The Neapolitan soft shoulder, short jacket. Will it last?

[ethanm]

Does anyone REALLY care about what your suit shoulder looks like (unless it's not some hideous Pagoda style)? I mean, would someone on your board of directors (whoever you may be) really think "my sweet lord, is he wearing Neapolitan shoulders today? Fire him."
No. This is fantasy.

I think most people can sense more casual cues but are not able to articulate why.

 

[unbelragazzo]

I should clarify - I don't mean that if you wear a Neapolitan suit to work you will get laughed at and fired. I mean that these jackets don't project power and assertiveness in the same way a more classically British one does. I very much doubt if we'll ever see a US president addressing the nation in an unstructured, soft suit. Not that US politicians are paragons of sartorial elegance. All I'm saying is, these suits give off different impressions, and it's not unreasonable to have both and wear whatever best suits the occasion, as Mr. Tilley does.

 

[imatlas]



It seems to me that the Neapolitan look is nearly everywhere in men's clothing/fashion. I know it is the classic Neopolitan look but I wonder whether it will remain a standard in the US. Until recently, I thought the Saville row look (in general: shaped waist, defined shoulder, traditional proportions) was the high standard. Is it just that Neoploitan tailoring is soft and more comfortable to wear? Help me with this...

Are we talking fashion or conservative business dress? If you're talking about what the Brad Pitts of the world are wearing, it will change within a season or two, as it always does. In conservative business dress terms, I'm not sure that Saville Row style has ever really been the standard. If anything, the Neapolitan shoulder has more in common with the sack suit than with a strong SR or Roman shoulder.

 

[Cliff Huxtable]

I think most people can sense more casual cues but are not able to articulate why.

I agree with this, actually - in the same way people can tell a nice suit from a cheap, ill-fitting one.

 

[dfoverdx]

Bumped after 5Y... It's interesting to see the perception of Neapolitan suit at that time. Maybe men workwear is also changed and became more sportive over the years but clearly soft shoulder is nothing to do with fashion, it's not kind of sportive look, it's not less powerful than classic English suit.
Last but not least it's wrong to say that Neapolitan jacket is short, au contrary many tailors tend to make a rather long jacket. Solito, Panico, Formosa, Volpe, they all make by default slightly longer jacket.

 

[SartodiNapoli]

It will last because has been there for 85 years and because people are tired of stiff, heavy, ugly and squared English rtw like style.

 

[comrade]



It will last because has been there for 85 years and because people are tired of stiff, heavy, ugly and squared English rtw like style.

This comment ignores the prevalence, at least for decades ,
of the American Ivy League or natural shoulder style and its'
derivitaves which is neither heavy, ugly ( subjective) , or squared.
Admittedly, this style is no longer dominant in tailored clothing in
the US but it certainly served as a counterweight to the English influence.
Unfortunately what passes as Italian, or Neapolitan style, which I call
"Italian for the US market", the look perpetuated by Saks, Niemans,
Barneys, Wilkes in the Bay Area, bears only passing resemblance to
the elegant RTW I saw in Naples, Rome, and Milan during my last visit.
Short of traveling to New York, where some of the "good" Italian
clothing is available, or better still Europe, the internet is the only
reliable source for this style.

 

[TheFoo]

I don't think "Neapolitan" styling cues ever took hold of the mainstream suit-wearing public--at least, not in the United States. While soft, natural shoulder lines, shirt-set sleeves, barchetta pockets, etc., certainly did become popular amongst menswear enthusiasts, they never became prevalent amongst guys going to work in midtown Manhattan. I don't think the average suit-wearing man in America can spot a lapped seam or tell you what "spalla camicia" means.

Sure, shorter, closer fitting jackets have become fashionable, but Thom Browne is at least as strong a driving force in that regard.

As for the online menswear community--I haven't been around enough in recent years to say what is and isn't fashionable, but I don't see a compelling reason why so-called Neapolitan tailoring would be particularly resistant to changing trends.

 

[UrbanComposition]

I had the opportunity to see older pics of Arrigo's stuff at his sartoria, and the only thing that seemed to have changed over the years is the lapel gorge. Belly, sleeve style, jacket length, etc, have stayed the same for 30+ years. Perhaps southern Italian tailoring has recently seen interest in menswear communities, but those guys also do "spalla attaccata" and "rollino" so I'm not sure the soft shoulder style will necessarily go away.

 

[aristoi bcn]

I had the opportunity to see older pics of Arrigo's stuff at his sartoria, and the only thing that seemed to have changed over the years is the lapel gorge. Belly, sleeve style, jacket length, etc, have stayed the same for 30+ years. Perhaps southern Italian tailoring has recently seen interest in menswear communities, but those guys also do "spalla attaccata" and "rollino" so I'm not sure the soft shoulder style will necessarily go away.

What is "spalla attacata"? Is the sicilian term for "spalla cadente"?

 

[comrade]

The style has been around at least since the fifties:

https://therake.com/stories/icons/directors-cut-vittorio-de-sica/

Look at the cut on his suit in the photo of him deplaning 1955


Antonioni and Vitti in Venice:


https://cdn.cloudpix.co/images/moni...562edab1f9efa8c3154485cf023-large-1395234.jpg

Gabriele Ferzetti and Vitti in L'Avventura 1960:

https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/allies/images/xdraco1.jpg.pagespeed.ic.zYV4rc9ODu.jpg

http://micheleroohani.com/blog/wp-c...-shadow-gabriele-ferzetti-michele-roohani.jpg

Ferzetti wears a shorter jacket with more shoulder "expression"

 

[IndianBoyz]

I think this jacket is made specifically for the mediterannean climate and style. The jacket is not so much "heavy" to wear in warm weather and rather laid back, almost bordering casual attire.