Suits with Notched Lapels - Watch How they Change

It requires a very keen eye to see evolution, especially when it comes to Mens Suits. Every year and every season something is going to change in regards to the suit you are about to buy or are shopping for. One suit detail that changes ever so slowly but changes nonetheless are notched lapels. You see, the notched lapel is by far the most popular style lapel that you will see on a suit especially since most suits are of the single breasted variety. The notched lapel is just as the name suggests. Most mens suit jackets have lapels which are the folded collar that wraps around the neck and gracefully blends into where the front jacket buttons lie. Well on a suit with notched lapels, on either side of the lapels you will literally see what looks like a notch cut out of the lapels. It is these suit lapel notches that I am going to discuss.

Now you would imagine that notched lapels just stay the same, year after year and season after season but they don't. Every year they seem to change their shape just a little bit. If you look at a suit that is older than five years or so or even ten years ago, you will immediately see what the difference is in notched lapels. You see since suit designers that create classic style mens suits don't have a whole lot of change that they can work with because the suits need to fit into an office environment, they need to keep their design changes into very tight parameters. The notch on the lapel is one of these parameters. You see, if you look at a current notched lapel on a suit, the opening of the notch may about a inch wide or maybe a little less. If you take a look at a suits lapels from let's say ten years ago, you will see a striking difference that you didn't realize existed.

The opening on a notched lapel suit from ten years ago will look dramatically wider. Perhaps an inch and a quarter wide which gives the suit a different and dated look altogether. You will see that the suit with the wider notch in the lapels makes the whole lapel just look that much different and that will lend itself to the fact that you really don't want to wear a suit that is ten years old because it will look dated when you put it next to newer suit even thought the suit may be in good condition. It will just subtly look out of date, so you may just want to give that suit to the Goodwill because if you want to look current, your suit needs to be current.