DO get your sleeves shortened if they are too long.
- Ideally, the sleeve of your jacket should sit right on your wrist. The sleeve of your shirt should be half an inch longer.

DON'T do up the bottom button of your jacket.
- You’ll look like it’s the first time you’ve worn a suit in your life
 
This week’s Style Counsel post covers two of the most basic tips that separate the men from the boys…
 

Sleeves are for arms, gloves are for hands.

Nothing makes a guy look like he’s wearing his dad’s suit faster than jacket sleeves that are too long; ideally the sleeve of your jacket should sit right on your wrist and your shirt sleeves should be half and inch longer (any reputable menswear store will be able to tailor the sleeves to the correct length for you or point you in the direction of a good tailor).
If you need to keep your hands warm then please buy some gloves!

Which button and why?

Perhaps the single most common mistake that men make when wearing a jacket these days is doing up the bottom button – so here is the one golden rule that every man should abide by; the bottom button of your jacket is designed to be left undone (rules being what they are, there are always exceptions; the exception to this rule being a one-button jacket).

“Why?” you may well ask. Well apparently it all started with King Edward VII who, although being considered something of a fashionista during his reign (1901-1910) was a little bit, well, how do I put this politely? Fat. So much so that he had to leave the bottom button of his jacket undone out of necessity since he couldn’t actually do it up (the flaw with this theory is that you’d expect a King would have his clothes made to measure).

As a result all modern garments are actually slightly cut-away below the second-to-last button meaning that doing the bottom button up guarantees the jacket doesn’t sit properly. Try it yourself; stand in front of a mirror and only do the bottom button up, you’ll notice the jacket looks a bit of a mess. Then undo the bottom button and do up the one above it, you’ll immediately notice how much better it looks!

So here is the essential guide to buttoning your jacket:
One-button jackets: yes you’re fine to do this button up.
Two-button jackets: do up the top button only.
Three-button jackets: doing up the top button is optional, the middle button is mandatory and the bottom button is forbidden.
A couple of weeks ago this Style Counsel post provided advice about which buttons should or should not be done up on a suit jacket. However it was only this morning when a friend texted, telling me that he was wearing his new three-piece suit for the first time but unsure about which buttons should be done up, that I realised I’d neglected to mention waistcoats.

Unlike jackets there aren’t any exceptions; always leave the bottom button undone.

For those of you who’ve never worn a three-piece I’d suggest you give it a go. Rembrandt offers waistcoats to match our most popular lines or you can have one made through our Personal Tailoring service.

There is something about wearing a three-piece that feels pretty cool; to quote my aforementioned friend “I feel very Wall St meets High St".