Pushing the Limits: Suit Detailing

I want turnback cuffs on my next suit, like the ones Ian Fleming is wearing in the mid-fifties photo to the left. We've seen just about every kind of 1930's suit detail resurrected by fashion designers these past several years, but not turnback cuffs. So there's no time to waste.

The most common form for the suit today is of course the two, three or, more rarely, one button single breasted version with notch lapels and side pockets, but that's hardly the only way to make them. There are also four and six button double breasteds, as well as a rarer form of DB cut so that it can only be buttoned on the lowest button (many DB jackets can be buttoned either at the bottom, at the middle, or both, but only a select few are cut to button only at the bottom). Unfortunately for the man looking for a little edge, the bottom buttoning DB is a feature that looks better on blazers than it does on suits. There's a photo floating around of Ralph Lauren wearing a bottom buttoning dinner jacket that pretty much proves it.

Which leads us back to the varieties of single breasted jackets. The most commonly seen deviation from the common form are side pockets without flaps, a personal preference of mine. Flaps came about when men decided that the the sight of gaping jacket pockets was too much to bear, so tailors added flaps to cover them up. Jetted pockets without flaps are a bit cleaner looking, and so also a bit more formal. Some men emulate the look by tucking their pocket flaps into the pockets.

I can think of another single breasted silhouette, one that was used by the late Duke of Windsor, but it will most likely only be available bespoke. The Duke wore a two button jacket with one button spaced above and one spaced below the natural waist. His coats were cut so that both buttons closed, and his country clothes often paired this arrangement with crescent-shaped pockets without flaps (if you're wondering, the points of the crescents faced towards the rear). It's an effective look for a shorter man.

Still unusual if a bit more common is the single breasted jacket with peak lapels, something the late designer Hardy Amies considered anathema. With one or two buttons, it's a lounge suit version of the dinner jacket. Some more fashion forward tailors have gone a step further and paired the lapels with slanted hacking pockets which, I say reluctantly as it's a mutt of a look from a historical perspective, are a nice complement.

Ignoring vents, and I intend to, that's about all the deviations that are within the pale (or just beyond it) for a suit to be worn to an office these days. Yes, a man could commission a Norfolk suit, a four button ghillie collared suit or some other variation with an action back but he shouldn't wear those in town. Men who want to show that they don't have to work, or who expect to be fired and need to keep a stiff upper lip, can wear a peaked lapel lounge suit with a double breasted vest in a country fabric like a Cheviot or patterned flannel. Country fabrics in City styling have plenty of precedent among men who don't need to earn a living (sadly, these men are more likely to wear jeans and a hoodie than a suit in many parts of today's world).

Men who need a safer way to add individuality to their clothes should consider jackets lined in brilliant colors that are only seen by those nearest and dearest. I, on the other hand, will be the guy wearing turnback cuffs on my navy double breasted.