what suit is this?
 

EZETHATSME

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^ It's his new Tom Ford. Not sure of the model.

EZ
 

texas_jack

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Originally Posted by Reevolving
Are these too high?
Top button seems above the waist.

MonoCollage3.jpg
G]


This vintage Oxxford is not to high because the pants themselves are quite high as was the style then. However, he's supressed the waist too much which makes it seem high, plus it's not how the sack style is supposed to look.
 

MBreinin

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Originally Posted by texas_jack
This vintage Oxxford is not to high because the pants themselves are quite high as was the style then. However, he's supressed the waist too much which makes it seem high, plus it's not how the sack style is supposed to look.

That suit is untouched. It arrived, unworn and NOS. All I did was have the pants hemmed. That waist is how it came.

Further, that is not a sack and it is not intended to look like a traditional sack. It is darted, it has quite constructed shoulders, very open quarters and it has flapless pockets. It is antisack.

Mike
 

Matt S

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Originally Posted by aj_del
I personally like a lower buttoning point. Of all the pics posted, Spoo's looks best to me.

BTW, I am thinking of getting this suit. What do you think of it in terms of buttoning point as much as can be made out from a single pic.

caruso_1303270888a.jpg


The button stance here looks perfect to me, provided the jacket it the proper length. Is that a 3-roll-2? It doesn't matter anyway because the button should be in the same spot whether it's a 3-button, 2-button or 1-button jacket.
 

TRINI

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Originally Posted by Matt S
It doesn't matter anyway because the button should be in the same spot whether it's a 3-button, 2-button or 1-button jacket.

This is not an absolute.
 

texas_jack

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Originally Posted by MBreinin
That suit is untouched. It arrived, unworn and NOS. All I did was have the pants hemmed. That waist is how it came.

Further, that is not a sack and it is not intended to look like a traditional sack. It is darted, it has quite constructed shoulders, very open quarters and it has flapless pockets. It is antisack.

Mike


It's probably just the angle of the picture then.
 

chasingred

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I prefer a button stance of around the waist, which is just above the belly button, but I think this should vary depending on what your body frame looks like.

If the person wearing the suit is short, the V should be slightly deeper, in order to accentuate the torso a bit and make the person look a bit taller. If the person is very tall, the person already has some strong horizontal lines going, so they can afford to have a smaller V if they wanted to.

As well, as a fairly skinny person, I think a bigger V looks better on me. It accentuate my chest and "opens it up". You can see this on Spoo's suit, where the V very much opens up his chest. Additionally, having a V come down to my waist can give the illusion that the waist suppression is slightly stronger, which again makes me look like I have a slightly bigger chest, and helps cover up the fact that I'm actually a bean pole. If I were a heavier person, I'd go for a smaller V, so that the meeting point on the V doesn't bring attention to my fuller belly.

This really should be something that's decided by the person's body type, and not be something that's standard for everyone.
 

CHECKstar

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I was just pondering the question of button stance recently. I don't think I quite have the eye yet to pick up on what looks right on me. I think I really like the look of a lower button stance, f@#k I love the look of the three piece TF suit posted above.

I am around 6'1", so I tread the fine line between a regular and long jacket size, and am worried that sometimes button stance can get effected.

Here are a couple of pics of what I wore to work today:

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/669/buttonstance.jpg
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/3...tonstance2.jpg


Does the button stance look reasonable?
 

chasingred

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Originally Posted by CHECKstar
Does the button stance look reasonable?

It's slightly high, but completely reasonable. You can pull it off if you're tall, which it sounds like you area. If you were short, I would say that you'd definitely want something lower.
 

CHECKstar

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Originally Posted by chasingred
It's slightly high, but completely reasonable. You can pull it off if you're tall, which it sounds like you area. If you were short, I would say that you'd definitely want something lower.

Cheers, thanks for that. I tend to agree with your analysis. Out of interest, what would be the optimal stance? Currently on that jacket the top button sits about 1.5 inches above my navel. I am thinking ideal level would only be half an inch lower, no?
 

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