First they came for the 3-buttons...

[Fletch]

It's been close to 20 years now since high-roll, 3-to-button suits and jackets became OK to wear again and emerged into the popular price market.

Well, guess what: their time is up. They're getting hard to find. I went thru my local Syms/Filene big-box store this week and saw hardly a one. That's a big change from last fall.

This matters because a 3-to-button jacket is, IMNSHO, the most versatile and functional of tailored jackets. When you need a closed-up front, in windy or other conditions (say, a #%!!ed up shirt lol), it delivers. When you want to button one or none, it has a pleasant, subtle curve that de-emphasizes the all too common flaws in your midsection.

But times change, and a suit is more costume and less functional than it was 20 years ago. 2 buttons are standard, 2 buttons flatter the designers and the mannequins, and 2 buttons are what you'll get from now on.

Trads can still have their 2-to-button 3Bs, of course. They make a gesture at earlier times without threatening the existing order of things.

 

[thunderw21]

...This matters because a 3-to-button jacket is, IMNSHO, the most versatile and functional of tailored jackets. When you need a closed-up front, in windy or other conditions (say, a #%!!ed up shirt lol), it delivers. When you want to button one or none, it has a pleasant, subtle curve that de-emphasizes the all too common flaws in your midsection...

Well said. I 100% agree.

 

[Widebrim]

I also agree, Fletch, although I've got some 2-button sport coats that I like quite a bit...

 

[carldelo]

I'll echo your opinion - I am a strictly 3-button guy. Two button jackets just don't look good on me.

I was at Filene's basement a month or so ago - there were only a few 3-buttons on offering, most were bizarrely low-waisted. Lord & Taylor actually had none - not one 3-button jacket at their flagship store. I've had similar luck at Century 21. At Syms a couple of weeks ago, there were exactly three 3-button suits in my size, so I bought two of them. There's just not many being made, and I feel I need to grab what's out there when it presents itself.

 

[Widebrim]

There are still 3-button jobs on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, so not all is lost...Personally, I don't like buttoning the top two buttons, but rather prefer to have just the 2nd in place. When I've watched old episodes of Hazel (as if there were new ones), I've noticed that Don DeFore always has the top two buttoned, and how constricted it makes him look.

 

[MisterGrey]

As you point out in the OP, they've only been back in popular fashion for about 20 years. Before that, they weren't; I haven't personally noticed a dearth of three-buttons, but if they are in fact getting harder to find, I wouldn't chalk it up to the end of the style but rather the style simply entering hibernation, as it has in the past. It'll come back around.

 

[MisterCairo]

Another reason why my last two suit purchases have been online. Three buttons each. 'Fashion' be damned!

 

[J.D. Hunt]

And I have been hunting a white linen suit with a total of eight buttons, four could be buttoned. Most of the time only three were used. I believe these were worn from the early 1900's to the late 1920's. Any thoughts would be of great help. J.D. Hunt

 

[MisterGrey]

Have you tried retailers that cater more to the African American community? Suits with buttons in excess of four/five are fairly popular.

 

[Feraud]

I prefer two buttons. Here is my idea of perfection-

from- http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?22596-NEW-1930s-Menswear-Catalogs

Now if designers can add some lapel to these modern designs we might be getting somewhere..

 

[TCMfan25]

I prefer two buttons. Here is my idea of perfection-

from- http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?22596-NEW-1930s-Menswear-Catalogs

Now if designers can add some lapel to these modern designs we might be getting somewhere..

Some more lapel, and migrating the notch down a little, modern suits have the notch (or peak) almost on the top of the shoulders!

 

[Yeps]

I prefer two button, but that is because I associate three button with a particularly distasteful suit I had for a long time. Uncomfortable and ill fitting, not to mention not particularly attractive.

As far as making the mid section look nicer, that is not a problem I have. I need suits that make it look like I have shoulders and/or a chest. I am a scrawny son of a mother.

 

[Edward]

I used to prefer a three button, but over the past few years I have come to favour a two. My ideal in a SB jacket would be a three rolled on two, with peak lapel.

 

[scottyrocks]

I like my three-buttons better because they look much better opened with a waistcoat than my two-buttons.

 

[AntonAAK]

I sometimes wonder why more people don't offer one-button lounge suits.

I think they look great but not many of us can afford Huntsman.

 

[Yeps]

I would love a one button like that. It would be like my tux, but less formal material. Mi piace molto.

 

[dustyjohnson10]

Yes definitely. 3 piece suits are now old fashioned. I think we should change our thinking now and jump to the newly 1 button suits which can be worn anywhere where there is important to wear a suit.

 

[avedwards]

I've never really liked the one button, except on dinner jackets and morning coats. Not sure why, perhaps it just looks too modern for me (I know it existed on some suits in the 30s but it was not a typical Golden Era feature to my knowledge).

I like two button suits, especially if they have rolled lapels, but I would like to see what I look like in a three roll two. Like Yeps, I have no need to make myself look any thinner as I'm thin enough already. I find DB suits flatter me the most especially if they have padded shoulders, but I like SB suits too much to only wear DB suits.

Unlike most of the FL I find the lapels on this too wide. It's a nice suit and if I found one like it I would wear it, but my ideal notched lapels would be about an inch narrower like the continental suits which came in just after the Bold Look around 1953.

 

[avedwards]

Yes definitely. 3 piece suits are now old fashioned. I think we should change our thinking now and jump to the newly 1 button suits which can be worn anywhere where there is important to wear a suit.

I disagree. Three piece suits are not old fashioned, simply out of fashion at the moment. We're trying to bring them back into fashion . I find it unfortunate that three piece suits are considered too dressed up for most workplaces these days (even those where suits are worn), considering they were once almost an unofficial uniform for many workplaces.

 

[AntonAAK]

I've never really liked the one button, except on dinner jackets and morning coats. Not sure why, perhaps it just looks too modern for me (I know it existed on some suits in the 30s but it was not a typical Golden Era feature to my knowledge).

I don't think it is particularly modern. It has always been Huntsman's house style. It has been equally rare in every era.