Technique · Construction
Unstructured construction
Shape from cutting and ironwork alone, with nothing inside the coat to help.
An unstructured jacket has little or no canvas, no shoulder padding and often only a partial lining. Its shape comes entirely from how the panels are cut and how the cloth is shrunk and stretched with an iron. Done well it is the hardest kind of jacket to make; done badly it is a shirt with lapels.
The difficulty
Remove the canvas and you remove every opportunity to correct. A structured coat can be persuaded into shape by what is inside it; an unstructured one shows precisely what the cutter cut and what the presser pressed.
The technique that does the work is ironwork: shrinking and stretching the cloth with a hot iron and damp cloth so it takes a three-dimensional form before it is ever sewn. A shoulder can be shrunk to curve, a chest stretched to fill. This is the oldest skill in tailoring and the least visible.
The market problem
Because unstructured jackets contain less material and fewer operations, they are cheaper to make, and they are widely sold at a premium as the more artisanal option. Both things can be true of different garments, and telling them apart from a photograph is close to impossible. The tell is in how the coat sits on a body when the wearer is standing normally. A well-cut unstructured jacket has a defined chest and a shoulder line that follows the shoulder; a poorly cut one collapses into whatever is underneath and rides up at the neck.
What to look at
Put the jacket on and stand normally. A well-cut unstructured coat has a defined chest that stands away from the shirt, a shoulder line that follows the shoulder without collapsing at the end, and a collar that stays against the neck when you move.
A poorly cut one drapes onto whatever is underneath, rides up at the back of the neck, and has a shoulder that ends in a soft fold. The difference is entirely in the cutting and it is visible in five seconds on a body, and invisible on a hanger, which is where most of them are sold.
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01
Figure historique Giorgio Armani
Took the structure out of the jacket in 1975 and changed what a suit could be.
02
Style de coupe Neapolitan tailoring
Neapolitan jackets are as light and soft as possible, with little shoulder padding, gathered sleeves and a high armhole, and are the world's most copied style.
03
Histoire How Naples took the weight out of the jacket
Neapolitan tailoring began in 1930s Naples, where workshops like Rubinacci removed the padding, stiffening and lining from English jackets so they felt light in the heat.
04
Technique Ironwork
Ironwork is a tailor using heat, moisture and pressure to shrink and stretch wool into body-shaped curves, like a rounded shoulder, before sewing it.
05
Guide Dressing well in heat
In hot weather, an open-weave cloth and an unlined, softly built jacket keep you cooler than simply choosing the lightest fabric available.
06
Technique Spalla camicia (the shirt shoulder)
A sleeve set into a jacket the way a sleeve is set into a shirt: inside out, with the fullness gathered.
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Unstructured
Terme de glossaire
A jacket with little or no canvas and no shoulder padding. Harder to cut well than a structured one, not easier, and frequently sold at a premium despite containing less.
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Vincenzo Attolini
Artisan · Naples
Vincenzo Attolini was the Naples cutter credited with the soft Neapolitan jacket, made without shoulder padding and with almost no inner stiffening.
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Half lining
Terme de glossaire
A jacket lined only across the upper back and the fronts, leaving the lower back unlined. Lighter and cooler; the internal seams are then finished by hand because they can be seen.
Crédits photographiques 7
- An unlined jacket turned inside out: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Armani gowns in library: Photograph · Gerda Arendt · Wikimedia Commons · CC0
- A soft Neapolitan-cut jacket on a dummy: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- A linen jacket in Mediterranean sun: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- A tailor's iron shaping a shoulder over a ham: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- A linen jacket, fresco swatch and panama hat: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- A shoulder with the sleeve head gathered like a shirt: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art