Why have coat sleeves gotten so long?

[nioh]

Vastly prefer the old way and it's more refined aesthetic. Even though Grant's sleeves might be a little rumbled, hence a bit shorter than intended, I think he shows a healthy amount of cuff, same way I do it.

 

[itsstillmatt]

An interesting pic showing just how short Windsor's sleeves were. Note the distance between wrist break and coat. Likely, some of it has to do with stance.

 

[GuidoWongolini]

I prefer the old way. Even with modern cuts such as my current GA suits.

Even today I struggle with tailors when getting my sleeves altered - they insist on longer even with my insistence that I like the coat sleeve to be at the point of wrist bone (this is important as the left is never the same as the right).

I consulted my retired tailor & he suggested the following when even I get sleeves on coats altered.

Normal stance, arms down, raise hands till horizontal to floor (need to be flexible here, so this may not apply to all), the jacket sleeve should rest on the back of your had with no break. This will give you the exact point where the wrist meets the fore-arm. From here you either lengthen by what ever your preference. In my case, that is where all my coat sleeves sit.

Then it's up to the shirt to stuff it all up!

 

[Dragon]

Originally Posted by aportnoy

Am I guilty or innocent?



You are guilty of wearing a nice suit

(nice sleeve length on both the shirt and jacket too)

 

[UTVol085]

^ Nice suit, fits very well


To most men (middle-class holding the view that clothing is simply in there with water and shelter) a jacket is a jacket. If it's a few inches too long in the sleeves or saggy in the back does not matter because we've become ingrained with the belief that clothes are bought from a store and you just wear them as is. Most people understand and openly, even happily, accept that clothes are simply mass produced commodity items.

Mainly, badly fitting clothes probably stem from A) do no know any better to know what mistakes are being made B) not caring even if they do know C) economics/time saving are more important than looks. Personally, it annoys the hell out of me seeing not only a cheap but badly fitting suit. It also annoys the hell out of me trying to get clothes that fit perfectly because if they don't then I think about some tiny thing while wearing them.

 

[studite]

i like that fit as well

 

[Augustus Davies]

Originally Posted by aportnoy

Am I guilty or innocent?



sharp outfit...

 

[Augustus Davies]

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

Not that it means anything, but a Cornell photograph from 1939:

Same fraternity, 1917:

- B

look at the ears on these clowns....

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

I think the suit manufacturers probably sell more suits with the sleeves too long, then those too short.

I've noticed all of my well proportioned RTW suits are a bit long in the sleeves, i think i'm actually leaning on showing more cuff.

I like Denzels look in American gangster.

the sleeves are both long, but he's showing alot of cuff, i'd like to wear the same look with slightly shorter on both.

 

[AndrewRogers]

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

I like Denzel's look in American gangster.

That's a perfect example of what, I'd say, Matt was getting at. The shirt is too long and seems to have half devoured Denzel's hand. I'd go so far as to say that without the shirt, the coat's sleeve would probably be right about where the shirt sleeve ought to sit. But, of course, in an attempt to try to show some cuff, a long sleeve has to be used, or is used poorly, to show cuff, without regard to fit.

The old way was best. Cuff was shown and things fitted. That's style and fit. Nowadays most people have the 'style' but without the fit, and I do wonder sometimes whether that's putting the cart before the horse.

 

[Joseph K. Bank]

A lot of things have changed and refined over the years. Many of the Founding Fathers wore wigs which I don't feel would be acceptable today. I know I have made comments about your jacket sleeves Matt but I didn't mean in any way to imply that you dressed in a dated style or attack you personally.

 

[Cantabrigian]

I'll venture a guess - certainly as it relates to all types of RTW / MTM and maybe to some extent bespoke.

I've found that there are very few jackets, even high end ones that fit well in the shoulders. Granted I have crooked shoulders but not excessively so (or at least I don't think).

But in my experience, if a jacket doesn't fit well in the shoulders, the sleeve tends to ride up pretty far when you move your arm around. It seems like the general way to mitigate that is to make the jacket sleeve as long as possible.

When I watch old movies, the most striking thing about the suits is how well the follow the wearer's shoulders. I'm also thinking of a photo that Alden posted on the LL showing Fred Astaire and someone else (can't remember who) and how their jackets reacted when they shrugged their shoulders. Astaire's coat didn't move much at all relative to his shoulder line.

 

[sonlegoman]

It also appears the sleeves have gotten wider as well. I don't like wide sleeves.

 

[treegarden]

On a slightly different note: I've just had some shirts (mytailor.com), and a couple of MTM suits (Brooks Bros.) made. I'm beginning to despair of ever getting the exact fit of shirt and jacket sleeve length that I want (i.e., one shirt sleeve seems slightly longer than the other, although not with every suit). Am I just being too fussy here or is there a way to help insure that the separate measurements taken by the two tailors result in the amount of visible cuff that I want?

 

[Dewey]

You will pass through the slough of despair and emerge in the happiness of variety.

I think it must be very common for men of middling means to suffer such frustrations with sleeve lengths. There is little hope of having shirts and blazers from various makers, altered by various tailors, all hanging in just the same place for all their life in your service. I have found that it is important to get the sleeves to hang evenly from the start. If they turn out to be longer than perfect, wear a longer-sleeve dress shirt; if they turn out to be shorter than perfect, wear a shorter-sleeve dress shirt.

Once you have an arsenal of dress shirts in various sleeve lengths, and cotton shrinkage alone will do this to you, then you can go forth with a variety of jacket sleeves.

Today I think I will wear short sleeves not with frustration but rather in honor of iammatt.