When and how to wear the three-quarter-length coat - Man style

Ebony, Feb, 2004

FOR years, Brothers have influenced fashion around the world with a cutting-edge style that always leaves its mark. Let's face it: Black men dare to be different. They set trends to be followed, standards to be met. You've seen them stepping out of limos and into clubs and in the flash of the paparazzi--right off the pages of EBONY and Jet. Brothers have always made a statement long before you get close enough to really hear what they were saying. It has been a statement about who they are and what they're all about.

These days are no different as we see men pushing the fashion envelope with three-quarter-length coats that hit low on the thigh or at the knee, and the seven-eighths-length coats that swing low down on the leg. "Black men have always been fashion innovators," notes Kenneth Marlon Owen, assistant producer, Ebony Fashion Fair. "They want their own identity and don't want to be influenced by Whites. It's just another way to set themselves apart."

They also offer designers a way to set themselves apart, providing a solution to the continuing problem of coming up with new approaches to men's fashion. "Unlike with women's fashions, there are only 3 or 4 shapes for men," Owen notes. "You can't go in as many directions with men's styles. Usually, the only way to vary men's shapes is to go up and down."

Curiously, the current longer styles--among the many options available to today's ESONY man--are rooted in tradition. They're like variations on a theme, one that's set in the lyrical lines, the rhythmic movement of men who dance to an entirely different beat. The longer coat may be a manstyle hit now, but '60s pop gave us the Maxi coat, reprised by Wesley Snipes in Blade. It was the jazz-influenced '30s and '40s that gave us the "Hi-dee-hidee-hi-dee ho" of Cab Calloway and the zoot suit. Then there are the classical refrains of the English morning coat and, of course, the long coats and frock coats of the 19th century worn by the likes of Frederick Douglass and leading American men.

This style has been weaving in and out of our lives for hundreds of years.

Even so, there is nothing old-fashioned about these longer silhouettes.

They are popular with trend-setting people like Bishop T.D. Jakes, Bishop Eddie L. Long and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who can draw on the formality of the cut that says: "I'm in charge here." But this style is versatile with a number of moves, like those of Jakes' devotee Deion Sanders, who sports the style. It is a look that can strip the formality and go shirtless. That way you can make the fashion statement with quite a bit of sex appeal. In fact, sex appeal becomes the statement. Add a sweater and watch the temperature rise.

Even though the longer styles are a hit with taller men--like celebrity athlete Shaquille O'Neal--others can wear them as well. Shorter men might go for the three-quarter-length because it tends to elongate them. Even portly men can pull it off because it has a slimming effect. It doesn't cut across the body horizontally as with the traditional jacket.

Although many of the innovations come from spirited younger designers, almost all men's designers have a three-quarter-length coat in their lineup. In fact, Armani designed the famous, and bad, three-quarter-length coat Samuel L. Jackson wore in the movie Shaft.

Once you've chosen to wear a longer coat, there are still more choices that have to be made. A single-breasted three-quarter-length is the choice for men who might opt for less formality. If you want to add a sweater and leave the coat open, that's the way to go. Double-breasted is better suited for shirt and tie, and the coat definitely must be buttoned. "There's too much fabric up front to be worn open," Kenneth Owen observes. "It's cluttered, not a clean line, when it's open. It just looks messy."

Other decisions are between the most popular notched collars for a more traditional suited look, or the more high-fashion shawl style where the collar and lapel are in one sweeping line.

Day or night? Work or play? As Owen notes, it really depends on how conservatire you are, but these coats are designed more for style--"When it's time to get dressed up"--as opposed to business. "Men tend to be uniformed," he says. "This gets them out of the uniform. This gets them out of the Army dungarees. It makes a statement. It says, 'I am not afraid, I am fashion-forward.' This is not your father's suit."