The Anatomy of a Great Blazer
Blazers should be quality, low cost-per-wear closet heroes. But what makes one worthy of all that wear?
In this episode, Natalie welcomes back her Style Friend Farida Raafat of custom-clothing brand DALYA to break down the anatomy of a blazer. From lapels and buttons to pockets, silhouettes, linings, fabrics, length, and more, they dig into the small details that can make a big difference in how a blazer looks, feels, and functions.
Whether you're shopping off the rack or having something made just for you, understanding these details can help you recognize what you like, communicate what you want, and ultimately find a blazer you'll reach for again and again.
Episode Notes & Resources:
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Read the full & Raw Episode transcript:
[00:00]
Natalie: Hello! Happy Wear Who You Are Wednesday. I am back with my colleague, amazing colleague turned even more amazing friend, Farida Raafat. Hi! We are here to answer all of your workwear questions, and we have a new friend with us. For those joining in on YouTube, for those listening, we have a dress form with a blazer on. And what are we gonna name her?
[00:55]
Farida : God, I don't know. I don't know. We pick one. What's something that comes to mind?
Natalie: I will shout out to my friend Faith, Marguerite. She had a dress form in France that we named Marguerite. So call—
Farida: Great. Okay.
Natalie: —it Marguerite. So we have her here today because we are talking all things blazers. So one of the kindred spirit moments Farida and I had is the fact that we are blazer girlies till the day we die. Absolutely. I mean, when I started, one of my clients was like, “Nobody loves turning a biz cas look into a weekend look like Natalie Tincher.” And I was like, I honor that. I accept it. And then I met Farida, and I'm like, we're soul sisters in blazers, blazing trails.
[01:38]
So let's get to it because a lot of people—blazers are having a moment. I would say a couple of years ago, when return to office was coming post-COVID, like, blazers are really having a moment in all realms of fashion. So I want to deconstruct it with the expert, Farida, on what to look for in a blazer, the ins and outs, so then you can shop soundly and you can make selections that will work for you. So we've got your questions, we've got client questions, we've got questions we've heard in panels compiled here for this segment. Let's get started. Let's do it.
All right, let's talk about the main styles of blazers. Cuts, double-breasted, single-breasted, walk us through.
Farida: Yeah, I think the main thing that you have to decide, for me, my number one thing, if you're going with a full-length blazer, is single-breasted versus double-breasted. So the difference being a single-breasted blazer is what Marguerite is wearing today. And it's also, I think, what—no, I'm not wearing one. Natalie's wearing one as well.
Natalie: I am wearing one, but we could edit that.
Farida: Essentially what that means is you have a button on one side of the blazer, and when you close the blazer, it closes kind of down the midline of your body, right in the center. A double-breasted blazer is when you have buttons on both sides, and when you close it, it kind of crosses over the midline and just comes and buttons closed a little bit past the center frame of your body. Both are correct.
[03:05]
Now the history of this. A double-breasted blazer was definitely seen as the more—I don't want to say distinguished, but, like, fashion choice. There's definitely bodies and silhouettes that can carry it off better. I think single-breast is suited to other silhouettes. I mean, it just depends on kind of the look you're going for, the place you're wearing it, and body proportions. It's not that, you know, if you're apple or pear or whatever the shape is that you can't wear double-breasted. That's absolutely not it. It's all about proportions and how you're matching it back to the rest of your outfit.
Natalie: Great. And what about other styles? Like, let's say a tweed cropped blazer by a famous fashion house. What would that blazer style be?
Farida: Are you talking about Chanel?
Natalie: A Chanel-style blazer would be a cropped with—
Farida: So, for example, when we don't have a lapel and it just kind of, like, does this—like, I'll say, like, follows this line over here. So kind of like this T-shirt, like a T—
Natalie: How is your neckline like a T-shirt?
Farida: —shirt. And it's a little bit cropped, we do call that a lady jacket. And I don't know why, but we do. But so Chanel would be indicative of kind of, like, owning that segment of the market, that kind of, like, no lapel, kind of a little bit less—not less structured, but just, like, a little bit more fluid and cropped length. That would be, like, a lady jacket.
[04:31]
Natalie: Great. And those I find to be great with, if you have a wide-leg pant, maybe, and that's a good proportion for that often, good over dresses sometimes. So you do have cropped-style blazer options as well, if that's something that you like or something that maybe has a little bit more of a traditional femininity to it.
All right. How do you suggest, then—we talked about different styles and different goals that they accomplish—how do you suggest choosing which style suits you?
Farida [05:01]: It's all about proportion. It's really not about, you know, having one frame in your body type and saying that I'm not allowed to wear XYZ style blazer. I think that that's what gets very dangerous when you're talking about different style guides you see online or, like, color analysis or any of that stuff. It really just puts restrictions on people on thinking that they can't wear a certain color or a certain style. And it's really not about that. It's just about the proportions of your outfit. So I hesitate to kind of, like, recommend a specific style for a person until we talk about what they're wearing it with and what is the whole outfit.
[05:41]
Natalie: So let's walk through an example using what I do with my clients, with Farida giving suggestions of using the ABCs. Like, what do you want to accentuate? What do you maybe want to balance? There's proportion. And what do you want to camouflage? This would be based on your goals, not what somebody tells you. Repeat: your goals, not what someone tells you.
So let's say, Farida, using some of the basics of a blazer, you wanted to accentuate a shoulder. What are some things that you could do to find a silhouette that does that?
Farida: So I think here it's all about lines, right? If you wanna accentuate a shoulder, you're gonna have to look at really the finite details of that blazer. What does the shoulder pad look like? Are you going for kind of, like, a regular shoulder pad? Is it unstructured? Is it a high shoulder pad? If you wanna accentuate your shoulders, you're gonna wanna go for a bit more of a pad in here. If '80s look isn't your vibe—which I love it—but if it's not your vibe, you don't have to go that crazy, but just something a little bit more padded in there to accentuate those shoulders.
And then we break it down to, like, the other pieces. So we'll get into this, but, like, what is the shape of this part over here, which we call a lapel? You have different shapes that achieve visual things, different visual things. So this one right now on Marguerite—we called her? Yes—is a peak lapel. So what that does to the eye is it kind of draws it up because there's, like, kind of a point here pointing towards the shoulder. So it kind of draws the eye up and looking towards the breadth of the shoulder. So that will help accentuate a shoulder.
[07:10]
What is it doing at the waist? How is it defining the waist? Is it straighter or does it come in curved? If we want to accentuate the shoulders, we're gonna want it to kind of come in and give you that accentuation here, which you can achieve with double-breasted or single-breasted. I tend to go for a more double-breasted look if we want to accentuate these. And then what does the bottom hemline look like? You can go with something that has more angles so that you're really expressing that kind of—the hourglass that's gonna really point everything upwards toward the shoulders? Or is it, like, more flat, which is really kind of creating—playing with the proportions? All these details are intentional and may not be something that you usually look for when you're buying a blazer, but it's helping you achieve your end goal.
Natalie: Exactly. So that's accentuating shoulders. What she described too is nipping in the waist then balances out either, let's say, you already had broad shoulders and you wanted to balance them out, then bringing in the waist would do that. Or maybe you wanted a wider waist to create a straight line. There's so many things you can do. And I think so much of our point is it's not, this is what you should do for this. You should do it based on your goals, and there's ways to use garments, particularly in something like a blazer and suiting, that has structure and has ways to manipulate the cut, that you can do that to accomplish your goals.
Farida: And there's a reason why a blazer or suit has always been, like, the power look, right? Before women started wearing them, like, there's a reason why it was the power look of Wall Street and, like, powerful men. They can use this type of garment to accentuate certain features that make them feel and look taller, broader, stronger, whatever it is, and women can use it the same way.
Natalie: Absolutely. We are using it the same way. Let's go.
[08:53]
Natalie: Absolutely. We are using it the same way. Let's go. So speaking of then, let's talk about fit. We're going to talk about how a blazer should fit and then translate that into maybe trends that we're seeing happening, like oversized. So just objectively, in terms of, like, a proper-fitting blazer, what are some things to look for?
[09:16]
Farida: Shoulders. This is a really big one for me, just because there's a lot of trends around what is oversized and what does that look like. I think, given someone who has a background in tailoring, someone who has ill-fitting shoulders in a blazer is a really telltale sign that either they're not wearing the right size, they don't know what they're doing, or the blazer's just not theirs. So I—and when I say it should fit in your shoulders, this kind of sleeve cap should end where your natural shoulders end. Now, for oversized or something with a bigger shoulder pad, there are some rules where we can go slightly past that point to accommodate for the bigger shoulder pad or a specific look. But that does not mean the shoulder pad that's completely coming off of your sleeve cap to kind of achieve—
[10:05]
Natalie: It needs to be intentional, right? It needs to be sized up based on the proportions to say we're creating the stronger shoulder, and so it's intentional, not sizing up so it looks sloppy.
Farida: Exactly. I think that's a really big one. Just how it feels around your arms. So not having anything, like, too tight around here. When you're kind of going like this, you should feel comfortable bending your arm. That's a really big one. And obviously how it fits around your chest. So it's fine if you want to wear your blazer open. That's totally fine, but it should be able to close at least. Because even if you're not wearing it closed, when you do wear that blazer open that's too small on you, you can tell.
[10:44]
Natalie: And that's going back to the conversation of body goals: accentuate, balance, camouflage. One great way, if you do want to deemphasize a larger chest, is to make sure that it does fit properly in that chest stance area because putting a diagonal through it where the blazer can properly close will help deemphasize. There's just one other little mini tip we can throw in.
Farida: Absolutely. And I do think we do fit into—sometimes people get confused with thinking if we're wanting to hide something, that then we just have to buy something bigger to hide that area. I think actually that does the opposite because then the way the blazer hangs only brings the eye closer to the area that you may be wanting to conceal or not accentuate. So really emphasizing on something that fits is really gonna help you with out—
[11:33]
Natalie: Totally agree. Shoulders. It's when I took my first menswear FIT class. That was the number one thing my instructor said. And then that was another kindred spirit moment for Farida. She's like, “Shoulders, shoulders, shoulders.” I'm like, “Yeah.”
Farida: And also a really good one is sleeve length. I think that there is a lot around here on especially women with taller arms, and it's really a quest, and it's nerve-racking for a lot of my customers who are taller. The sleeve length is always never there. So I think just being really intentional. If it's too long, like, you can roll it up, but just making sure that it's really hitting at that wrist bone and not too long or too short.
[12:08]
Natalie: Yeah, I find that that's a big one when I see with clients is they'll think a blazer doesn't fit them, and I'll just pull up the sleeve a little, and they're like, “But it all of a sudden looks like it fits.” That is one place that naturally looks unpolished or sloppy if the sleeves don't—are oversized and just way too long. It looks very—
Farida: There is definitely a sweet spot.
Natalie: Yeah, totally. So there's something to look for. Now let's talk about blazer length. What are your tips for choosing the right length?
[12:37]
Farida: Again, it goes back to proportions. Sorry to keep saying this. But really traditional length for a blazer is kind of like that three-quarters of the way down your butt, sort of, as you use that as a barometer. It doesn't mean that that's what you have to wear, but that's kind of where things tend to fall. Now, if you have different goals, like we talked about, if you're someone who's, you know, very tall and really likes wearing high-waisted pants, you can afford to really go longer with your blazer because, again, you have those higher-waisted pants. So you're playing with those proportions and you're not drowning in it. You can go for something more cropped if you're wanting to accentuate just kind of, like, the waist and maybe not so much the hips. There are just, like, little tips and tricks based on what your ABCs are and what you're trying to accentuate and conceal.
[13:25]
Natalie: Awesome. All right, let's get a little technical here. And let's talk about the components of a blazer so you can come in as educated buyers and know what you want. We talked a little bit about lapels, but tell us the different style of lapels.
Farida: So there is a ton of different styles of lapels, but I'm just gonna start with three, which are the real main ones that you're gonna see over and over and over again. I'm pointing, so anyone who can't see, it's basically I'm pointing up here to what would be the collar of your blazer. This part over here that's attached to the collar that goes all the way down to the button, that's what the lapel is. The shape really comes over here. So this is a peak lapel, like I was mentioning, which has this kind of triangle, like, peaking upwards. That's why we call it peak lapel. Comes in very different widths, which, you know, we can talk about that.
[14:15]
There is a notch lapel, which is going to be the most common type of lapel that you're going to see out there. It kind of looks like there's, like, a little bit of a triangle cut out between the collar and the lapel, and the lapel is kind of pointing downwards a little bit. This is the most common traditional shape that you're going to find in stores and the market. It's a classic.
Natalie: That little notch I was pointing to. So for those listening, the collar is the part in the back that goes around the back of your neck. And then there's a fabric attached to it that creates little notches. And there's—the notched lapel is the one that goes straight out. The peaked lapel is the one that peaks up like a peak.
[14:58]
Farida: And then lastly, we have a shawl lapel, which is rounded. So this one's really reserved for special occasion or tuxedo, ceremonial, that kind of thing. And it's basically where the collar and the lapel kind of look like one continuous shape. And it goes into, like, a circle all the way down to the button. There's different ways you can do the circle. You can do an arc lapel, which is kind of, like, holds the circle heavier towards the bottom. There's one that's all the way even. So you can get into really technical terms here, and it's all about, like, the look and the style that you're trying to achieve. But those are the three main lapels that you're gonna find shopping around. So the more you know.
[15:38]
Natalie: When you watch awards seasons, you can say, “I like that extra arc shawl lapel.” And you're like, “Thanks, Wear Who You Are. I now am a fashion commentator.” All right, thank you. Now let's talk about lined versus unlined in a blazer and what that means and what the properties would be of each.
[16:01]
Farida: So most blazers are gonna come fully lined, which means, like, the sleeves are fully lined and then the inside of the blazer is fully lined all the way from the top to the bottom. There's different components that go inside between the fabric and the lining, and depending on where you are buying your blazer or the quality of the blazer, it will be different. So this one actually is done to show a little window as to what's inside of our blazers. This is actually a full-canvas blazer, which is something that's mostly reserved for menswear. And without boring you with all the technicalities, but this is essentially, like, a more—it's a handmade kind of horsehair material that kind of holds the shape of the front of the blazer, which we like to use in our suits and garments.
What you're gonna find in most stores and fast fashion is gonna be fused, a fusible on the inside, which is something that is kind of, like, ironed in to hold the shape, but it's just kind of, like, a little bit more loose and fluid. So all those things are internal, which you don't have to know about, but now you just know more facts about a blazer.
[17:05]
So that goes into a fully lined, but that can also go into something that's half-lined. So half lining would be fully lined in the sleeves and the front, but the lining would kind of, like, stop halfway down the back. And the reason they do this is just in warmer climates and warmer weather, you just want that extra breathability coming through the blazer. You can also go fully unlined for your blazer. So the seams on the inside are just kind of bound with a silk just to kind of finish them off. But the inside of the blazer is totally open, just the fabric that you picked out, which is really great for your really hot months in the summer, but you still want to wear a blazer.
[17:42]
Natalie: Awesome. So quick recap for listeners on the lining is that sort of silky fabric on the inside. If you're looking for something good for warmer climates, you might want to look for half-lined—sorry for the noise. Sorry. For half-lined or unlined to have that breathability. So our last episode, like when we talked about office wear in the summer, that could be a good option. So again, just knowing what you're looking for and also understanding that that doesn't necessarily equal—unlined or lined doesn't necessarily mean quality. The fusing sounds like is where—
Farida: Really about the construction of the blazer and what you want the blazer for.
[18:24]
Natalie: So I do want to then—let's end on a question that takes us there and answers that. How does somebody look for quality in a blazer? And we know that does not equal price. So what are some quick checks that somebody can look for to determine quality?
Farida: For me, it's just craftsmanship. So I always look at—I feel the inside of the blazer just kind of around the chest area and really experiment with what they're using on the inside. You can look at just thread and sewing in general. Like, are the seams matching up? Does it look like it's, you know, put together intentionally or are things mismatching? That's, like, a big indicator for quality. What do the buttons look like? Like, are they plastic? Could they easily break? How are they sewn on?
[19:12]
The sleeve, is it a functional—can you open up the buttons on the sleeve or is it just non-functional? That's, like, a big quality one. There's all these little telltale signs. And definitely, even if you don't know what the construction makeup of your blazer is, if you start seeing, like, little puckering around the chest area, that's a key indicator of bad fusible on the inside, which means it's low quality and it will come apart. So definitely something to keep in mind.
Natalie: That's a really great tip. But I think coming in as an educated consumer is the best way to know if you are gonna get a low cost per wear on something. And blazers are pieces that should be functional. You should invest in, I would say. Of the pieces in your wardrobe, would you also say that blazers are a place to really, like, cost-per-wear think through an investment?
[19:59]
Farida: Definitely. 'Cause a good blazer can last, you know, decades in your wardrobe, in your closet. And you can wear it in so many different ways in so many different seasons. And it's really such a telling piece of the outfit and who you are when you're wearing it. So I think it's definitely a place to invest.
Natalie: I agree. And I think if you can't find what you need, number one, know your tailoring options or truly invest in getting something custom that fits well because it—I mean, the jacket I'm wearing today, I'm wearing a beautiful green DALYA-made peaked-lapel jacket. And what was so amazing is I could choose every single quality in it that I wanted. So I'm wearing it today with jeans and a T-shirt, but I also have it in a full suit. But you've also seen me wear it with a little button-down.
[20:42]
So getting versatility of a piece is a—in a blazer such a great way to have a power move and to walk in and command a room in your way.
Farida: Absolutely.