A quick guide to: "Buttoning Etiquette"

Wishing all here in India a Happy Republic Day!
We hope you enjoy this sartorial post on “buttoning etiquette”.

Jackets - The rules to follow when buttoning are shown in the grapic above “Always, Never, Sometimes”. A lot of men prefer not fasten their jackets, however you are comfortable.
Do note that following the above rules for your jacket fastening even if only when entering a room will help accentuate a V-Shape or conceal love handles.
Of course when you sit down please unfasten your jacket and give yourself room to breathe. And all the above can also be abandoned in cold or windy weather, wrap up & button up so you do not catch a cold!

Shirts: Needless to say when wearing a neck tie all buttons need to be fastened. A sure fire sign of a cheap/ill fitting shirt is one where to wearer has the collar button unfastened when wearing a tie.
If you opt to not wear a tie, you can button the shirt to the top for what millennial's now call the “air tie” look - also known as the “mod look” to those over a certain age. Nowadays this still looks smart enough for the office or a function and can work particularly well with shirts that have some detail on the collar.
Nowadays wearing your top collar button unfastened is acceptable for day wear, still not for a formal meeting or event. For a casual/weekend look you can unfasten another button for comfort, this works particularly well if you have requested a slightly higher buttoning from your tailor.

Waistcoat:

The etiquette when wearing a waistcoat is to keep the last button unfastened.
This dates back over 100 years to a rather fat king of England, George VII. His voracious appetite and ever expanding waistline made it difficult for him to comfortably fasten his bottom button, so he simply didn't. So as not to make him feel bad all the men at court followed suit and started wearing theirs unfastened. And so this slightly odd fashion trend began and to this day is followed religiously by tailoring affectionados.

Interestingly and lesser known, the "sometimes, always, never" rule for jackets also dates back to King Edward VII.
It was during his time that the modern day lounge suit started to appear, originally as a 3 button single breasted jacket as a more comfortable dress for riding. As it was a riding jacket the bottom button had to be undone as it fell below the waistline. This new style of jacket became hugely popular during Edward’s reign and he decided that it “looked common” to wear with the top button fastened, thus leaving just the middle button to fasten his coat.

And so began another trend that goes on to this day.

For more fun facts, suiting advice & impeccable tailoring book an appointment with one of our tailoring experts today!