With his years of experience as an OGER tailoring specialist, Arthur Peule knows better than anyone how to enhance any body type with the right fit of a blazer. In this blog he shares his tips & tricks, so that you know what to look for when purchasing a blazer.

As a tailor, what do you pay attention to when designing a blazer?

'As a tailor, I always look at the posture of the customer first, because a jacket itself is simply straight. However, as soon as you put it on, it changes due to the specific posture of the person wearing it. Tall men tend to lean forward, while corpulent men tend to lean back a little. With someone who leans forward, the jacket slides back in the neck, I have to take that into account when measuring. So when someone comes in, I can already see from his posture which adjustments I have to make to the pattern. A tailor compensates for the unevenness and ensures that a suit visually balances the man's body.'

If I want a nice blazer, do I have to have it tailored?

'If your posture is very out of balance, it is difficult to find a good jacket on the rack of a regular clothing store. Then you are actually forced to buy custom-made. In the past, that was too expensive for many people, but nowadays you have at OGER already one tailor-made suit for 800 euros. For that price I completely customized the suit to the customer's body.'  

What are the criteria?

'The most important thing for a jacket is the right width. The Netherlands has many tall men. The mistake that is often made with tall men is that the length is taken into account. For example, such a jacket is long enough for the wearer, but at the same time also very wide. And that is difficult to alter. Altering a long and wide jacket requires a lot of adjustments, while you should try to change the basic pattern as little as possible. That is why I always take the width measurement as a basis. I can make a jacket a few centimetres longer without affecting the model. That is possible up to approximately six centimetres. I can even make a sleeve ten centimetres longer.'

And if you're not tall, but plump?

'For a very corpulent person I use the chest and shoulders as a reference point, not the stomach. If you use the stomach as a starting point, the rest will also be large and wide. Then you have the same problem as when you use the length measurement as a basis for a tall man. This means that too much is adjusted in the basic pattern. If you use the chest and shoulders as a reference point for a corpulent man, you can add an extra piece of fabric to the side panel and the front panel.'

What is the most difficult posture for a tailor?

'The tricky part is the Jerommekes. Normally, two fitting sessions are enough, but for people who regularly visit the gym, you often need three sessions. If you look at the films from the nineties with Steven Seagal, you know what I mean. That's not how it should be done! It looks like there are huge pieces of cloth hanging around you. What you also often see with men with a big chest is that the lapels at their chest stick out. I prevent that by applying a so-called figure seam in the inside of the jacket. That gives a nice curve, so that the jacket is pulled over the chest, as it were. With very expensive brands, such as Brioni a figure seam is also applied to the outer fabric.'

So a tailor camouflages the imperfections in a body?

'That's right. But clothes can also enhance a body, at least in a visual sense. A good tailor makes a man look wider than he really is... which is actually what every man wants.'

How do tailors do that then?

By adding half a centimetre of fabric to both sides from the waist to the shoulder. This creates the so-called "chalice shape". You then pull the shoulder a little further over the deltoid muscle, the upper muscle in the arm, on both sides. If you then look at the man's back, at the back of his jacket, you will see that it has taken on the shape of a chalice. He appears wider. I recommend such an intervention for tall men anyway. In total, I then add one centimetre to the width of the jacket.

But no body is the same, right?

'That's right. What you often see is that almost every man has a shoulder difference. One shoulder is usually slightly lower than the other shoulder, about a centimeter. This can have all kinds of causes, including whether you are left- or right-handed, whether you have done a lot of sports or have had injuries. I regularly come across men who have broken their collarbone and have a piano key fracture. This means that there is a bone sticking up at the shoulder that can be depressed. I have to take that into account when blazer '

How do you prevent the back of your blazer from riding up?

'When you move in your jacket, there is almost always a horizontal fold visible at the top of the back. That is unavoidable. After all, you have to move... you are not a mannequin! If you have a high shoulder, that fold will shoot into the shape of a smiley. If you have a low shoulder, it will shoot into the shape of a sad-face. It is my job as a dressmaker to show as little fold as possible.'

How long should the blazer be?

Over the years, the length of the jacket has become shorter. The waist was raised, which caused the button that you close (the top button on a two-button jacket) to be higher. The button should be at the slimmest point of the body. As you get older, that point will be a little higher anyway, because you gain weight. Most men then get those hams above the waistband, which causes the button to slide up to a spot just above your navel. If you are very plump, it is a different story. Then you actually do not have a slim point. Then it is important to make the lapels deep, so that you appear taller. But because the waist and the button have come to be higher, the jackets have become shorter over the years.

So what is the ideal length for a blazer?

I always keep the rule that I don't want to see any buttocks. The jacket stops where the legs begin. In other words: the bottom of the jacket is at the bottom of your crotch. Then it is all well balanced. You can still see your legs well, which in optical terms creates length.'

Split or not?

'No split is Italian, one split is American, two splits is English. The first two are almost never seen anymore. Even in Italy you don't see the Italian split anymore, there almost everyone wears a double split. I almost always recommend that myself. Especially for people who have large thighs and/or buttocks (for example because of sports). If you wear a jacket with a single split on it, that split will ''open up''. A double split compensates for that. You then have no view, because the fabric under the two splits slightly overlaps. The fabric falls partly over each other, so that the buttocks do not stick out. With large buttocks you should always choose a double split.'