Gauntlet Cuffs

[gdl203]

I've seen suit jackets with them - including an Oxxford MTM and I found it absolutely hideous and extremely conspicuous. IMO it screams "look at me I'm different, I can afford an MTM suit!!" and is aesthetically very unpleasing.

Btw, the ones I've seen were not as thin as mack's pictures above but rather wide cuffs like the OP's pic

 

[Ivan Kipling]

I have an ABL cashmere coat with a turn back cuff. Doesn't bother me. Although I do prefer a straight sleeve.

 

[Toiletduck]

Originally Posted by Film Noir Buff

The turn back sleeve cuff is an interesting detail. Personally, I think it can make a suit look more handsome, and lend the wearer a hint of belonging to a more rarified circle. How the average person will react is another matter altogether. In England, this sort of detail while not common would not be remarked at. That's because the English care more about the color and pattern of the suit cloth than the details. You can wear a lot more styling details than in America. Americans like to scrub the individuality out of others, it may be that we have an assembly line mentality or it may be that individualists are not good for the bottom line. It is the reason why you would see a very serious man in England wearing bright red socks with a dark city suit and an American might think that very odd seeing the same on an American in a board room meeting. Quirkiness is often not associated with power. Although it changes as you ascend the power ladder, Americans react (and sometimes negatively) to custom details. I am not sure why that is. Maybe they would appreciate it on an Englishman but resent it on an American. Americans can broadly be separated into two camps in the workplace, those who think you are inferior to them and believe any demonstration of outward specialness on another is a form of snobbery to be resented, and those who are fascinated with being special themselves and want to learn how to emulate it. I have experienced both first hand for a while because my clothing has always been as one female lawyer recently put it "special". I have never gotten a suit with turn back sleeve cuffs because I have always dressed differently enough that I felt yet another detail would cause too much distraction. However, I am now having one made. My tailor sews through the jacket sleeve, a separate cuff and therefore it is removable. The reason I believe it is alright to this is that America is in a transition with regard to custom detail and eccentricity in clothes. There is also a new interest in all things custom as befits a people with too much money chasing too few goods. Five years ago my SB peak lapel suits excited a lot of curiosity and even prompted the question "Can you really put those sorts of lapels on a SB suit?" Now, peak lapels are considered standard and most Americans will tell you they’ve always been around, testimony both to our Nation's marketing talents and the fact that even the most extreme detail becomes acceptable if the designers say they are. With details like hacking pockets becoming standard, can the sleeve cuff be far behind? In any case, my theory is that Americans are becoming more tolerant to individualism in the suit again. I will be putting my theory to the test to see how people react. I’ll bet background will play a role. For instance, I have a navy suit with hot pink beaded pinstripes. One CEO couldn’t get over how beautiful the suit was, a few women stopped me on the street to say they loved the suit but a tekkie from a relatively austere background remarked at how cute it was that I was wearing a pink suit, and I am pretty sure that wasn't a compliment.

Socially it will be interesting to see how people and in particular women react to sleeve cuffs. And in business circles, I will wonder what people will make of them. Of course, one might never fully know what someone's reaction to them will be; sometimes the worst reactions are the ones you never hear about. The suit I am getting made with the sleeve cuffs is a worsted flannel. Which brings up an interesting point. These cuffs look better on nubbier fabrics. Probably because the chunkier and nubbier the fabric, thes more relief between sleeve and cuff. Perhaps this is why the cuff has survived most commonly on overcoats. Assuming we are using a self material, the flatter the cuff against the jacket sleeve, the more likely it is to look like an imperfection in the sleeve itself, at a distance.
Thanks for the great information, Mack thanks for the pics, they give me a much better feel on what they should look like now. I'm going to the tailors this weekend, I will consider getting this option added to a linen suit, although more like the picture of Yann Debelle de Montby. This is definitely tempting especially if "removable"...

.. As with most of my clothes, the option will be made to be inconspicuous, something for myself really rather than the "look at me" type Thanks for sharing guys.

 

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by Toiletduck

Thanks for the great information, Mack thanks for the pics, they give me a much better feel on what they should look like now.

I'm going to the tailors this weekend, I will consider getting this option added to a linen suit, although more like the picture of Yann Debelle de Montby. This is definitely tempting especially if "removable"...

..

As with most of my clothes, the option will be made to be inconspicuous, something for myself really rather than the "look at me" type

Thanks for sharing guys.

Speaking of pics:



On the subject of removability. I got the sense that this option is far from uniform amongst tailors, some of them make it in a way that it is hard to remove and is an out growth of the sleeve, or some such. I would make sure you get a meeting of the minds going.

Although I like the one on Gekko, I think Corvato is going to make one for me that comes straight down over the two forward sleeve buttons that will button through the cuff.

 

[eg1]

Film Noir Buff writes:

Which brings up an interesting point. These cuffs look better on nubbier fabrics. Probably because the chunkier and nubbier the fabric, the more relief between sleeve and cuff.

As such would you expect to find this detail more often on odd jackets than suits?

 

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by eg1

Film Noir Buff writes:



As such would you expect to find this detail more often on odd jackets than suits?

As originally conceived, I would expect them to be more common on flannels, camel hairs, saxonies, cashemeres, tweeds and 13 oz or heavier worsteds.

They used to be quite common and steadily became demonized. the reason would be interesting to figure out.

As they have survived, they would be more common on odd jackets or on dinner jackets when the cuff is often made out of silk facing.


Now that their original social context has disappeared they are ready to be reintroduced and maybe applied where they were never used before.

Totally acceptable for leisure, business circles will be the big test. What is interesting in the States is that so few people outside of clothing circles will recognize them, I wonder what sort of reaction they will have.

Richard Widmark's Harry Fabian wears them in "Night and the City".

It would be interesting to know how they fell out of favor and if they lost caste. Maybe the Goodfellas crowd used them too much in the 60s?


It is very difficult to gauge how an American will react to something. If I could erase my mind of a love of clothes and look at the cuffs on a jacket sleeve, then write it down and then become myself again, i could give you a good read. I can tell you when I first saw the detail in Wall Street, I was attracted to it bc it hinted at exclusiveness and I considered myself interested in special things.

Maybe some here could give tips for an experiment to gauge people's reactions?

 

[mack11211]

I wore the checked flannel here in Williamsburg, Brooklyn this afternoon.

All anyone noticed was that my jacket fit me.

 

[Svenn]

Originally Posted by Film Noir Buff

The suit I am getting made with the sleeve cuffs is a worsted flannel. Which brings up an interesting point. These cuffs look better on nubbier fabrics. Probably because the chunkier and nubbier the fabric, thes more relief between sleeve and cuff. Perhaps this is why the cuff has survived most commonly on overcoats. Assuming we are using a self material, the flatter the cuff against the jacket sleeve, the more likely it is to look like an imperfection in the sleeve itself, at a distance.

I agree, the cuff needs to have some relief from the sleeve so it looks like a functional, actual cuff... if it's flat and plastered on like the Steven Hitchcock examples below, it looks like a decorative artifice. It also needs to be fairly wide, then thin one in the last example doesn't seem to match the sleeve very well:

The one below is a little better because it has more relief from the sleeve, but I think the sleeve's circumference overall looks too large, giving it a bulky appearance.

All in all, I think if it is done right, turnback cuffs on a suit jacket will just look like an overcoat's and could look very normal, not showy. Do others agree?

 

[George]

Originally Posted by Svenn

I agree, the cuff needs to have some relief from the sleeve so it looks like a functional, actual cuff... if it's flat and plastered on like the Steven Hitchcock examples below, it looks like a decorative artifice. It also needs to be fairly wide, then thin one in the last example doesn't seem to match the sleeve very well:

The one below is a little better because it has more relief from the sleeve, but I think the sleeve's circumference overall looks too large, giving it a bulky appearance.

All in all, I think if it is done right, turnback cuffs on a suit jacket will just look like an overcoat's and could look very normal, not showy. Do others agree?
I'm sorry your post seems contradictory.

 

[Holdfast]

Excellent thread necro. Enjoyed it more the second time.

I like the idea of big fat gauntlet cuffs on a flashy velvet jacket, possibly with some gold or silver buttons. Sort of like a modern interpretation on a Regency frock coat, but normal jacket cut, while being a bit more formal than a smoking jacket .