Style2 min read
Single or double breasted?
A double-breasted jacket is not harder to wear than it used to be. It is just less forgiving about when you unbutton it.
Single breasted means one column of buttons and a jacket front that overlaps slightly. Double breasted means two columns and a front that overlaps substantially, fastening off to one side.
Single breasted
The default, and the more versatile of the two. A two-button single-breasted jacket is the most useful thing in menswear: it works at a funeral, an interview, a wedding and a Tuesday. Button the top one when you stand, undo it when you sit.
A one-button version is slightly sharper and reads a little more evening. Three buttons is a more traditional, longer-looking line that suits taller wearers.
Double breasted
Sharper, stronger across the chest, and more of a statement. The overlapping front creates a solid block of cloth that broadens the torso, which flatters slim builds especially. Almost always cut with peak lapels.
The rule people forget: a double-breasted jacket stays buttoned. It is cut to hang closed, and open it falls apart visually with two flaps swinging. You can undo it to sit at a desk, but you button it again when you stand. If that sounds like a nuisance, choose single.
Double breasted rewards you when you are on your feet — at a wedding, a drinks thing, a presentation. It punishes you at a long lunch.
Which buttons fasten
On a double-breasted jacket the naming looks cryptic: "6 buttons, 2 fasten" means six buttons on the front, of which two do anything. The rest are decorative and keep the symmetry. A 6×2 is the classic. A 4×1 is leaner and more modern. A 6×1 has a deeper, more dramatic V.
For a first suit
Single breasted, two buttons, notch lapel. It is the suit you can wear to everything, and the one nobody will ever remember — which, for a first suit, is the point. Save the double-breasted for the second one, when you know what you want it for.