# Is this a real fashion faux pas, or just my own personal pet peeve? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083 "2001-09-21T20:14:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/1 "2001-09-21T20:14:44Z")
I have to insert a disclaimer here…the dislike the person I’m about to refer to intensely, so it’s possible that I’m attributing negative attributes to her based on my dislike of her personally rather than what I consider her lack of fashion sense. 😃 So…having said there, here it is. There’s a woman in my office who tends to favor wearing suits with a double-breasted jacket, and she also tends to wear the jacket of the suit hanging open rather than buttoned. This really bugs me. Single-breasted suit jackets lend themselves rather nicely to either buttoned or unbuttoned. Double-breasted, however, IMO just look downright silly (and more than a little unprofessional) worn unbuttoned. There’s just all those yards of material hanging there…it’s unflattering, and (IMO) downright goofy. Is this a true fashion faux pas? Or am I being too critical? Be honest…I can take it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/2 "2001-09-21T20:17:34Z")
I’m going to pretend I didn’t make those grammatical errors and move on. Thank you very much. [sub]Slinking away in typo-shame…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/3 "2001-09-21T20:32:54Z")
I’ve never seen anyone wear a double-breasted jacket open before, but it sounds like it would look pretty stupid. Seems like you’d either wear it right or take it off. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/4 "2001-09-21T20:49:03Z")
Since I’ve _never_ seen anyone wear that, and since I would imagine that it looks stupid, I’d have to agree with you that it’s an actual faux pas. ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/5 "2001-09-21T20:55:41Z")
I think the rule for men is to undo the bottom button for comfort and movement, and leave the top button fastened to avoid “flaps.” Seems like this would apply to women too. I know what you mean about being more harsh on someone distasteful though .There’s this woman at my work who has that haughty attitude and absolutely no reason to-she’s quite useless. She also breaks Cardinal Southern Rules; she (SHUDDER) doesnt wash her hands after using the restrooms, AND (GASP) wears nude hose with white pumps! Horrid. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/6 "2001-09-21T21:00:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scredle \* > AND (GASP) wears nude hose with white pumps! > Horrid. I just bet she wears them after Labor Day, too. \ The double-breasted suit things sounds terrible too. Maybe they don’t fit and she won’t admit it. ---
**Author:** ![jimmykent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@jimmykent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmykent)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/7 "2001-09-21T21:01:52Z")
wears them religiously, often open when he walks out. He then proceeds to button the inside button (only) while he is talking. Not much of an opinion here, just an observation. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/8 "2001-09-21T21:03:56Z")
Aside from the fact that it has to look bad, what’s the point of wearing a double breasted-jacket if you aren’t going to button it? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/9 "2001-09-21T22:37:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scredle \* > \*\*…She also breaks Cardinal Southern Rules; > she …(GASP) wears nude hose with white pumps! > Horrid. \*\* Please forgive my ignorance–I’m a native New Yorker and I never wear white pumps–but what color hose are you supposed to wear? And I agree on the double-breasted jacket thingie. Flappity flap flap. I never wear them, and that’s one of the reasons. ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/10 "2001-09-21T22:45:27Z")
I love double-breasted jackets! I think they look really sharp (of course, I’m a guy, so maybe this doesn’t fit in with the original intent of the OP). However, I would never wear one without both sets of buttons buttoned. It’s because the…flaps? tails? [sub]breasts? No, forget I said that[/sub]…whatever the two sides are called, are supposed to overlap. When the jacket is unbuttoned, they don’t much, and so it looks sloppy. As bad as forgetting to tuck in half your shirt. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-real-fashion-faux-pas-or-just-my-own-personal-pet-peeve/83083/11 "2001-09-21T22:55:02Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Ellen \* \*\* [QUOTE Maybe they don’t fit and she won’t admit it. \*\*[/QUOTE] Actually, she _has_ chunked up quite a bit in the past year ([sup]gleeful chuckle[/sup]) but I thought it would be too catty to mention. 😉