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Sleeve length for overcoat

agent.5

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Should the sleeve length of an overcoat the same as a suit jacket or should it be longer. If longer, how much longer?
 

j

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Typically it should be past the shirt cuff by a bit up to an inch or so (depending on where you have your cuffs), so that it will overlap gloves if you wear them and won't allow them to pull out and then bunch up. This ensures no gaps for wind to get in up your sleeves and chill you.
 

NavyStyles

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No more than an inch longer than the sleeve of a suit jacket.
 

Kai

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Overcoat sleeves are longer than suit jacket sleeves. An overcoat's sleeves should be just long enough so that your suit jacket sleeves remain covered when you are moving your arms around.
 

Wes Bourne

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Necrobump so y'all know I did a search before asking... Is there a more 'accurate' guideline for coat sleeve length, i.e. to base of thumb (1st joint)?
 

a tailor

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although an overcoat has style, its a garment meant for protection.
so it must be much longer than the suit sleeve. at least 2" longer.
if you show 1/2" shirt sleeve,then that would make the o'coat 1 1/2" longer than the shirt sleeve.
but some folk wish something longer to over lap the gloves.
a good idea would be to wear your gloves at the fitting in order to make the right decision.
 

Wes Bourne

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Originally Posted by a tailor
although an overcoat has style, its a garment meant for protection.
so it must be much longer than the suit sleeve. at least 2" longer.
if you show 1/2" shirt sleeve,then that would make the o'coat 1 1/2" longer than the shirt sleeve.

but some folk wish something longer to over lap the gloves.
a good idea would be to wear your gloves at the fitting in order to make the right decision.


Thanks for the advice, I'll start with this and see how it looks. Btw, I wouldn't have thought of wearing gloves at the fitting, but it does make a lot of sense.
 

teddieriley

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Originally Posted by a tailor
although an overcoat has style, its a garment meant for protection.
so it must be much longer than the suit sleeve. at least 2" longer.
if you show 1/2" shirt sleeve,then that would make the o'coat 1 1/2" longer than the shirt sleeve.
but some folk wish something longer to over lap the gloves.
a good idea would be to wear your gloves at the fitting in order to make the right decision.


+1. I originally had a coat tailored to a good inch past my suit sleeve. It still felt too short, so I had it lengthened to around my first thumb joint. Works well with gloves.
 

Nicola

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Originally Posted by Wes Bourne
Thanks for the advice, I'll start with this and see how it looks. Btw, I wouldn't have thought of wearing gloves at the fitting, but it does make a lot of sense.

You should always try things on the way you intend to wear them.

For example if it's a fall/winter jacket that I'll know will be worn with a sweater underneath I try it on that way. An overcoat that gets worn over a jacket gets tried on that way.
 

Lear

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I'm throwing in a quote from Udeshi on AAAC. Not my words:

We had this one about the same time last year. Your shirt sleeves should be longer then your jacket sleeves. When you look at your wrist watch, you shouldn't need to pull anything back. If your jacket sleeves were longer than your shirt sleeves, you would wear away the edge of the jacket sleeve away faster, plus it is cheaper to replace a shirt, even an excellent Kabbaz shirt, then it is to replace an excellent suit. Furthermore, it looks out of place on my side of the pond not to show any shirt cuff on a jacket - imagine not being able to see any of the shirt collar when wearing a jacket.

The overcoat should finish at the same level of the shirt, not beyond it. Same wear argument, and the coat is supposed to keep away the worst of the possible things that could soil the clothes worn under your coat. I was taught that you shouldn't show any shirt cuff when wearing a coat - so make sure you have the right shirt sleeve length.

Plus your coat is not there to keep your hands warm, that's what gloves are for! Now American gloves are notoriously short - don't know the history of that one, and if I was faced with too short gloves, then I would want longer coat sleeves. So when you don't wear gloves, your coat wears prematurely, and it looks like you have borrowed your older, taller brother's coat. Thus the argument for the coat sleeve to finish the same as the shirt sleeve. One used to be able to tell an American, even a weel dressed one, by having too long suit sleeves. The Brits tended to have too short sleeves, showing a lot of cuff - had a few older clients come in with their Huntsman and Poole suits, and was informed that was their style back in the 70s.

Who is right? Whichever story you like the sound of. In the mean time, I will put on my longer peccary gloves that cover my wrist and keep it nice and warm - but drat, I have to take off the gloves to look at my wrist watch. So there is no definitive answer, if there was, there would be no AAAC, just a book of rules.

Edit: To add Skyfall pics:

Then we have these. Have included more than a single pic, to show it ain't just a case of being caught at the wrong angle:







Lear
 
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Mark La Rosa

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I personally like to show a little of the shirt cuff even when I'm wearing an overcoat.
Do you think that's completely wrong? It does look nice.
 

snappinnecks

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My overcoat reaches to the base of my thumb. Works well when paired with gloves.
 

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