While there are many different styles of tailoring, many even within Italy itself, most people just want to know the major differences between the two most famous styles, British and Italian. There are many other discussions and articles going into more depth on each various tailoring house within each country, but I chose a famous British tailoring house (Huntsman) and a famous Italian tailoring house (Rubinacci) for this visual comparison as they both show the characteristics that are most typical between British and Italian tailoring. No doubt other tailoring houses from each country have slightly different takes, and thus these attributes can never be 100% applicable to every style in each country, I believe this gives a close enough idea for the average person to see and understand the main differences. This comparison only features the jacket, as the jacket is what most people notice the most, and also happened to have the optimal pictures for.
We have used Simon Crompton from the blog Permanent Style as the model for this comparison because he has commissioned many bespoke suits and sport coats from various tailors around the world. If you haven’t read Permanent Style we highly recommend it, and if you are interested in browsing more tailoring styles, you can view the compilation of all his bespoke items from dozens of different tailoring houses here.
The Main Differentiators Between British and Italian Tailoring
#1. Jacket Length – British tailoring generally has a longer jacket length than Italians given the same chest sizing, which gives British tailoring a more formal look, while the Italian’s a more casual look by comparison. You can see the British jacket on the left (Huntsman) and Italian jacket on the right (Rubinacci)
#2. Buttoning Height – British tailoring will generally have a slightly lower buttoning point which is supposed to give a more aggressive “V-taper” look while Italian tailoring has a slightly higher buttoning point. The amount doesn’t seem too significant here, you can see the Huntsman button is only a cm or two below the red line and the Rubinacci is only a cm or two above the line, but it does sometimes make a larger visual difference than it does in this comparison. The Huntsman jacket on the left also only has 1 button, which is a house specialty, while the Rubinacci on the right is a “3 roll 2” in which there are 3 buttons, but the top button is never buttoned and is only there for aesthetics. You can see the button hole for the top button showing a couple inches up the lapel from the button that is being used.
#3. Structured vs. Soft – On the Huntsman jacket to the left, where the arrow points to, where the top of the sleeve (sleevehead) meets the jacket shoulder has a “roped” shoulder where it kind of looks like someone put a thin bit of rope around the shoulder to make it pop out a bit. The Italian Rubinacci on the right has closer to a “natural shoulder” where there is almost no roping where the sleevehead meets the jacket. Generally the British jackets will have more padding at the top which gives a “stronger” look, while the Italian jackets opt for less or even no padding to give a more “natural” look. Simon Crompton has more sloping shoulders than most, so the Huntsman jacket padding makes the line from the shoulder to the neck more straight and strong, while on the Rubinacci jacket, the line is slightly more convex and relaxed.
There are many other details that separate these two sportcoats, but most of the others are just aesthetic choices made by Simon such has the flapped pockets on the Huntsman etc.
So Which is “Better”?
As with so many things, this is mostly a matter of preference as well as how one is built. A good rule of thumb is that the British structured look is certainly more formal, and if you are purchasing a suit or sport coat for formal situations, e.g. banking, law, formal weddings, black tie events, the British suit will probably be more ideally suited. The Italian look will most likely work in those situations as long as the fabric is appropriate, but will also look better dressed down. If you plan on wearing a suit casually or a sport coat more with chinos and jeans, then an Italian style is probably more ideal as the structured formality of the British style tends to look a bit “off” when matched with the informality of jeans.
As always, let us know if you found the article useful or have any questions in the comments below!