Hanging jacket on coat rack

Marc Chevalier said:

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In rural areas, men would hang their suit jacket on a nail. It's true.


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When they drive the nail through the suit you gotta worry...

BanjoMerlin said:

If you are the only one wearing a suitcoat/sportcoat because everyone else has taken their's off it can indeed be impolite.

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Is this a written rule of etiquette or are you just making this up?

dnjan said:

Out of curiosity, do you hang said topcoat on a hanger or on a peg when at work or at a restaurant?

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Don,

My two heavyweight wool topcoats are intended to be hung from a coat hook for brief periods, such as a few hours off-and-on at work. They were made to be used. In a restaurant, provided there is space, I fold the coat and place it beside me in the booth, even when a peg is provided; not because I don't think that the structure of the coat was designed to handle the weight, but because I have no direct control over the surrounding environmental factors.

One of those coats is a midshipman's topcoat from the naval academy (not mine originally and without the shoulder tabs which I would not wear were they present, out of the respect I have for those who do have the privilege to wear them), the other is a db heavyweight wool herringbone for a business man to wear during Nebraska winter weather conditions. I have my eye on a couple other, similar items of old school durable functionality that I have not yet had a good place to store in the off-seasons, and I have actually very few days out of the year when I am able to use the ones I have now in my locale.

For warmer conditions, I find the old London Fog items to be very versatile, durable, easy to maintain, widely available, and not terribly expensive. But they will stand-up to a lot of service in a wide range of weather conditions. They are all man-made materials, but then, man-made materials were and are premium-quality fabrics for particular applications. I have two of those, one each db and sb. I also have a similar old-school Sears db coat. This stuff was meant to provide value for the dollar and daily use, since a man might only have one nice coat.

At home, they are on wooden coat hangers, and again, I seldom have the need to actually wear one but I enjoy them when I can. If I did have more opportunity to wear them to the office on a more regular and frequent schedule, I would hang a wooden hanger from the coat hook on the back of my office door, but in other times, men would hang their outer coats and even hats on wooden coat stands. In the countryside, as someone has mentioned men hung their coats on wooden pegs in the mudroom at home and so forth...

Thanks for asking.

Regards, and good evening.

Rudy

RM Bantista said:

At home, they are on wooden coat hangers, and again, I seldom have the need to actually wear one but I enjoy them when I can. If I did have more opportunity to wear them to the office on a more regular and frequent schedule, I would hang a wooden hanger from the coat hook on the back of my office door, but in other times, men would hang their outer coats and even hats on wooden coat stands.

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Thank you, sir, for answering. I was wondering why so many fellow Loungers were not addressing my original question! (No offense, of course, to the others--there were some good jokes and all.... )

Keeping strictly fftopic: I think things are a bit different here in Blighty.

Sadly standards have slipped a little lately but traditionally a gentleman would never remove his jacket in public. A shirt is underwear after all.

A

Tomasso said:

Is this a written rule of etiquette or are you just making this up?

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The word impolite means "not polite." "Polite" means showing consideration for others, tact, and observance of accepted social usage.

If everyone has removed his jacket then removing the jacket is the accepted social usage. By not removing ones jacket in that situation one is not showing consideration for others by observing the accepted social usage.

The others may feel uncomfortable thinking perhaps they should be wearing their jackets (perhaps they should be). Or, they may think the person still wearing his jacket is attempting to show that he is in some way better than the rest.

In any case, taking an action that can or will make others feel uncomfortable is indeed impolite.

There are situations where being correct is socially incorrect. A polite person will choose to make himself uncomfortable rather than making others uncomfortable.

I have been been very lucky in that I have very long lived suits. I have some that I bought 15 years ago which are still in great shape. I like classic looking suits so none of mine look like they came off a runway and I will be able to wear them for years to come.

At my office, I regularly hang my suits on my coat rack and have used the little loop in the back many times without any damage at all to them.

All you need do to solve the problem is to carry one of these vintage folding coat hangers in your pocket:

AntonAAK said:

Sadly standards have slipped a little lately but traditionally a gentleman would never remove his jacket in public.

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Lately? Many have been doing it for the last 50 years, if not since 1945! As it is so widespread I refuse to believe that the practice is not "gentlemanly".

I think as buildings have become warmer, it has become more necessary!

Hal said:

Lately? Many have been doing it for the last 50 years, if not since 1945! As it is so widespread I refuse to believe that the practice is not "gentlemanly".

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As I said, lately...

I think this thread is creating a lot of confusion. My not too informed personal opinion is as follows:

1. It is perfectly acceptable for a gentleman to take his suit jacket or sport coat off indoors or outdoors when it would be uncomfortable to keep it on due to the temperature (keeping it on would only ruin it by causing sweat stains to develop). It is also quite normal to take it off indoors when in one's workplace or other familiar environment such as one's home. My brother who works in a very conservative London insurance company where suits are always worn says it is the norm that everyone takes their jackets off in meetings after having greeted each other. Also in b/w films such as The Maltese Falcon you see people like Bogart take his jacket off in his office, even when women are present.

2. When taking off one's suit jacket it is best to place the jacket over the back of one's chair as this puts it under no more stress than when it is worn, as well as allowing one easy access to it or its pockets. For example, I'm at my desk in my bedroom and as I've already been outside today and intend to go outside again later so my jacket is resting on the back of my chair.

3. When I take my suit off at the end of the day I hang it on a wooden hanger and leave it hanging by the window during the night to air, before putting it back in my wardrobe in the morning. I find this allows them to stay fresh without having to be dry cleaned so often.

4. I have two overcoats - a cotton trench coat and a heavy weight woolen overcoat. Both hang on hooks on the back of my door. The woolen overcoat is on a hanger as the weight of it would cause it to get damaged were I to hang it directly on the hook. The trench coat is light in weight and can therefore hang directly on the hook without being damaged.

5. In college I have nowhere to put my overcoat during lessons so I fold it and put it under my chair, as I know it won't get trodden on this way. My hat safely sits on the corner of my briefcase (or windowsill if I'm by the window).

BanjoMerlin said:

The word impolite means "not polite." "Polite" means showing consideration for others, tact, and observance of accepted social usage.

If everyone has removed his jacket then removing the jacket is the accepted social usage. By not removing ones jacket in that situation one is not showing consideration for others by observing the accepted social usage.

The others may feel uncomfortable thinking perhaps they should be wearing their jackets (perhaps they should be). Or, they may think the person still wearing his jacket is attempting to show that he is in some way better than the rest.

In any case, taking an action that can or will make others feel uncomfortable is indeed impolite.

There are situations where being correct is socially incorrect. A polite person will choose to make himself uncomfortable rather than making others uncomfortable.

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Thus ends a once promising civilization.

Yep, that's why the new uniform is t-shirts, shorts and flip flops......

Warbaby said:

All you need do to solve the problem is to carry one of these vintage folding coat hangers in your pocket:

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WANT!