Someone asked, "What's up with the rolled pant legs in each of these outfits?" So here's a thread on the history behind men cuffing pants, the meaning of cuffs, and how to think about when you might want to cuff your pants. This thread covers tailored trousers and jeans. 🧵
As a consequence of the Second British Empire, much of traditional Western men's dress comes from England. There, men of means had wardrobes cleaved between country and city. County clothes were for sport. City clothes were for business. Hence the phrase, "no brown in town."
No one really knows when British men started cuffing their pants, as much of menswear history is muddled with lore. But one story suggests it started with King Edward VII, who turned up his pants to prevent the hems from getting dirty in the mud or rain.
Regardless of who started doing it, the detail was considered casual. It was more often seen on country suits worn for sport while trudging through the muddy countryside than on slick worsteds worn for business around London's streets.
This was until Edward VIII came along. By all accounts, Edward VIII (also known as the Duke of Windsor) was a blithering idiot, but he was also the single most influential figure in men's fashion during the 20th century. When he wore something, others followed.
The Duke loved breaking menswear rules and making his outfits more casual (anyone who laments the casualization of men's style in the modern era is unfamiliar with history). The Duke's father, George V, often criticized him for wearing turn-ups while inspecting troops.
The Duke didn't care and made cuffs a style signature. Soon, everyone was doing it, including the future members of the Royal family. It also became common to see them on "city suits" made by some of Savile Row's most traditional tailors.
Americans have always been about making clothes a little more casual. We popularized the single-breasted two-piece suit, the lounge suit as business daywear, penny and tassel loafers with suits, oxford button-down collars, seersucker, patchwork madras, 3 roll 2 sack jackets, etc
So it's no surprise that Americans adopted cuffs. Flat-front pants with cuffed hems were a signature of a style imported from Britain, championed by Brooks Brothers, and spread across the US through Ivy clothiers. Note RFK's cuffed hem and 2 button sleeve (both casual details)
There is a somewhat concurrent history here with jeans. In the early days, jeans were made from unsanforized denim, which is to say that the fabric was not pre-shrunk. This meant that the jeans shrank a little over time with each wash.
To prevent jeans from being too short ("high waters"), people cuffed them so the length was adjustable.
Over time, jean production became modernized. Denim was more commonly sanforized. Shuttle looms were replaced by power looms. There was also pre-washing and -distressing.
But there were also people—many in Japan—who loved those original pre-1970s Levis jeans. Things made from raw, unsanforized denim that had been woven on old shuttle looms. Collectors looked for a "Big E" on the Levis tab and a selvedge stripe on the inside leg.
As the cost of vintage jeans went up, people started to make new jeans using these old methods. That's where you get shops such as @selfedge (my favorite denim store). You may ask, "how can jeans cost $300+?" It's because these are made in small batches using niche methods.
For people who love that vintage look, they may turn up the cuffs to show off the selvedge stripe (pic 1). This admittedly used to be a rarer detail 10-20 years ago than it is today (but it's still cool, IMO). Others wear cuffs bc they take inspiration from vintage looks (pic 2)
So, how should you think about cuffs in relation to your outfits?
For trousers, adding a cuff can help them hang better, as you have a bit of weight at the end of your pants. They are fine on anything except tuxedos (as this is a casual detail).
To me, pleated pants almost cry out for cuffs. Flat fronts can go either way (although the Ivy thing to do is cuff). Anything between 1.5" and 2" is fine, although narrow pant legs should be on the smaller side. I like my friend Dick Carroll's guide here (IG dick.carroll)
For denim, I think cuffs are good if the outfit feels classic or vintage-inspired. For a more contemporary outfit, such as what you see at Lemaire or Margiela, I think a plain hem or even a stacked leg looks better.
A graphic designer friend once put it in very useful terms: you can think of cuffs like the serif on a font. A serif can make typography look more traditional, while a sans-serif looks more modern. So traditional tailoring? Cuff. More modern look? Plain hem.
If you just bought a new pair of pants and you're unsure whether you should get them finished with a cuff or a plain hem, I recommend starting with a cuff. You can always take cuffs out, but you can't put them in.
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A friend of mine and I were recently discussing how to spot quality. I firmly believe that some of the best work today is done by small, independent workshops, not large luxury brands. So I want to highlight one of my favorite makers, Chester Mox.
Part of the problem nowadays is that many people don't know how to spot the more substantive markers for quality, and they can get quickly swept up by brand recognition, the romance of luxury, or celebrity endorsements.
For example, in 2010, the UK Advertising Standards Authority banned a series of Louis Vuitton advertisements. The ads featured paintings that looked like they were made by Johannes Vermeer, and underneath each image was some breathless prose.
A big difference is fit. A lot of guys nowadays wear clothes that are too small. Notice that Hoffman's coat ends about halfway from his collar to what would be the floor; Gaetz's jacket barely covers his rear. As an effect, Gaetz looks like he's wearing his little brother's suit
Overly tight clothes can cause all sorts of problems. Straining at the waist. A collar that doesn't hug the neck. Divots at the sleeveheads. Lapels that buckle away from the chest. Etc.
Hoffman's coat isn't fastened, but if it were, you would not see these issues.
He's wearing a ready-to-wear suit that was made to imitate certain Southern Italian tailoring details, typically done by bespoke tailors. Before I elaborate, I should note that there's nothing wrong with wearing RTW suits or machine-made versions of hand-executed details.
The pleating you see here is called a waterfall sleevehead. It's associated, but not exactly the same, with something called spalla camicia, which means "shirt shoulder" in Italian.
A normal suit will have a shoulder that looks like it's running under the sleeve (pic 1). A spalla camicia shoulder will look like the sleeve is running under the shoulder, not coming on top of it (pic 2). It's called a "shirt shoulder" because this is how your shirts are made.
almost all outerwear looks better when it's worn open.
this is especially true of single-breasted overcoats, which can make you look like you're wrapped in a bolt of cloth when they're closed 🧵
a reasonable person will say: "are you fucking stupid? is this a joke? do you know how cold it is you absolute cancer on this app??"
one solution is to wear knitwear underneath. and a scarf. and if it's really cold, wool baselayers (e.g., smartwool or woolx)
if you wear tailored clothing, you can also layer a suit or sport coat underneath, and then fasten that jacket. the open overcoat in this case will help create visual interest, and allow the viewer to see the layers.
I see this often: the idea that expensive clothes are not worth their asking price, and that these factories use the same labor practices as fast fashion. The idea throws doubt on companies trying to do the right thing, and gives cover to fast fashion. But is it true? 🧵
It's true that price alone is no guarantee of quality or ethical production. But it's untrue that this is a reasonable characterization of the market. Let's do some comparisons.
Let's start with a high-end American-made suit because it's what I know best.
At a US suit factory, a garment worker's wage will be tied to their skill set. But the average worker will make about $15/ hour. For a 40-hour work week, that's $600. They also get benefits, such as healthcare, which adds to the cost of manufacturing the suit.
One of my favorite winter garments is a handknit guernsey from Flambourgh Marine, which, from what I can tell, is a British sweater business connected to a bed & breakfast. 🧵
Most people know about Arans, the sweater Chris Evans wore in Knives Out. As the story goes, Aran patterns used to be distinct to certain families, which allowed families to identify the poor, dead bodies of drowned fisherman washed ashore (story is almost certainly apocryphal)
The lesser-known fisherman knit is the gunersey, which is distinct from the Aran in that it typically features a high neck collar and dropped shoulder seams. The sweaters are knitted "on the round," which means they're seamless.