I posted on that thread, too.  My objections, to be clear, have nothing to do with rules or the fact that hacking pockets come from riding coats.  Like rsmeyer, the lines, to my eye, fight.  If the original poster really wants that, fine.  It's his call and I won't deride him for it.  He does, however, run  a more substantial risk of dissatisfaction by going the slanted route for his first excursion into DB land.

EDIT:  And I still like ticket pockets.  If that's travelling salesman turf, so be it.

Last edited by AQG (2007-07-05 08:00:47)

I don’t think either of you are mistaken about the DB hacking pockets being aesthetically optimal. But so what? Sometimes individuality and esprit need to take precedence over the concept of the perfect runway model. The idea that you should wait 14 suits to try something you are interest in is romancing mediocrity and repression. Get the suit you want and if it doesn’t work then at least you’ve developed style. Experimentation is important as long as it is your own.

The original question was "Does one ever put slanting pockets on DB suits?"  To tell this guy unequivocally NO is unfortunate. I have seen them, they aren’t bad if you can carry the look off. And one step towards carrying a look off is being interested it. If his counselors don’t like it personally because they are afraid to make a stand or don't know how it will be perceived, fine but don’t give me it's based on history or tradition. Innovation means that both are to be referenced not slavishly obeyed. Besides hacking pockets have been around on both single and double breasted for a while. As long as the suit itself is overall appropriate silhouette, pattern and fabric, a detail like that cannot spoil it.

I think it depends more on who you are, if you have military posture and you are in an environment where they don’t want to crush individuality then it is not going to be lethal and the "imbalance" may cause interest or admiration that the man has his own personal style. At least if there had been more discussion or thought about why, but this looked like the dictatorial stance is really taking root over there. Oh well, fish rots from the head down.



About ticket pockets, I said what I said but that's a detail I would caution someone against getting before a hacking pocket. Hacking pockets indicate unique style, ticket pockets indicate I live in Ralph Lauren’s past. How's that for history?

Having said that, I actually have a couple of suits with them myself and I hate them. I asked my tailor if he would make hacking pockets for me on my last suit and he told me no strictly because my posture isn’t straight enough.

If one is asking the question, then I assume one is going to have the suit bespoke/MTM. It would therefore be a considerable waste of $$$ if the look doesn't come off.

I like hacking pockets on DB's and am actually thinking about getting a patch pocket DB as, for some reason or other, they have aroused my curiosity recently.

I don't see hacking pockets on a DB coat working as well together as hacking pockets on a SB coat.  Hacking pockets, I think, tend to contribute to a slimming effect, whereas DB coats, by design, are wider, making straight pockets more appropriate.