[chris2008]

Here is a photo of a man wearing an odd jacket with a low button stance:

https://streetxsprezza.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/a-very-general-guide-to-vintage-sartorial-style/

The jacket has besom pockets. If the jacket had pockets with flaps, the bottom edge of the flaps would, of course, be closer to the bottom edge of the jacket than the besom pockets are. Would pockets with flaps look okay on this jacket? Or would it be better to stay with the besom pockets?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[JBierly]

I actually like the button stance on this jacket even if by contemporary standards it may be low. Looks like it has a ticket pocket too. I think flap pockets would be fine. Other notes are the high rise trousers, the gauntlet cuffs and the lower gorge with a generous notch.

 

[Mathematicus]

To be honest, I don't see the button stance on this coat to be low at all; it is located at the natural waist, where it should be. And yes, no problem with flaps on pockets too.

Coats that button up to the base of sternum are unflattering as they convey a pear-like shape,

 

[Fading Fast]

I actually like the button stance on this jacket even if by contemporary standards it may be low. Looks like it has a ticket pocket too. I think flap pockets would be fine. Other notes are the high rise trousers, the gauntlet cuffs and the lower gorge with a generous notch.

I'm guessing that's a custom job - doubt all those features you note (plus, I think, swelled edges) came RTW.

To the OP, while the besom pockets are fine, to my eye, flaps would work better on this jacket.

 

[JBierly]

I'm guessing that's a custom job - doubt all those features you note (plus, I think, swelled edges) came RTW.

To the OP, while the besom pockets are fine, to my eye, flaps would work better on this jacket.

I believe this is Jimmy Stewart - no doubt most of his garments were made for him.

 

[SG_67]

I clicked on the link below the pic. It’s an interesting read.

 

[Flanderian]

I clicked on the link below the pic. It's an interesting read.

I've booked marked it to read later. Haven't checked it for accuracy yet!

 

[Flanderian]

Here is a photo of a man wearing an odd jacket with a low button stance:

https://streetxsprezza.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/a-very-general-guide-to-vintage-sartorial-style/

The jacket has besom pockets. If the jacket had pockets with flaps, the bottom edge of the flaps would, of course, be closer to the bottom edge of the jacket than the besom pockets are. Would pockets with flaps look okay on this jacket? Or would it be better to stay with the besom pockets?

Thanks,

Chris

I agree with many other posters that this jacket's button stance is about where it should be, and other styling details support its placement. (Though this isn't Jimmy Stewart! )

Note also the lower gorge, with a more sharply angled seam and wider lapels. They are as much, or perhaps even more a part of the aesthetic of this jacket's cut. And I think they look great.

The Brits are to blame for the current mid-sternum button placement with shoulder top gorges on Shrinky-dink lapels. But you know we Americans, give us a bad idea, and we'll emulate it slavishly. The idea behind these extremes is they're supposed to make the wearer look taller and more slender. Don't know about that, fella in this photo doesn't look bad!

 

[JBierly]

I agree with many other posters that this jacket's button stance is about where it should be, and other styling details support its placement. (Though this isn't Jimmy Stewart! )

Note also the lower gorge, with a more sharply angled seam and wider lapels. They are as much, or perhaps even more a part of the aesthetic of this jacket's cut. And I think they look great.

The Brits are to blame for the current mid-sternum button placement with shoulder top gorges on Shrinky-dink lapels. But you know we Americans, give us a bad idea, and we'll emulate it slavishly. The idea behind these extremes is they're supposed to make the wearer look taller and more slender. Don't know about that, fella in this photo doesn't look bad!

If not Jimmy Stewart then whom? (not saying you are wrong - just curious who you think it may be)

On the other point - to make a wearer look taller I think one needs a low button stance with shoulder top gorges and shrinky-dink lapels. The mid-sternum button placement doesn't elongate the torso.

 

[JBierly]

 

[eagle2250]

^^LOL.
You make a very persuasive argument. The picture in the OP also struck me as being an early career shot of Jimmy Stewart. :icon_scratch:

 

[Flanderian]

If not Jimmy Stewart then whom? (not saying you are wrong - just curious who you think it may be)

On the other point - to make a wearer look taller I think one needs a low button stance with shoulder top gorges and shrinky-dink lapels. The mid-sternum button placement doesn't elongate the torso.

The argument is that a high button stance elongates the legs. That's debatable, but it was common among 1930's cuts also. In general, a lower button placement tends to flatter more builds, and promotes a vertical line.

I don't remember the name of the gent in the photo at issue, but believe it was a different actor of roughly the same era.

The Jimmy Stewart of that era was a bean pole! 6'3" and around 140, 150 pounds.

 

[Searching_Best_Fit]

...On the other point - to make a wearer look taller I think one needs a low button stance with shoulder top gorges and shrinky-dink lapels. The mid-sternum button placement doesn't elongate the torso.

Forgive about the overly long jacket sleeve, what would you guess for the height of the following individual?

(If you know the person, you would know his real height.)

The point I am trying to make is that with a properly-designed proportional cut, where the buttons and jacket length sit at the correct locations, it can elongate the individual... until other reference points can be compared.

The answer is:

Spoiler

According to Wiki, this person, Takanori Nishikawa, has the statue of 161 cm (5'3.5").

 

[JBierly]

Forgive about the overly long jacket sleeve, what would you guess for the height of the following individual?

View attachment 29866

(If you know the person, you would know his real height.)

The point I am trying to make is that with a properly-designed proportional cut, where the buttons and jacket length sit at the correct locations, it can elongate the individual... until other reference points can be compared.

The answer is:

Spoiler

According to Wiki, this person, Takanori Nishikawa, has the statue of 161 cm (5'3.5").

My guess would be 5 feet tall - heels are a giveaway!

 

[eagle2250]

Forgive about the overly long jacket sleeve, what would you guess for the height of the following individual?

View attachment 29866

(If you know the person, you would know his real height.)

The point I am trying to make is that with a properly-designed proportional cut, where the buttons and jacket length sit at the correct locations, it can elongate the individual... until other reference points can be compared.

The answer is:

Spoiler

According to Wiki, this person, Takanori Nishikawa, has the statue of 161 cm (5'3.5").

While in general agreement with the conclusions you state, I must say that the subject's efforts at elongation would be better served by ditching the tall boots and replacing them with a nice pair of Chelsea's. Just a thought.

 

[Mathematicus]

The argument is that a high button stance elongates the legs. That's debatable, but it was common among 1930's cuts also.

You are right, but coats in the 1930s didn't elongate legs only because of high button stance - they had high armholes (a lot of empty space can be seen above the buttoning point), very close fitting waist, open quarters, high waisted trousers with deep pleats and generous cut that didn't disturb the vertical crease.

The cut was studied cleverly to maximise the illusional height of the legs without shortening the torso too much; in this viewpoint they put full chest and extended shoulders to give upper body some width to compensate the vertical elongation.

I can hardly see any of these elements in the modern cut.

 

[Matt S]

The OP's photo is of Irish actor Dermot Walsh from the 1956 film Bond of Fear. He's wearing a very British 1950s-style jacket. The draped chest, soft shoulders, nipped waist, slightly low button stance, gauntlet cuffs and ticket pocket are all hallmarks of English tailoring of that era. Americans never made anything like this. It looks very much like the style of celebrity tailor Cyril Castle, then of Sackville Street in London, though Castle was usually cutting closed quarters. There were countless tailors in London at the time, and another could have been cutting similar styles, but considering that this is for a film I think it could very well be Castle's work.

I agree with the others that the button stance looks right where it should be. It is at the ideal spot to balance his upper and lower body, and it's at the best place to emphasise his waist, which the jacket is doing in a number of ways.

As Fading Fast said, flaps would work better on this jacket. Jetted pockets are odd on sports coats since with all the other details the pockets look to be missing something, especially with a ticket pocket. If this jacket were to have pocket flaps, I think the pockets should be raised slightly so the centre of the flaps are aligned with the bottom button. That is how Cyril Castle usually did his pockets. Without flaps the pockets can be a bit lower, as seen here. This way the jetted pockets have the bottom button to align with. If the button stance were a little higher, flapped pockets can align with the bottom button, but here the flaps would be too low to the bottom of the jacket. Castle would raise the button stance on a heavier man who didn't have much of a waist. Walsh did not need any help.

 

[JBierly]

The OP's photo is of Irish actor Dermot Walsh from the 1956 film Bond of Fear. He's wearing a very British 1950s-style jacket. The draped chest, soft shoulders, nipped waist, slightly low button stance, gauntlet cuffs and ticket pocket are all hallmarks of English tailoring of that era. Americans never made anything like this. It looks very much like the style of celebrity tailor Cyril Castle, then of Sackville Street in London, though Castle was usually cutting closed quarters. There were countless tailors in London at the time, and another could have been cutting similar styles, but considering that this is for a film I think it could very well be Castle's work.

I agree with the others that the button stance looks right where it should be. It is at the ideal spot to balance his upper and lower body, and it's at the best place to emphasise his waist, which the jacket is doing in a number of ways.

As Fading Fast said, flaps would work better on this jacket. Jetted pockets are odd on sports coats since with all the other details the pockets look to be missing something, especially with a ticket pocket. If this jacket were to have pocket flaps, I think the pockets should be raised slightly so the centre of the flaps are aligned with the bottom button. That is how Cyril Castle usually did his pockets. Without flaps the pockets can be a bit lower, as seen here. This way the jetted pockets have the bottom button to align with. If the button stance were a little higher, flapped pockets can align with the bottom button, but here the flaps would be too low to the bottom of the jacket. Castle would raise the button stance on a heavier man who didn't have much of a waist. Walsh did not need any help.

I read through the OP cited website. It has this jacket in the 40s when clearly with the fleck pattern in the fabric and the actual time the movie was made, it should be in the 50's. Well done on figuring out the actor although I still think he looks a lot like Jimmy!

 

[Matt S]

I read through the OP cited website. It has this jacket in the 40s when clearly with the fleck pattern in the fabric and the actual time the movie was made, it should be in the 50's. Well done on figuring out the actor although I still think he looks a lot like Jimmy!

I didn't even look at that article before. They were 10 years off! Button stances were slightly higher in the 1940s, and the fabric, as you say, is more 50s. It's definitely a post-war style, and styles were fairly consistent between the mid 1940s and the mid 1950s. In the late 1950s styles were changing, mostly with lapels narrowing a lot and trousers slimming a little (but pleats took longer to go away in Britain than in America). He does look a bit like Jimmy.

 

[Doctor Damage]

additional photos, thanks MattS for identifying