Top Button on Three Button Suit

[Philalethes]

Should the top button on a non-rollover three button suit always be buttoned?

My impression is that it would look sloppy if it is not.

 

[scotrace]

Not always. Always the center button. Often the top. Never the bottom.*





* Cary Grant excepted

 

[Philalethes]

Not always. Always the center button. Often the top. Never the bottom.*





* Cary Grant excepted

Thanks for the reply. Interesting that Cary Grant would button the bottom - I wonder how he would get away with that and not look like his suit was too tight.

 

[Nick D]

If it's tailored to be buttoned it can be. It's only when a button is made to be left unbuttoned, whether it be top or bottom, that it pulls things strangely.

I see a lot of men with only the bottom, only the top, or only the bottom two buttoned. I rarely see centre only or top two.

 

[Philalethes]

If it's tailored to be buttoned it can be. It's only when a button is made to be left unbuttoned, whether it be top or bottom, that it pulls things strangely.

Good point.

I see a lot of men with only the bottom, only the top, or only the bottom two buttoned. I rarely see centre only or top two.

Interesting, I hadn't noticed that myself. Then again, I don't see a lot of people wearing suits!

 

[Chad Sanborn]

I never button the bottom button. Always the top 2. I think that on most of my suits the bottom button is to far down on the cut away to button without pulling the jacket weird. I still see people do it though and it looks most tacky.

 

[Chad Sanborn]

Oh and what really drives me nuts is when they sit down and don't unbutton it. It wrinkles up and gathers in a bunches around the neck. YUCK!

 

[boushi_mania]

In Japan, I see a lot of salarymen who have obviously been hitting the izakaya a few too many times a week trying to compensate by only doing up the bottom button or wearing a double-breasted like a single. Don't really see it on younger men, which leads me to believe it's mainly a result of overindulgence and lack of funds for a new suit.

 

[Philalethes]

Oh and what really drives me nuts is when they sit down and don't unbutton it. It wrinkles up and gathers in a bunches around the neck. YUCK!

Agreed - although I have a few sportscoats that I may comfortably keep buttoned while sitting.

 

[Philalethes]

...wearing a double-breasted like a single...

What an awful idea!

I had to look up what an izakaya was...sounds like fun, unless, as you say, it becomes a habit.

 

[Tomasso]

Never the bottom.*


* Cary Grant excepted

 

[avedwards]

Oh and what really drives me nuts is when they sit down and don't unbutton it. It wrinkles up and gathers in a bunches around the neck. YUCK!

Agreed, with the exception of well tailored (vintage or modern) suits. Sean Connery rarely unbuttons his suits in the early Bond films but they don't wrinkle because they're very well cut.

 

[avedwards]

In Japan, I see a lot of salarymen who have obviously been hitting the izakaya a few too many times a week trying to compensate by only doing up the bottom button or wearing a double-breasted like a single. Don't really see it on younger men, which leads me to believe it's mainly a result of overindulgence and lack of funds for a new suit.

I see lots of fat people wearing DB suits as though they're SB. In my opinion that look is only ever acceptable when wearing a waistcoat underneath, like with a 3 piece DB.

 

[bumphrey hogart]

It was always my understanding,certainly for off the peg,that you only do up the middle of a 3 button jacket,and only the top of a 2 button,of course there's always going to be exceptions, like when you're bloody cold and you don't think anyone is looking.
There was a trend amongst younger aristo's,not sure if it still goes on, to wear an old family members D/B blazer,usually with a regimental badge that couldn't possibly be theirs and several sizes too big, with just the bottom button done up,the complete opposite of how you're supposed to wear a D/B blazer.
Of course it looks bloody awful, just as Carys' 2 button, with the bottom one done up does above, But often,like the young aristo's offending their elders with their blazers, there are other things going on than we see on the surface.
I'm sure even Cary got fed up of being elegant all the time, and when forced to go and meet another bloody studio execs son, for another bloody photo, there was a bit of devilment with, 'I'm going to put my shirt collar over my jacket and just do the bottom button up,that'll show'em'.
Then, someone says, well if Cary is wearing his shirt collar out and just doing up the bottom button, it must be ok to do it, not realizing that if any of us tried it we'd just look like we didn't know how to dress properly.
So I suppose my point is, unless you happen to be one of the most stylish men who's ever lived and can put on a walmart washable suit and make it look like Savile Row bespoke, probably better off sticking to the sartorial rules of thumb.
It could be that passers by think,'well how original,he's buttoned the top button as well as the middle on his suit,and you know he's really carrying that off quite well', but unfortunately I think they're far more likely to think,'is he going to a wedding or to court,because he obviously doesn't wear a suit often enough to know how to wear one',but then again, as was touched upon earlier on in the thread, so few people wear decent clothes now, there's probably very few who'd know.
Depressing isn't it!

 

[scottyrocks]

I always button the top button and leave the bottom one open. Thats how I was taught. Thats how Ive almost always seen it. DBs are never left open in public.

 

[Audi S5 TC]

If it's tailored to be buttoned it can be. It's only when a button is made to be left unbuttoned, whether it be top or bottom, that it pulls things strangely.

+100

However, I usually see only the center button of a three button single breasted jacket buttoned. Sometimes, I the top two buttons buttoned. I rarely see all three buttons buttoned. I have never seen three button single breasted jackets buttoned any other way.

 

[brspiritus]

Down the road from here is one of the biggest Baptist Churches in Jax. When I'm coming home on the bus from my am service I'm usually on the bus with a bunch of men in suits (an ladies in dresses), on their way to services. While the suits themselves are mostly polyester monstrosities, the older men know how to wear them properly while the young guys look like a fish in a suit. For anyone truly wanting to know how to dress properly, the sartorial rules of thumb are there to be found, however most people these days don't care enough to want to learn.

 

[Edward]

In Japan, I see a lot of salarymen who have obviously been hitting the izakaya a few too many times a week trying to compensate by only doing up the bottom button or wearing a double-breasted like a single. Don't really see it on younger men, which leads me to believe it's mainly a result of overindulgence and lack of funds for a new suit.

That's one of my pet hates (bolded) - I see it a lot here in London, always on rather overweight gentlemen who appear to have adopted a DB as a means of finding a jacket that will hand and look like a SB on them. To my eye, it simply exaggerates their size, but then it may well be that many other folks simply don't notice. A lot of folks simply aren't that observant - I wore spats to work for the first time on Friday and I don't think anyone noticed at all.

I seem to remember in the mid eighties there being a trend for buttoning the bottom button of a two-button jacket.

 

[Torpedo]

In my opinion, 3-rolling to-2 jackets look better with just the middle button tied, because this emphasizes the graceful rolling curve. 3 button jackets I prefer to wear with top and middle buttons tied, but just the middle is prefectly correct. If wearing a vest, I normally wear my jacket unbuttoned (DB jackets excepted).
DB jackets worn untied look positively horrible to me.
I see all varieties of non-correct tying styles, too: 2-button and 3-button tied all the way, 2 button with the lower one tied, etc etc.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I grew up in the early to mid-'60s watching single-breasted, two-button jackets on all the male leads on TV, and I still can't get into the 3-button look. Maybe the ones I see belong to people who don't know what they're doing, but buttoning the top 2 on a 3-button suit or jacket makes them resemble sausages stuffed into casings. It looks hot and uncomfortable.