Style2 min read
Notch, peak or shawl: choosing a lapel
Three shapes, and each says something slightly different. Most people should pick notch, and here is why the other two exist.
The lapel is the first thing anyone looks at, so it is worth thirty seconds of thought. There are only three shapes in common use.
Notch
The standard. The collar and the lapel meet at a step — the notch — cut at roughly a right angle. It is what most suits have, which is exactly its strength: it disappears. Nobody looks at a notch lapel and thinks anything at all, which is what you want a suit to do most of the time.
Right for work, interviews, funerals, and a first suit you want to wear everywhere.
Peak
The lapel points upward and outward into a peak, toward the shoulder. It draws the eye up and out, which broadens the chest and makes the wearer look a touch taller. It is dressier than a notch and slightly more deliberate — you have made a choice and people can see it.
It is standard on a double-breasted jacket. On a single-breasted one, it reads as formal or as confident, depending on the room. Good for weddings, dinners, and anyone who wants their suit to do something.
Shawl
A single unbroken curve with no notch or peak at all. It belongs to dinner jackets and black tie. On an ordinary business suit it looks like a costume. If you are not wearing it after dark with a bow tie, choose something else.
First suit: notch. Second suit, or a wedding: peak. Shawl: black tie only.
Width
Lapel width moves with fashion, and chasing it is how a suit ends up looking dated. A width of around three to three and a half inches at the widest point has been correct for a hundred years and will still be correct in ten. Our regular width sits there on purpose.
One rule of proportion: a wider lapel suits a broader chest, and a narrow lapel suits a narrow frame. If you are unsure, the regular width is regular for a reason.