Italian and British style difference
One of the most flourishing sectors of the Italian economy is that which concerns fashion, synonymous with style and perfection, recognized throughout the world.
Dictating the canons of elegance, especially for men were the British, in fact, the British school can be considered the promoter of rigor and classic taste, proper to certain clothes. The luxury lifestyle is a British prerogative, and only later did many fashion houses, including Italian ones, rework it.
Tailored jackets, men's shirts, the typical tailoring line of certain garments, are the strong points of both British and Italian fashion.
The British gentleman is very traditionalist, because the tendency is to stick only to the classic rules established by the older generations, while the Italian man, while respecting certain classic canons, possesses the propensity for change, for reworking certain rules by making them more current.
Why Italian elegance is different from British elegance
The main characteristic of the British style is the use of only the dark color in the making of men's clothes, while an Italian man's tailored suit can be chosen from many shades of color. In fashion it is almost always the details that make the difference, in fact the made-in-Italy men's jacket is rather sober, the shoulder has no padding whatsoever, the English cut jacket, on the other hand, is stiff and usually padded.
The special features of an Italian suit are softness and practicality, while, the English style prefers more structured cuts at the expense of practicality. An important aspect in creating a tailored suit is dictated by the choice of fabrics, while Italian tailoring prefers lighter and thinner ones, British tailoring are heavier.
The difference between jackets and pants
There are also differences between an Italian trouser and an Anglo-Saxon trouser, while the classic men's trouser has a shorter hem to leave the shoes in evidence, the trouser made in Britain is longer and wider, so they can fall over the shoes which, generally have wider toes.
The jacket is the quintessential men's garment, the flagship of Italian as well as British style. While the sleeves of the Italian jacket often has pleats at shoulder height, the cut of the British jacket is very straight and the shoulder lapel has a circular seam. Italian jackets are shorter, while British jackets are longer, narrow at the hips and high-waisted.
Fit: softness vs. structure
The Italian suit is characterized by its comfort and softness, as opposed to the stiffness and strong structure of English suits. The choice of fabrics also contributes to reinforcing these attributes: lighter and thinner those chosen by the Italian manufacture, thicker and stiffer those of the English (perhaps also in response to uneven climate requirements).
Suit shape: drier vs. wider fitting
Italian tailored suits have shorter jackets than Anglo-Saxon suits and a drier, snappier fitting. In contrast, the jackets of British suits are slightly longer, high-waisted, shaped almost hourglass, thus narrow on the hips.
Similarly, the length and width of pants is different. In Italy, the hem is shorter and leaves the shoes more prominent, which are more stylized and give the feeling of being lighter and fitter. In Britain, on the other hand, it is longer and the bottom of the pants wider. The latter, in fact, must fall over the footwear, usually with more rounded toes and wider soles.
The jacket: hollow and concave shoulder, softer vs padded and stiffer sleeve
As we mentioned just above, the shoulder is one of the most obvious features for recognizing whether the tailored suit is made in Italy or England. In the Italian jacket, in fact, the shoulder is devoid of any kind of padding, unlike the English one.
The sleeve can also become a distinctive detail. Especially in Neapolitan tailoring, this is often "a mappina," that is, it shows imperceptible folds at the point where it joins the body of the jacket, at shoulder height. Far from being an imperfection. A deliberate effect (reminiscent of the effect of shirt armholes), produced with a sophisticated technique, thanks to which the garment allows greater freedom and dynamism of movement. Necessary characteristics for those whose gestures and theatricality have made an inseparable complement to speech.
In English jackets, on the other hand, you will rarely find this ripple between the linearity of the fabric of the torso and the circular seam of the shoulder lapel. Wearing them will give you a more plastered and less casual look.
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