Lapel shapes create personality to the jacket.  They are inspired by design.

Lapel widths must balance the overall jacket silhouette proportion.  Too wide for a person with narrow shoulders and they look like wings.  Too narrow on a barrel chested person and they look like miniatures.

A well-made jacket urges you to touch the lapel.

A hint to the beauty of a patternmaker’s skill starts at the top button where the lapel roll begins.  Capture the roll between one’s fingers and glide up the lapel as if running your hand across a keyboard.   Every nuance of fabric, layers and stitching are as smooth as easy listening jazz.  A properly made lapel roll cups in one’s hand as if caressing a whiskey goblet.

My fingertips are accustomed to a perfect sensation hidden beneath the lapel roll. On a hanger or a person, the sight and feel, simply put is music to my ears.

So when I come across lapels with staccato stitching, stiffness to the inside or lapel edges that turn upward rather than flat against the jacket, it feels as if someone is off-key.