Double-Breasted or Single-Breasted: Which Suit Is Right for You

A double-breasted jacket is one of those garments men admire on other people and quietly decline for themselves. From the outside it looks like a decision that requires permission. It does not. It is a different way of closing the front of a jacket, and for a good many figures it is the more flattering of the two.

The question reaches us in the first half hour of most consultations, usually phrased as whether a man could get away with one. It depends far less on nerve than on proportion.

What the two fronts actually are

A single-breasted jacket has one row of buttons and a front that closes with almost no overlap: the two halves meet, and that is all. A double-breasted jacket has two rows, one of them largely decorative, and a front that crosses the body by four or five inches before it fastens.

That overlap is the whole difference, including the practical consequence nobody mentions. Because the cloth crosses rather than meets, a double-breasted jacket is meant to be worn fastened. A single-breasted jacket can be opened at the end of a long evening and still look like itself; a double-breasted one hanging open looks like a coat that has given up.

What each front does to a body

The double overlap puts two parallel columns of buttons on the chest and a broad diagonal across the torso. The eye reads that as width at the top of the body and narrowness at the waist, the proportion tailoring has been chasing for two hundred years. On a slight frame it adds substance. On a tall, narrow man it is close to a gift.

It is less automatically kind to a full waist, since the crossing cloth has to travel over the widest part of the body and can gather there. That is a cutting problem rather than a prohibition. We make a great many for men who are not slim, with the stance set lower and the lapel line run longer, and the result is often slimming in a way a single-breasted jacket cannot manage.

A single-breasted jacket is quieter about all of this. It makes no particular claim on the body's proportions, which is why it became the default for business and for first suits. With a notch lapel at a moderate width it is the most usefully anonymous garment in tailoring, and we mean that as praise. Our piece on notch, peak and shawl lapels goes further into what the lapel is doing.

The button stance, and the numbers

Double-breasted jackets are described by two figures: the buttons on the front, then the number that actually fasten. The second figure is the one that changes the garment.

• Six on two. Six buttons, the lower pair functional, the top pair ornamental. The standard, and the one we would put a first double-breasted jacket on. The fastening point sits at the natural waist and the lapels roll a long way down to reach it.
• Six on one. The same front with only the bottom button fastening, so the lapel runs lower and the chest opens up. Rakish, and harder to wear well.
• Four on two. A cleaner front with less ornament. Reads sharper and slightly less traditional.
• Four on one. The lowest fastening of the lot, and the most confident. Beautiful on the right frame, unforgiving on the wrong one.

Cut from your own pattern, these are not fixed options on a rail. The stance moves to suit your height and where your waist actually sits, which on most men is not where a size chart assumes.

How a double-breasted jacket is cut differently

Peak lapels are standard, because the shape grew up on this jacket and a notch on a double-breasted front tends to look like a compromise. The jacket usually carries a little more shoulder, since the chest is doing more visual work. The overlap also makes the front heavier, so balance has to be adjusted at the back or the whole thing swings forward as you walk.

Then there is the waistcoat, which a double-breasted jacket makes redundant. The crossed front already does its work, and you would never see it. So a three-piece at $2,045 is almost always commissioned single-breasted, and a man who wants that layered look in a double-breasted jacket has it for the price of a two-piece.

The construction does not change either way. Every garment that leaves this house is full canvas and cut to an individual pattern, made by hand by Max in our atelier in Southern Brittany. The front style changes the drafting, not the making.

On women, and on evening clothes

The double-breasted jacket has been one of the most requested things we cut for women, and for good reason: the crossed front and the long lapel line do something for the shoulder and waist that is hard to achieve any other way. How a commission runs is set out on our page for women's bespoke suits in Los Angeles.

In the evening the double-breasted dinner jacket is the quietly correct answer fewer men know about. Because it is worn closed it needs no cummerbund and no waistcoat, which is one fewer thing to get wrong and cooler in a warm room. Our custom tuxedos and black tie page covers where it sits against the single-breasted shawl collar.

Which one to order first

If this is your first commission, we will usually steer you to single-breasted, in navy or charcoal, with a notch lapel at a medium width. Not out of timidity, but because it is the garment you will reach for most often. The second commission is where the double-breasted belongs, and by then we know how you stand. If you already own two or three suits that work, order it now.

Either way, the decision is easier made with cloth in your hands and finished jackets to hold against you. The first consultation runs an hour, there is no charge, and you will sit with Robb or Ben rather than a salesperson. Fittings are unlimited and included, and a year of complimentary alterations follows delivery. A two-piece suit starts at $1,795, and more on the cloths and the process is on our bespoke tailoring page. You can book a time at calendly.com/info-robbp/bespoke-mr-james-fitting, or telephone 310-503-3592 and we will find one. We are at 221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA 90293, open Monday to Sunday by appointment with 48 hours' notice, with free parking front and back.

Questions we are often asked

Is a double-breasted suit harder to wear than a single-breasted one?

Only in the sense that it has to stay fastened. Fit is the whole of it. Cut to your own pattern, with the stance set at your own waist, it is no more demanding than any other jacket. Ready-made double-breasted jackets, cut to an average and almost always too long in the body, are what gave the style its reputation.

Does a double-breasted jacket suit a shorter or heavier man?

More often than the man himself expects. On a shorter frame the long lapel line and the low fastening point lengthen the body, provided the stance is set at his own waist rather than at an average one. On a fuller waist the crossing cloth has to travel over the widest part of the body, which is a cutting problem rather than a reason against it: the stance goes lower, the lapel line runs longer, and the result is frequently slimming in a way a single-breasted jacket cannot manage. What flatters neither frame is a ready-made double-breasted jacket cut to an average.

What button arrangement should a double-breasted jacket have?

Six on two for a first one: six buttons on the front, the lower pair fastening and the top pair ornamental, with the fastening point at your natural waist. Six on one runs the lapel lower and opens up the chest, which is rakish and harder to carry. Four on two is cleaner and a little sharper. Four on one is the most confident of them and the least forgiving. Cut from your own pattern the stance moves to your height and your own waist, so none of these is a fixed option on a rail.

Should a double-breasted jacket ever be worn unbuttoned?

We would rather it were not. The front crosses the body by four or five inches and the cloth has nowhere to sit when it hangs open, which is why an unfastened double-breasted jacket reads as a coat that has given up. If you want a jacket you can open at the end of a long evening, that is a fair argument for single-breasted. The one concession is sitting down, where the fastening button may be undone and done up again on standing.

Can a single-breasted jacket be converted to double-breasted?

No. The overlap needs width in the front panels that a single-breasted jacket was never cut with, so there is no cloth to work with. It is a decision taken at the cutting stage. The reverse is not practical either, since the buttonholes and the lapel line would both be in the wrong place.

Is a double-breasted suit appropriate for an office in Los Angeles?

In navy or mid grey, six on two, at a moderate lapel width, yes. It reads as considered rather than theatrical. What makes a jacket look out of place in this city is rarely the number of buttons; it is weight of cloth and poor fit. Our notes on how a suit should fit cover the checks worth making in a mirror.