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Ventless jackets - dated?

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DaveS

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hi All,

Just wondering if ventless jackets and blazers are dated? Are they still appropriate today?

I did see the earlier threads, but wondered what today's view is.

Though I didn't pay attention to clothes in the 1980's (and hence, was not a victim of '80's "fashion"), isn't that when the ventless jacket became more popular?

I look forward all your replies - thank you!
 
#2 ·
Ventless jackets are classic, as are single and double vented jackets. It is really just a personal preference. Simplistically, ventless are often thought of as continental/European style, single vent as American, and double vent as British. I prefer single vent, but like double vent too; ventless not so much -- but all that is just 100% personal preference. Many well-dressed men own all three and most American men, frankly, don't even think about it.
 
#3 ·
It seems to me that double vents are easier to sit down in, reach into your pockets in, etc. Others do not agree. Like Mike said, it's just a matter of taste.
 
#4 ·
DaveS said:
Hi All,

Just wondering if ventless jackets and blazers are dated? Are they still appropriate today?

I did see the earlier threads, but wondered what today's view is.

Though I didn't pay attention to clothes in the 1980's (and hence, was not a victim of '80's "fashion"), isn't that when the ventless jacket became more popular?

I look forward all your replies - thank you!
Click to expand...
Vent-less is best for formal odd jackets (dinner jackets for night time semi formal and stroller jackets for morning and afternoon semi formal) and tuxedo jackets. Center vented (also known as single vented) is best for For all other jackets (especially suit jackets), double vented (also known as side vented) is best.

Yes, vent-less jackets that are none of the following types of coats and jackets: formal odd jackets and tuxedo jackets, frock coats, hunting jackets, morning coats, overcoats, pea coats, tail coats and top coats were very fashionable (especially for suit jackets) in the 1980s. I watch movies, TV shows and other programs from the 1980s and look at pictures from that decade and some of the men's dress wear and formal wear (mainly in the middle part of the decade) is decent to very nice and some of the men's dress wear and formal wear is atrocious (mainly from the early and middle parts of the decade with the early part of the 1980s in some cases too 1970s looking and the late part of the 1980s in many cases simply too trendy looking).
 
#7 ·
I think of ventless as more of a 90s concept, paired with three-button suits that were an inch to two inches too long in the body (by today's standards) and a little broad in the shoulders.

The overall look was something that elongated and slimmed the torso but also had comparably very baggy pants.
 
#8 ·
Mike Petrik said:
Ventless jackets are classic, as are single and double vented jackets. It is really just a personal preference. Simplistically, ventless are often thought of as continental/European style, single vent as American, and double vent as British. I prefer single vent, but like double vent too; ventless not so much -- but all that is just 100% personal preference. Many well-dressed men own all three and most American men, frankly, don't even think about it.
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+1.

And they're well suited to evening wear.
 
#10 ·
I used to side solidly on Alan Flusser's opinion (as stated in his 1987 book, Clothes & the Man) that the center vent was an atrocity. It is still the least favorite vent option for me, but when I find a suit I like with a center vent (be it vintage-y, like the Polo/Ralph Lauren beautiful mid grey flannel, 2 button, center vented, Italian made one I found today, or a new one, like the very nice Valentino I bought at Barneys in NYC in 2007) I typically have my tailor shorten the vent. For instance, the vent on the P/RL I found today has got to be almost 13". No way am I wearing a suit with a 13" center vent. Equally, the Valentino was too long as well. I had my tailor shorten that too. Side vents can be too long too: I recently acquired a nice Austin Reed sport coat from their web-site and I had my tailor shorten the side vents about one inch. The recent Harris tweed number I found had a huge center vent too. I closed that one up completely. I like the look. My 2 MTM Cifonelli's from Saks in 2002/2003 are ventless too, but I might put side vents in those, or at least the summer weight one.
 
#11 ·
Consider that the traditional dinner jacket has no vent. This is the "clean" look - the most polished and formal look. Also perhaps the least functional if you intend to put you hands in your rear pockets for anything. The single vent is the least polished - it kind of looks disheveled and informal from behind. The double vent is the best because it is a compromise between the two - it almost looks as good as a ventless jacket and it is the most functional for placing your hands in your pockets should that be necessary. Having said that I still like the look of ventless jackets although I own few - almost all of my jackets are double.
 
#12 ·
Audi S5 TC said:
Vent-less is best for formal odd jackets (dinner jackets for night time semi formal and stroller jackets for morning and afternoon semi formal) and tuxedo jackets. Center vented (also known as single vented) is best for For all other jackets (especially suit jackets), double vented (also known as side vented) is best.
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Venting is a matter of individual taste and what looks best given the suit style and physique of the wearer. Any of these other "rules" are invalid.
 
#13 ·
Oldsarge said:
It seems to me that double vents are easier to sit down in, reach into your pockets in, etc. Others do not agree. Like Mike said, it's just a matter of taste.
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Indeed, to my mind, double vents have got to be the most functional and anatomically forgiving of the design options (no vent, single and double vents) for that feature of our jackets. Pair double vents with bi-swing shoulders, a half belted back, a 3R2 un-darted front piece design and you have the perfectly designed jacket! ;)
 
#14 · (Edited)
peterc said:
Side vents can be too long too: I recently acquired a nice Austin Reed sport coat from their web-site and I had my tailor shorten the side vents about one inch.
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True, though I'd prefer to err on the side of caution and have a RTW jacket come with side vents which are too long, rather than too short (since they cannot be lengthened). I have some RLBL suits where the side vents just feel too short given that I have, shall we say, a bit of an athletically-enhanced (read: I do lots of squats) rear and having the vents a bit too short causes some bunching in the body of the jacket.

As to center vents, I consider this acceptable only on very casual sport coats intended to be worn with jeans (where I really don't care what kind of vents the jacket has).

JBierly said:
Consider that the traditional dinner jacket has no vent. This is the "clean" look - the most polished and formal look. Also perhaps the least functional if you intend to put you hands in your rear pockets for anything.
Click to expand...
I thought that the reason a dinner jacket could get away with being unvented is that it is supposed to remain open (hence the importance of a waist covering). Also, my understanding is that some traditional dinner trousers don't have hip pockets anyhow. However I may be mistaken on both fronts...

Perhaps the reason they worked so well in the 80s, and even early 90s, is how large people wore suits then: doesn't really how they're vented when they're only a few poles short of being tented...
 
#16 ·
No reason to spare you my useless opinion. Other than formal wear, as noted above, ventless suit jackets and odd jackets are old fashioned. I like them but they reflect the mens styles of the 1940's and prior. Not a bad thing.
 
#17 ·
As an aside, I agree with what seems to be the majority opinion that side vents are much better than center vents. However, I own mostly all center vented jackets because in the US it seems that 90%+ of what is available in RTW is center vented. It's unfortunate that a center vent became such the standard.
 
#18 ·
alkydrinker said:
As an aside, I agree with what seems to be the majority opinion that side vents are much better than center vents. However, I own mostly all center vented jackets because in the US it seems that 90%+ of what is available in RTW is center vented. It's unfortunate that a center vent became such the standard.
Click to expand...
I'm not against single vents but it is also my understanding that double vents are most commonly found in 'European' suitings, eg, English and Italian styles in particular, along with sharply defined shoulders.
 
#19 ·
It's been said that ventless jackets were standard in the '30s through the '50s, but I'm not certain there's much truth to that. From what I understand, many costumers back then believed vents didn't look as "clean" on film, thus they mostly clothed their actors in suits and sport coats without them. I must also point out that I see many a vented jacket in actual menswear magazines and advertisements from the "Golden Age" as well, including Esquire and Apparel Arts. Maybe I'm completely wrong, though. Clearly it was a bit of a thing for a while (at least one or two of Connery's suits were ventless in his James Bond outings during the '60s), but I doubt it was what everyone wore, especially when you consider that men were wearing suits and sport coats with ties in many places that today's man would wear a t-shirt and jeans. Suits had to be functional and hold up to more wear.

In the '80s, the Golden Age look had a bit of a renaissance with the full fits, pleated trousers, and wide shoulders. I think that's where the non-vented stuff came from; designers trying to copy the looks they saw in old movies. Strangely though, I saw ventless jackets as "recently" as 2005 when I got my first suit at J.C. Penney. Not sure why, as even most cheap suits in the mid-2000s had centre vents. I remember some fashionable guys trying desperately to find cheap double vented suits around that time as well.
 
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#20 ·
Jovan said:
It's been said that ventless jackets were standard in the '30s through the '50s, but I'm not certain there's much truth to that. From what I understand, many costumers back then believed vents didn't look as "clean" on film, thus they mostly clothed their actors in suits and sport coats without them. I must also point out that I see many a vented jacket in actual menswear magazines and advertisements from the "Golden Age" as well, including Esquire and Apparel Arts. Maybe I'm completely wrong, though.
Click to expand...
I have another theory on the matter, though it is completely unsubstantiated and of my own invention. As you state, there were many, many occasions in the 30s and 40s where men would wear a suit or sports coat that they would not today, thus it was more necessary to differentiate between different kinds of jackets. Horseback riding was also probably a more popular pastime then, and one for which more people probably had "proper" attire. Pair the two together, and you have a whole lot of people who wouldn't want their suit jackets to look like their riding jackets, which takes your vent choices down to two, and the chances of seeing ventless are brought closer to 50%.
 
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