sleeve length

[Chad Sanborn]

What is the appropriate lenght or ratio between coat/shirt sleeve?
I know the shirt should stick out somewhat. But what is too far?

Chad

[Matt Deckard]

Problem today with some shirts is that many have shirt sleaves that are too big at the cuff and they can hang a bit over the hand... move in the button.

To be old school, a half inch or less of cotton should be showing between jacket and hand while arms are at rest.

This also leads back to armholes on suits being too big. If the suit has nice fitted high cut armholes, your sleeves ride up less. If like most modern jackets the armholes are big, the sleeves ride up and you will have way too much cuf showing when you sit and have your arms forward. If you buy a jacket with armholes that you feel cause the sleaves to ride up too much, you may want to keep the sleeves a bit on the longer side showing no cuff.

[binkmeisterRick]

What I hate is that for me to find a nice dress shirt with a comfortable neck, the sleeves usually end up being too long. I'm not overweight, but my build is such that I often have to compromise neck fit or sleeve length. I'd love to have all my shirts custom fit, but with my budget being as it is, I settle for longer sleeves.

bink

[Matt Deckard]

Used to be a time when all sleeve lengths were too long... that is when they had sleeve garters. Measured sleeves sold in stores have been around for about 100 years -- fairly recent. I used to have to buy my sleeves too long too.

[Matt Deckard]

This is a pretty good length for jacket sleeves. You see alot of suits where the sleeves are pretty long during the 40's, and Bogart wore his long in many of his movies, though I preffer to have my hands clear of obstructions and about a half inch of shirt cuff showing. If your shirt cuff is too loose, have the button moved so the cuff is close to your wrist.

[Ferragamo]

I like the length hear also on the suit shown, but I usually give myself a little more shirt exposure since I always wear french cuffs and I like my cuff links to peak out just a little. Also, I like to show a little contrast of shirt color on suit color.

[Chad Sanborn]

In traditional suits the sleeve is closer to that which Matt speaks of. The shirt should come to the break of the wrist. (where the wrist/hand meet at the base of the thumb.) The coat should be about 1/2 inch shorter when the arms are at the side.
Older musicians often preferred to have longer sleeves. The thinking was that the shirt sticking out detracted from the visual of the instrament they were holding.

Chad