The Blazer Conundrum

Wende, needful predator of all things lengthy, noticed my mention of over-long sleeves on several blazers, and wanted to know where I'd found such beasts. (TJMaxx in Massachusetts, c. 2004, for the record. Huh, that seems to be my answer for an awful lot of things, doesn't it?) Anyhow, after she posted about her jacket issues, I was wondering how mine would measure up. As I said in comments, I regularly have sleeve length issues with blazers, though rarely with shirts, sweaters or outerwear. So here they are.

1) The Gray Blazer:

Calvin Klein, 3 buttons, Size 12. The tag says the shell is a blend of cotton and polyurethane, which came as a great surprise to me just now, because it passes perfectly well for a wool/silk. It looks a bit funny on the hanger because it has quite a lot of shaping, which fortuitously makes it the same shape as me. And which probably means it would be far too short in the torso for taller or lower-waisted people. Back length from collar: 21"; Sleeve length: 26" (measured top of arm from shoulder seam); Back width at top of shoulder: 17 1/4". For me, sleeves need to lose about 2".

2) The Red Blazer:

I struggled with the lighting and color on this one, and this is the best I could get. It's actually a dark red with lining matching (not violet, as it appears here). Label says "Gianni," but I'm not sure who that is. I can only think of one Gianni, and it's certainly not him. Size 12, two buttons. 100% wool crepe. A total Superstar. Back length: 24 3/4"; Sleeve length: 26"; Back width: 16 3/4". Again, sleeves need to lose about 2".

3) The Herringbone Jacket:

No sleeve length problem with this one, but it's been causing me angst for a long time. You can't see the pattern and colors well enough in this photo, but let me tell you, they're just perfect. For me. It's a brown herringbone plaid with accents of navy, hunter green, burgundy, and rust orange. Just.Perfect. The problem, of course, is that it really is as shapeless as it looks in the picture. It's Sag Harbor spawn, so shapelessness is par. (Incidentally, my father hates that brand - he finds it offensive that anyone would intentionally use the word "sag" in association with women's clothing. I tried explaining that it's named for a place in Long Island, but what sort of commendation is that, really?)

So...straight, shapeless and boxy, which, um, I'm not. (That's why I can wear the over-constructed gray thing above.) So when I wear it, I feel like I'm wrapped in a very smart stadium blanket. Sigh. But...those colors! Swoon. Ugh.

I know I don't have the skill to alter it myself. I'm fairly certain it would be too weird to have it professionally reconstructed to the degree that it would require. ("Hi Mr. Tailor, my mother bought me this at Sears ten years ago, can you please expend several hundred dollars worth of labor on it?) But...it's so pretty! The colors! If I had a teddy bear made of it, I'd sleep with it every night. And probably keep myself awake as long as possible just to look at it.

So that's gives you a sense of what was going through my head when I pulled it out of the closet for analysis. But what would you know, it had its own ideas. "Hi!" it said, "Long time, no see! How was summer? Hey, where are we? This isn't Boston! By the way, did you know that I'm outerwear?"

Bingo.