The lengths of the suit arm and the suit jacket

James Sleater from the Cad & The Dandy on Savile Row explains the correct suit arm length for a jacket.

Sleeve length is an important one, you’re looking for about quarter to half an inch of shirt cuff to show. Some people like to show a bit more, some people are a bit more conservative and show a little bit less.

He show about half an inch. The shirt should come down to about what is known as the kiss of the wrist where the wrist literally moves and the suit length just a fraction shorter than that. Off the peg jackets tend to be made on the big size because you’ll never not by a suit that’s a fraction too big, but if it’s a fraction too short you obviously can’t buy it, but that is where a suit sleeve should end.

James Sleater also explains and the key factors in getting the right suit jacket length.

Jacket length is an interesting one, traditionally it should cover the seat, that definitely the preference. There is a swing of trend that a shorter jacket looks cooler and is a bit younger, actually what most people want is the shape on a jacket, now the way to get shape is to show the difference between the narrow part and the wide part.

The shorter you make the jacket the less differential you get between the narrow part of the body and and the wide part so you’ll actually make the jacket look less shaped. So tailoring is all about balance and proportion so as soon as you start playing around with this, you will actually kill the thing you are most looking to get, which is the shape.

This videos are from the Rampley & Co Tailoring Series, you can see more videos and articles about how to dress like a gentleman on the Rampley and Co blog.