Question:
Everything I've read on this board tells me never to button the top button of a 3-button suit.
Yet on many websites, catalogs, and mannequins, retailers and the suit-makers insist on showing the top-button buttoned.
What's going on here?
Pardon me if this is a dumb question, but searching the archives hasn't really shed any light on the matter
Answer:
most 3 button suits you see on TV and in print are supposed to be top buttoned
Answer:
Looks horrible to my eye, even on a "true" 3 button without any roll past the top button.
Answer:
Sadly, the different sources you cite are far from authoritative. I have often seen both buttons of a 2-button jacket buttoned, and all buttons on a 3-button jacket buttoned on websites, TV, catalogs, etc.
Answer:
wear clothes how you want to wear and just be confident with it. fashion can be interpreted many different ways by people..as you have seen with the websites, catalogs and here.
Answer:
Well... no. True, some (most?) 3B jackets are designed to have both top and middle buttons done up. However, many jackets are 3 roll 2, either fully or partially. Buttoning the top button on such jackets runs counter to how the jacket was designed, and will result in awkward pulling and a misshapen silhoutte.
Answer:
and I, for one, think that the opposite is also true. If a jacket doesn't have a nice roll, if its a cheap Kenneth Cole true-3-btn where the lapels are pressed down and creased sharply, it won't look good (which is a relative term here) if the top is unbuttoned.
Answer:
I think there's a simpler answer to why most are shown with the top button buttoned. For years people were so used to buttoning only the top button of a 2B jacket that many assumed one must also button the top button of a 3B.
Answer:
because the photos are taken by a photographer thats why.
Answer:
The following from Zegna's Su Masura website, showing what appears to be a beautiful 3B suit with very little roll, with the top 2 buttons buttoned (either that, or it's a 2B with very high button stance, with both buttons buttoned).
I'm therefore not sure I'd dismiss the practice as consumer or photographer ignorance. Still a bit confused on this matter.
Answer:
See, I think that looks awkward. I tend to agree with Joel- I don't think I've ever seen a "true" 3B that I didn't think would look better with a roll.
A think it's partly a matter of balance/shape. A well-cut 2B or 3B with a full or partial roll should produce an hourglass where the top balances the bottom. A true 3B, on the other hand, sticks an odd line in the middle of the hourglass. Also, there's no focal point to the jacket, which I find displeasing.
Answer:
I don't care what the "rules" are, for the rules are always shifting. If you watch a Sherlock Holmes, you'll see they used to button the top button only on certain suits! Aesthetically, I think it usually takes away from the silhouette, and makes the suit appear much boxier than if there's one done-up button, which pulls the eye to that central buttoning point. The jacket has more shape visually, because there isn't that straight line from one buttoned button to the other.
Answer:
Most department-store coats have sharp lines to their flattened lapels, and I definitely think they look better with the top button done up. The lack of roll looks jagged and unpleasant.
Answer:
right, and on a nice canvased jacket that has a lot of 3-dimensional shape, buttoning two can take that away, flatten the coat out, make it lose some of that character and shape and look.
