Just realized vintage sports jackets from the 70s had way bigger lapels than I thought

I was measuring my new thrift store blazer against a 1974 catalog I found online, and the lapels were nearly 5 inches wide. My tailor said they used to cut them that big to balance out the wider ties guys wore back then. Has anyone else noticed old jacket proportions throwing off your modern fits?

2 comments

2 Comments

blake43224d ago

That "balancing out wider ties" thing is OVERBLOWN. I've got a 70s jacket with 5 inch lapels and it makes me look like a movie villain, the proportions are just goofy for any modern outfit.

thomas_brown24d ago

Yeah I gotta disagree with @blake432 on this one, lol. I had the same problem with a 70s blazer I picked up, lapels were massive and I looked like I was going to a costume party. What worked for me was pairing it with a slimmer modern shirt and keeping the rest of the outfit real simple, no tie at all. Once I did that the jacket actually started to look cool instead of goofy, kind of a bold statement piece. Also I found that rolling the sleeves up a bit helped take some of that heavy 70s vibe off the whole look.