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What is a lapel roll?

linux_pro

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Sorry for the ignorance... does anyone care to explain exactly what someone means when they say "lapel roll"? I know what a lapel is, but not the roll.
 

j

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Very simply put, it's the transition between the top of the lapel which is flat against the top of your chest and the lower part which is buttoned up over your stomach. Some jackets have no roll, i.e. a flat smushed crease at the bottom of the lapel front, whereas some have a long roll, transitioning from flat to perpendicular to flat again.
 

Manton

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I disagree with J, a little.  "Roll" is usually used to refer to the length of a lapel.  Remember that a lapel is simply part of the front of a coat, turned back and as it were "doubled up" over the chest.  But the whole front is not turned back, only the top part.  That top part is the lapel.  It begins at the collar, and extends down to the middle of the coat.  It is said to be "rolled" to wherever it ends.  Thus on a standard two-button suit, the lapels are rolled to the top or waist button.  On a barbarshop quartet-style 3-button suit, they are rolled higher, above the third button.

The phenomenon J describes -- a graceful flare away from the body that curves gently back toward the chest of the coat at the lapel's edge, resulting in a kind of bulbousness and spring -- is more properly termed "belly".  Lapels with no belly at all, that are pressed completely flat against the chest, are easy to make, but unattractive, in my opinion.
 

tiger02

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So had I, more or less. Manton, isn't the belly of a lapel the outer edge of fabric? That is, the amount of curve actually cut into the lapel edge.

Tom
 

T4phage

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So had I, more or less.  Manton, isn't the belly of a lapel the outer edge of fabric?  That is, the amount of curve actually cut into the lapel edge.

Tom
Yes, I thought that was the "belly" too.
 

Manton

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isn't the belly of a lapel the outer edge of fabric?  That is, the amount of curve actually cut into the lapel edge.
I hear that a lot, but I believe that it is an error. I would love to be corrected if I'm wrong.
 

NoVaguy

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So had I, more or less.  Manton, isn't the belly of a lapel the outer edge of fabric?  That is, the amount of curve actually cut into the lapel edge.

Tom
huh, i also thought roll was as j described, and belly was the curve in the lapel edge....
 

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