Double Breasted Suits

San Francisco's Four Seasons hotel restaurant is one of a handful of places in the City where men in suits still outnumber their counterparts in more casual garb. As I looked around the dining room the other day, I saw several very nice efforts, including a gentleman in a blue worsted three piece with vest lapels that fairly shouted Savile Row. And then I realized that I was the only man in a double breasted suit.

I'm not certain why we don't see more DBs in the United States. It may be that they are thought of as more formal than a two button single breasted. That might be true but they are less formal than a single breasted worn with a vest and I see those on the street as well as in the Four Seasons dining room. Other men may think that they are a pain because they must be unbuttoned to sit and buttoned again when standing, but that's a myth. A DB that fits can be worn buttoned while seated. Just look at any movie from the 1930's - those guys weren't unbuttoning and buttoning their jackets all the time.

Unlike single breasteds that descended from riding coats, double breasted suits evolved from military uniforms. That's probably why HRH Prince Charles wears them all the time (the suit pictured to the left was made by Thomas Mahon, who cut some of the Prince's suits when he worked at Anderson & Sheppard). About half of my wardrobe is double breasted. I like them in the winter particularly, as the cloth across my chest keeps me warm without a vest. I have the winter versions cut with six buttons, with the bottom two working, and my lighter-weight DBs have but four.

Double breasteds make up a good proportion of the suits I see on the street in London, but the Italians don't seem to wear them much more than the Americans do. The weather is warmer in Italy of course, so suits aren't obliged to perform as much temperature control duty. But mostly, I ascribe the scarcity of double breasted to the economics of ready to wear. Sticking with single breasteds means lower production costs and fewer overheads.

That may work for the manufacturers but it makes life a little less interesting for the customers.