Your Wedding Suit Glossary

Navigating the world and terminology of suiting can be a daunting process. We have created this glossary to make that process feel familiar and easy so that deciding on your perfect wedding suit can be a simple and exciting step in planning for your big day! 

Bespoke/Custom/Tailor-made:
These three terms are interchangeable for describing garments that are one of a kind. Designed, drafted, and cut to your liking and measurements, bespoke/custom/tailor-made clothes are exclusive to you. 

Made to measure:
Garments that fall into this category get cut to your measurements and fitted to your body but are not designed particularly for you. 

Off the rack:
Wedding suits described as 'off the rack' are precisely that. They are unspecified to you and your measurements; instead, they are only available in pre-cut, pre-determined patterns in standard fits and sizes. 

Dinner suit/tuxedo:
Dinner suits and tuxedos are more formal and traditional two or three-piece suits characterised by a satin lapel. While they are frequently black or white, there has recently been an increased popularity in colours and coloured velvets.  

Shawl lapel:
This kind of lapel is shaped almost like the letter U, swooping down towards the first button rather than forming a straight V. While dinner jackets are commonplace for this lapel style, they are not exclusive to dinner jackets. 

Peak lapel:
This jacket collar shape is almost the same as what you would imagine a regular lapel to look like, except that instead of the indent toward the neck, there is a fabric extension further out toward the shoulder. These can vary in size and are very popular for wedding suits as they add an extra touch of formality. 

Notch lapel:
A notch lapel is a standard corporate shape for suit jackets. Instead of protruding like a peak lapel, it has a clean indent shape near the collarbone. 

Stitch lapel:
This hand-stitched lapel can come in the form of all three listed lapel shapes (shawl, peak and notch). The slightly visible stitch around the lapel characterises this style. 

French cuffs:
Instead of the regular buttoned sleeves on a button-down shirt, french cuffs fold up and require cufflinks for a more sophisticated and traditional look. 

Side adjusters:
As waists naturally have slight fluctuations and not all pants have belt loops, side adjusters allow trousers to fit perfectly around the waist. With a sleek, loopless, beltless waistline, side tabs can be pulled and released to make the circumference larger or smaller. 

Double-breasted:
Suit jackets that pull across the stomach, displaying 4, 6 or 8 buttons in rows of two, are described as double-breasted. 

Vents:
At the bottom and back of a jacket, there are often slits for better mobility and added comfort. They also allow a suit to sit flatter on the body. These slits are called vents. 

Pipe pocket:
On suits and sports jackets, the pockets at the front towards the bottom come in two popular styles. The first is a pipe pocket which is clean, simple and less visible than the second style. 

Flap pocket:
The second style of jacket pocket is a flap pocket. As the name implies, this style has a flap to neatly enclose the top of the pocket. When tucked in, the flap pocket resembles a pipe pocket very closely. 

Working buttons:
Along the sleeves of a suit or sports jacket are four medium-sized buttons at the cuff. These are sometimes placed for aesthetics and are false buttons that do not act to open or close the end of the sleeve. If the sleeve does open and they have more than an aesthetic purpose, these are called working buttons. 

Fitting mould:
At Wil Valor, we understand the significance of a wedding suit and strive for perfection at every stage. That is why we produce a drafted version of your garment as the second stage of creation. Fitting moulds allow us to refine our measurements and adjust the design before cutting your final suit. This step is crucial in ensuring your wedding suit results in perfection.