True 3 button jacket - What button to button ?

[ktrp]

Originally Posted by amplifiedheat

I've also heard "I'm short, and 3-buttons are for tall guys," and "I'm tall, and 3-buttons are for short guys." It's all bullshit. Everyone can wear a well-cut 3-button.

I have heard the same thing - and the reverse. I used to always feel I looked better in a 3 because I'm tall, but I've read short guys here saying that they looked good in a 3 because they were short.

It may all be BS.

It may be that 3-button flatters/detracts based on some other variable, like leg vs. torso, shoulder vs. height, drop, etc.

 

[Doc4]

Originally Posted by harvey_birdman

Pics in OP are all doing it wrong.

I think the photo of apropos is showing correct use of the second button, since that jacket actually rolls to below the top button.

The general rule I use is: use the middle button only, unless the top button is required (by the construction of the jacket ... as in the case of all the other photos in OP, where the top button ought to be buttoned.)

 

[Parker]

For a little while in the 90s, I would button only the top button of a true 3. It was kinda chic at the time.

Btw, that was 1990s, not 1890s:

 

[Gus]

^^

 

[Sanguis Mortuum]

Originally Posted by aj_del

Basically my understanding is that irrespective of the number of buttons, style etc, only the button closest to the natural waist of the wearer is supposed to be buttoned.
This is correct, as long as it isn't roll-2 or roll-2.5 there is nothing wrong with buttoning the top, but neither is it compulsory; whether you button it or not is entirely up to you.

 

[dragon8]

Originally Posted by BlackBrumel

From top to bottom: the 1st, sometimes; the 2nd, always; the 3rd, never!

This is what I do.

 

[GBR]

Centre only

 

[SpallaCamiccia]

I hate 3 full button suits, look to Englishmen from XIX century but I love 3,roll 2,5 ones.
The ones that got the buttonhole on the lapel .