Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette!
In today's video we discuss pant breaks.
We explain what they are, why they are so
important to your overall appearance, how
you can ensure to get exactly the pant
break you want every single time and
what you have to consider when you have
your alterations tailor lengthen or
shorten your hem.
First of all what's a break? We talked about the break when
the front of your pants or trousers hits
your shoe and creates a little dent that
is elegant and not too extreme. The best
way to evaluate your break is when you
stand still. We talked about no break
when the hem of your pants just hang
straight and doesn't even touch the shoe
at all. We talk about a half break if you
see a slight dent in the front and we
talk about a full break if you have a
noticeable dent in the front of the pants
but none in the back. If you see pants
that have dents in the front and in the
back they are simply too long and it
looks extremely sloppy. In my experience
eighty percent of all men in the US
wear their pants too long which creates
not just a break but an excessive sloppy
fold and they just look like they didn't
know what to tell their alterations tailor.
On the other hand in Italy you'll see
a lot of men with extremely short pants
and obviously it's subject to fashion.
However if you want to be classic in
style and timeless moving between no
brake and a full brake is exactly where
you want to be. So why should you care
about the break in your pants? First of
all it really has an impact on the
overall neatness of your outfit. If you wear a
nice robe stripe double-breasted suit
the one I'm wearing here right now and your
pants are either too long or too short,
it makes you look goofy or sloppy.
Also if you're a tall man and you have very short
pants it exaggerates your height
and you look even taller and sometimes
like a clown. Also if you have a certain
pair of socks that you want to show off
maybe a half break
is exactly what you want because with a
full brake your socks will be invisible at all in
most situations. What's important to
understand is there is no absolute right
or wrong with pants brakes. Some men
especially in US assume that right now all
young men wear their pants too short.
However, if you go back to the 60s you
can see sometimes even shorter pants
with no break at all. To determine what
break is right for you, you have to first
look at your pant hem. Is it cuffed or is
it uncuffed? If it's cuffed or the English
say it has turn ups that means you need
less of a break. I suggest you go without
break at all or just with a slight break.
Never with a full break because it just
looks off. If your pants or trousers are
uncuffed, you should go with a half break
or a full break. If you have an uncuffed
pants and you go with no break it simply
looks too short and the lack of the
weight means that your pants will
probably get stuck to your socks and
stay further up. If you wear cuffed pants
you already have an advantage because you
have more weight which pulls down your
trousers more and it just creates a
cleaner line and therefore you can have
a shorter pants length and less of a break.
If you prefer uncuffed trousers you
could talk to an alterations tailor and add
little lead weights to the size of your
pants that way you have the same effect
as with a cuffed trouser and you can get
a very neat look. The other element to
consider when getting your pants hemmed
is the actual circumference or the width
of your hem. If you have very tight
pants in the hem, you can't have as much
of a break as if you have full cut
trousers in the 1930s style. Why? It's
because break means it touches the top of
your shoe. Now with a tight pair of pants
they touch your shoe a lot earlier than
with a wider cut pair of pants where they
touch it at the bottom of your laces.
So when you have pants hemmed you can just
give your alterations tailors five pairs
and say "Oh just hem them all to 31 and
a half inches,"
because you also have to consider how wide they are.
The wider the pants are, the
longer you can hem them. The slimmer
and tighter they are the shorter you have to
hem them. If you have uncuffed trousers
in a wide full cut style you have to cut
them a little wider but keep in mind
even with a full break you just want a
nice dent in the front and none in the back.
That being said do not rely on your
alterations tailor's judgment, because if
I go to one in the US I get pants that are
way too long. If I go to Italy I get
something that sometimes too short for
my taste so you have to decide what you
want and you have to own it. One thing
I'm personally extremely fond of is a
angled hem. This is something you usually
only find in bespoke garments
especially when it's a cuffed angle hem.
If you have a straight hem on a pair of
pants and they're long and unfinished
you can simply bring up the extra fabric
create a cuff of your desire and you're done.
When you angle a pair of pants with
cuffs you actually have to create a faux cuff
that is separately cut from something
but it has the advantage that it's
always long in the back and it probably
can even touch almost the heel of your
shoe but in the front it's cut higher so
you get that slight break. It looks
particularly elegant with a black tie or
white tie outfit because you get that
slight break but that long line in the back.
Also black tie and white trousers
never have cuffs so it's very
easy to do that. Honestly, if you have
uncuffed pants I would always suggest to
have them slightly angled because you'll
always look more dapper and people will
not know why. So having angled pant hems
is definitely one of the little tricks
of the trade and if your alterations
tailor doesn't know how to do an angle
hem with cuffs you probably have to
seek out the tailor or someone who is
really experienced with custom clothing.
Of course you can only do that if you
have a lot of extra width or an
unfinished pair of pants. My personal
preference is for cuffs most of the time
and I want a half or medium break.
Ideally I want the back of my pants to
be longer than the front so I always go
for the angle especially
uncuffed dress pants and particularly
for all kinds of evening wear. It simply
looks a lot more stylish. If you enjoyed
this video please check out our other
videos about the intricacies of
bespoke clothing, suits, shoes and anything
else a gentleman may want to know.
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