In general, how are the armholes on (trad) suits and coats from American makers like Southwick, J.Pr

[dreamspace]

I've been checking out more trad suits lately. Like the styling on some, and that a lot of them allegedly have soft shouldering...but something I can't find much info about is the armholes. I personally can't stand low armholes, which I've experienced with lots of Brooks stuff. A total deal-breaker...how are the above brands in that regard?

 

[comrade]

Real trad suits jackets do not fit close to the body and have realatively low arm holes.
Brooks Brothers for the last 20 years or so have departed from their true natural shoulder
roots on most models. I know nothing about Southwick these days because again, they offer
several models some of which are less trad and more fitted. I do know that Samuelsohn
has the Greenwich model, and the recently discontinued Talbot model, both of which have
higher armholes and natural shoulders . Several of the Italian makers offer natural shoulders
and higher armholes. Isaia, Caruso, Sartoria Partenopea, Kiton, and Belvest come to mind.
Virtually all have higher armholes, but the shoulders vary greatly by model.

 

[Thomas0302]

Here is a Southwick suit jacket size 37R. If you cannot tell in the photo, the armholes are high on this jacket. Much more so than most other 37R jackets I have. The top (soft) shoulder seam to the bottom of the armhole is around 8.25-8.5 inches.

Hope this helps

 

[dreamspace]

Thank you. I still own a Navy BB Golden Fleece Madison suit, but it's more or less unwearable to me because of the very low armholes...it's fine if you're standing still, with arms down. I guess Southwick offer lots of different models, do they have any slimmer line? Or is it mostly trad sack/undarted suits?

 

[reidrothchild]

Southwick does offer a trimmer line (name escapes me right now), which is nice and all...but if you want trim fit, high armholes, and soft shoulder, you should really be looking at Italian makers like those mentioned above. The American makers have been trying to emulate the Italian style over the past 5-10 years with varying degrees of success. I have a suit from Hickey Freeman's Sterling Line that is pretty nice as a poor man's Canali. Thom Browne/BBBF is the only designer I'm familiar with who does soft shoulder/trim fit/high armhole in a distincly American way.

 

[coolarrow]

This is the latest Southwick thread I could find on CM so I'm posing this question:

Recently tried on a Tod schneider (sp?) suit at Bergdorf. It had nice natural shoulders. The cut was a little Thom brownish too, but not too extreme. The price point was a little higher than I wanted to pay, though (Bergdorf!). Has anyone seen Southwck suits anywhere that were discounted or perhaps go on sale frequently.