Derek at Die, Workwear posted a few years ago about straight vs. bellied lapels. At the time, he said that while he had strong opinions on other aspects of tailoring—like having extended shoulders—he wasn’t sure which type of lapel shape he preferred. In usual Derek fashion, he posted a strong selection of photos illustrating both types. If you’ve not heard this term before, a belly on the lapel simply refers to the curve that starts at the button and goes up toward the notch or peak.
My response back then was strongly in favor of a straight lapel, or a slightly concave one (where it curves inward, as opposed to curving outward as with a belly). In fact, one of the things I love so much about Eidos’ lapel design under Antonio Ciongoli was that he designed his lapels with that concave shape. He originally pitched it as being a flattering cut for men by helping to visually slim the waist and broaden the shoulders (at 1:22 in that linked video).
I was smart enough then not to assume my taste would never change. But here we are, three years later, and they haven’t. My preference is still for a straight lapel, with the slight negative belly seen on Eidos’ jackets my ideal. The exception to this is in a double breasted silhouette—to give the lapels some oomph, I think a belly is required, and if they’re too straight, they feel too sharp and severe. My double-breasted SuitSupply Jort jacket is a perfect example.
What do you think? Do you have a strong preference one way or another, and if so why? Sound off in the comments!
Below is my original Tumblr response to Derek’s article:
I do not like bellied lapels. Actually Eidos has lapels that have a slight negative belly! It’s one thing I love about them actually.
Though, starting in AW15, Antonio and Greg straightened out the lapels on the No Man Walks Alone cut that Eidos makes. This navy fresco suit shows how, with the lapel roll, the effect is still there. Compare with the brown Lorenzo cut jacket below (which has negative belly cut into it and predates the navy fresco suit pictured above it by a year).
The most typical Eidos cut of traditional tailored jacket, the Tenero, is a bit tougher to pin down—if it is cut with a negative belly, it is almost indistinguishable. Below, a current season Tenero jacket.
The Eidos cut that Bloomingdale’s carries (the Balthazar) has a slight belly, and is two-button. I do not buy it and have no interest in doing so, for those two reasons exactly.
Anyway, back to the overall discussion of bellied vs. straight, I’m almost certain that my tastes will change over time and I won’t have such strong opinions in the future. The jackets some of the dudes in Derek’s collection of photos look great. On me, I’m still a straight-lapel or slight inverse lapel guy, but we’ll see how that morphs over time.
