When Buttoning Your Jacket, Follow This Rule
It's as simple as 1-2-3
There’s a rule of thumb when it comes to buttoning your jackets.
Whether you’re wearing a suit or an odd jacket (aka sports jacket), remember this simple guideline:
Sometimes, always, never.
[This applies to three-button jackets, but if you’ve only got two, then omit the “sometimes.”]
It is sometimes appropriate to fasten the top button. It is always appropriate to fasten the middle button. And you should never, under any circumstances fasten the bottom button.
Here’s a visual to make it memorable:
So why the “sometimes”?
In a suit or jacket specifically cut for three buttons, buttoning the top button looks good. But in what’s called a “three-roll-two” — a three-button jacked tailored to have the lapels form a natural roll over the button, you would avoid it.
Incidentally, the origin of the three-roll-two, according to Brooks Brothers, is that in the early to mid-20th century, when two-button jackets became de rigueur, college students couldn’t who couldn’t afford new two-button jackets simply pressed their three-button jackets to show two instead.
This was at the beginning of the Ivy League look, at a time when an influx of working- and middle-class students flooded universities following World War II. Menswear publications like Apparel Arts sent photographers to Ivy League campuses to document trends, and they captured this new style.
The middle button also has a practical use: its function is to center the outfit. It keeps your jacket together at your natural waist and lets the bottom naturally flare out around your hips. In a well-tailored item, it accentuates your best features and hides less desirable ones.
The reason the bottom button should never be done is usually jackets are designed to curve away, so when you fasten the bottom button, it pulls the material across your hips and disrupts the clean lines of the material.
Some Button Violations in the Wild
Nevertheless, this simple guideline hasn’t caught on among everyone, and occasionally you’ll see some high-profile instances of a breach.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose overly-skinny ties typically capture too much of our attention, was buttoned-up in his appearance at a recent Congressional hearing:
James Bond is always impeccably tailored, with Savile Row tailors providing the garments and proper fitting in the movies (See Dressed To Kill for the history there).
But in his early days, Sean Connery was a bodybuilder, not a fashion model, and he wasn’t yet used to traditional customs.
Be careful out there.
And stay classy AF, my friend.
Good rules I was taught by my dad when I was a kid—and follow, of course—but in today’s world I’m happy to see anyone who doesn’t think cargo shorts and a hoodie is acceptable damn-near anywhere. It’s all part of what I call the “Slobification” of American men. A suit? Please. Almost non-existent. Even a nice blazer with *clean* jeans, crisp shirt and shoes that are not made for the gym is a rare look. It’s appalling. So while what you write is good guidance, the sliver of men who give a fat rip about how they’re dressed is a dying—or dead—cohort. Get on a plane to fly somewhere and see how men dress. I wouldn’t walk my dogs dressed as most are. Slobs. And somehow, it’s become acceptable. Am I a snob? No. Just a guy who thinks it’s disrespectful to attend a business meeting looking like you just rolled out of bed. Do better, men.
thanks for the style advice