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Thursday 21 May 2009

Does it make sense??!!

U.S. President J.F. Kennedy in a two-piece, single-breasted suitIts ( Garments)

Its All about Suit.


A suit is a set of garments crafted from the same cloth, consisting of at least a jacket and trousers. Lounge suits are the most common style of Western suit, originating in England as country wear. Other types of suit still worn today are firstly the dinner suit, part of black tie, which arose as a lounging alternative to dress coats in much the same way as the day lounge suit came to replace frock and morning coats; and secondly, rarely worn today, the morning suit. This article discusses the lounge suit (including business suits), which is part of the 'informal' dress code.

Parts of a suit

There are many possible variations in the choice of the style, the garments and the details of a suit

The cut : The silhouette of a suit is its outline. No suit is skin-tight; the amount of extra fabric and the way it hangs is known as the drape. The shape of the front of the suit is particularly affected by the way the suit buttons. The two main cuts consist firstly of double-breasted suits, a conservative design with two vertical rows of buttons, spanned by a large overlap of the left and right sides; and secondly, single-breasted suits, on which the sides just meet at the front down a single row of buttons.


British suits are characterised by moderately tapered sides, minimal shoulder padding, and two vents. Italian suits are characterised by strongly padded shoulders, strongly tapered sides, and no vent. American suits are considered more casual than the preceding styles, and are characterised by moderate shoulder padding, minimally tapered sides, and a single vent. The sack suit is a loose American style. Contemporary is a term that includes a variety of recently designed garments that do not fit into the preceding categories.

Fabric : Suits are made in a variety of fabrics, but most commonly from wool. The two main yarns produce worsteds (where the fibres are combed before spinning) and woollens (where they are not). These can be woven in a number of ways producing flannel, tweed, gabardine, and fresco among others. These fabrics all have different weights and feel, and some fabrics have an S (or Super S) number describing the fineness of the fibres. For hot weather, linen is also used, and in North America cotton seersucker is worn. Other materials are used sometimes, such as cashmere.Silk and silk blended with wool are sometimes used. Synthetic materials, while cheap, are very rarely recommended by experts.

The main three colours for suits work in business are light grey, dark grey, and navy, either with or without patterns. In particular, grey flannel suiting has been worn very widely since the 1930s. In non-business settings or less-formal business contexts, brown is another important colour; olive also occurs. In summer, lighter shades, such as tan or cream, are popular


Jacket : Single- vs. double-breasted jacketMost single-breasted suits have two or three buttons, and one or four buttons are unusual. It is rare to find a suit with more than four buttons, although zoot suits can have as many as six or more due to their longer length. There is also variation in the placement and style of buttons, since the button placement is critical to the overall impression of height conveyed by the jacket. The centre or top button will typically line up quite closely with the natural waistline.

Lapels : The jacket's lapels can be notched (sometimes called "stepped"), peaked, shawl, or "trick" (Mandarin and other unconventional styles). Each lapel style carries different connotations, and is worn with different cuts of suit. Notched lapels are only found on single-breasted jackets and are the most informal style. Double-breasted jackets usually have peaked lapels. Shawl lapels are a style derived from the Victorian informal evening wear, and as such are not normally seen on suit jackets except for dinner suits.

Pockets : Most jackets have a variety of inner pockets, and two main outer pockets, which are generally either patch pockets, flap pockets, or jetted pockets.The patch pocket is, with its single extra piece of cloth sewn directly onto the front of the jacket, a sporting option, sometimes seen on summer linen suits, or other informal styles. The flap pocket is standard for side pockets, and has an extra lined flap of matching fabric covering the top of the pocket. A jetted pocket is most formal, with a small strip of fabric taping the top and bottom of the slit for the pocket. This style is most often on seen on formalwear, such as a dinner jacket

Sleeves : Suit jackets in all styles typically have three or four buttons on each cuff, which are often purely decorative (the sleeve is sewn closed and cannot be unbuttoned to open). Five buttons are unusual, but are a modern fashion innovation.

Vents : A vent is a slit in the bottom rear (the "tail") of the jacket. Originally, vents were a sporting option, designed to make riding easier, so are traditional on hacking jackets, formal coats such as a morning coat, and, for reasons of pragmatism, overcoats. Today there are three styles of venting: the single-vented style (with one vent at the centre); the ventless style; and the double-vented style (one vent on each side).

Waistcoats : Waistcoats (often called vests in the USA) were almost always worn with suits prior to the 1940s. They were revived in the 1970s and remained popular throughout that decade in some parts of the world, and remain popular still, particularly for example in Germany. Waistcoats can be either single-breasted or double-breasted

Trousers : Suit trousers are always made of the same material as the jacket. Even from the 1910s to 1920s, before the invention of sports jackets specifically to be worn with odd trousers, wearing a suit jacket with odd trousers was as an alternative to a full suit. However, with the modern advent of sports jackets, suit jackets are always worn with matching trousers, and the trousers have always been worn with the appropriate jacket

Breeches : As an alternative to trousers, breeches (or knickers in variations of English where this does not refer to underwear) may be worn with informal suits, such as tweed. These are shorter, descending to just below the knees, fastened closely at the top of the calf by a tab or button cuff. While once common, they are now typically only worn when engaged in traditional outdoor sports, such as shooting

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