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{{Short description|Two flaps of material turned back on the chest, especially a continuation of a coat collar}}
{{for|the town|Lapel, Indiana}}
[[File:Dress-pinstripe.jpg|thumb|right|A pinstriped suit with a notched lapel]]

A '''lapel''' ({{IPAc-en|l|ə|ˈ|p|ɛ|l}} {{respell|lə|PEL}}) is a folded flap of cloth on the front of a [[jacket]] or [[coat]] below the collar. It is most commonly found on formal clothing and [[suit]] jackets. Usually it is formed by folding over the front edge of the jacket or coat and sewing it to the collar, an extra piece of fabric around the back of the neck.

There are three basic forms of lapel: notched, peaked, and shawl. The notched lapel, the most common, is usually seen on [[business suit]]s, and on more casual jackets like [[blazer]]s and [[sport coat]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/sharp-casual-young-man-guide/|title=Casual Dress for Young Men: What to Wear & How to Wear It|last=Antonio|date=31 October 2012}}</ref><ref>Flusser (2002). p. 83</ref> The peaked lapel is more [[Formal wear|formal]], and nearly always used on [[double-breasted]] jackets, but also frequently appears on single breasted ones.<ref name="Flusser02.85">Flusser (2002). p. 85</ref> The shawl lapel is usually carried by [[tuxedo]]s and [[mess jacket]]s.<ref name="Antongiavanni02.172">Antongiavanni (2006). p. 172</ref>

==Types==
===Notched===
[[Image:Notch lapel.svg|thumb|A notched lapel]]
[[File:lapel comparison.jpg|thumb|Comparison of two notched lapel cuts: [[England|English]] (left) and [[Spain|Spanish]] (right). The former is the most commonly seen notched lapel.<ref>{{cite book |last1=García-Bragado |first1=David |title=Vestirse Por Los Pies: Los Secretos de Estilo del Auténtico Caballero |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_PwoAEACAAJ |date=17 March 2014 |publisher=Hércules Edición |isbn=978-8-4927-1579-4 |page=181}}</ref>]]
The '''notched lapel''' (American English), '''step lapel''' or '''step collar''' (British English) is sewn to the collar at an angle, creating a step effect.  This is the standard on [[single-breasted]] suits, and is used on nearly all [[suit (clothing)|suit]] jackets, [[blazer]]s, and [[sports jacket]]s. The notched lapel double-breasted jacket is a rare setting.<ref>{{cite web | title = Double Breasted Notch Lapel "Wall Street" Suit | work = Ask Andy | date = 2008-08-04 | url = http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?85162-Double-Breasted-Notch-Lapel-quot-Wall-Street-quot-Suit}}</ref> The size of the notch can vary, and a small notch is sometimes called ''fishmouth''.<ref>Antongiavanni (2006). p. 48</ref> This was the first type of lapel to appear and is the most common one.
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===Peaked===
[[Image:Peak lapel.svg|thumb|A peaked lapel]]
The '''peaked lapel''' (American English), '''peak lapel''', or '''pointed lapel''' (British English), is the most formal, featuring on [[double-breasted]] jackets,<ref name="Flusser02.85"/> all formal coats such as a [[tailcoat]]<ref>Flusser (2002). p. 234</ref> or [[morning coat]], and also commonly with a tuxedo (both single and double breasted). In the late 1920s and 1930s, the single breasted peaked lapel jacket was considered a very stylish design. The feature was carried into day clothing by the increasing popularity of the peaked [[dinner jacket]].<ref>Flusser (2002). p. 84</ref> The ability to cut peak lapels properly on a single-breasted suit is one of the most challenging tailoring tasks, even for very experienced tailors.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.englishcut.com/archives/000052.html | title = Single breasted, peaked lapel | access-date = 2008-09-20 | last = Mahon | first = Thomas | date = 2005-03-29 | work = English Cut | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050403030031/http://www.englishcut.com/archives/000052.html | archive-date = 2005-04-03 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
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===Shawl===
[[Image:Shawl lapel.svg|thumb|A shawl lapel]]
The '''shawl lapel''', '''shawl collar''', or '''roll collar''' is a continuous curve. Originally seen on the [[Victorian fashion|Victorian]] [[smoking jacket]], it is now most common on the dinner jacket or tuxedo.<ref name="Antongiavanni02.172"/> This similarly began as informal eveningwear, and was then made in both more and less formal versions, depending on the situation in which it was to be used. It is also commonly used on [[mess jacket]]s. A [[Teba jacket]] sports a form of notch-less lapel that features an angular turn.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oliver Brown is the place to go for maximalist tailoring (and top hats) |url=https://www.thejackalmagazine.com/oliver-brown-sloane-street-london |date=26 April 2019 |publisher=The Jackal Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Style Heroes: Arnold Wong, Senior Brand Manager and Buyer at Attire House |url=https://www.lifestyleasia.com/hk/style/fashion/style-heroes-arnold-wong-senior-brand-manager-and-buyer-at-attire-house/ |date=20 May 2019 |publisher=LIFESTLYE ASIA}}</ref>
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==Width==
The width of the lapel is a widely varying aspect of suits, and has changed widely over the years.<ref>{{cite web | title = Style Q&A: Dressing Up Casual, Wide Vs Skinny Lapels, and Tailored Recommendations | work = Primer magazine | url = http://www.primermagazine.com/2011/learn/style-qa-dressing-up-casual-wide-vs-skinny-lapels-and-tailored-recommendations}}</ref> Some designers maintain however that most stylish lapel width does not change, and that the lapel "should extend to just a fraction less than the halfway mark between the collar and shoulder line".<ref>Flusser (1985). [http://www.throughtherye.com/flusser/ch2.htm ch. 2]</ref>

==Fabric==
The lapel on business and sports wear is typically made of the same fabric as the rest of the jacket. On more formal wear it may be made of a contrasting fabric, with satin a popular  historic choice.

==Buttonhole==
[[File:Lapel Watch (USA), ca. 1889 (CH 18497615).jpg|thumb|Lapel watch, USA, {{Circa|1889}}, Cooper–Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum]]

On single-breasted jackets the left lapel typically carries a [[buttonhole]] for holding a [[boutonnière]], a decorative flower. A loop is often fixed to the back of the lapel to hold the flower properly.<ref>{{cite web | last = Boehlke | first = Will | title = What's in your lapel? | work = A Suitable Wardrobe | date = 2007-01-07 | url = http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2007/01/whats-in-your-lapel.html | access-date = 2008-09-24 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081014053645/http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2007/01/whats-in-your-lapel.html | archive-date = 2008-10-14 | url-status = dead }}</ref> For symmetry, double breasted suits often have a buttonhole on each lapel. A [[lapel pin]] is also sometimes worn.

==Origin==
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[[File:Young Nelson.jpg|thumb|right|[[Lord Nelson]] in a Captain's tailcoat (1781), exhibiting a long, loosely-folded lapel with many buttons]]

The most common style of lapel, the notched lapel, originated in older types of jackets that buttoned to the neck, by unbuttoning and turning back the upper part of the closure at an angle indoors or in hot weather, and then removing the upper buttons. The upper points are derived from the end corners of the collar. This can be duplicated by similarly turning back the closure in a modern button-to-the-neck garment such as an [[overcoat]] or a [[boilersuit]]. Sometimes when caught outside in bad weather in a lapelled jacket and nothing over it, its wearer may unfold the lapels and hold them that way to temporarily reproduce the ancestral to-the-neck closure.

As tailcoats evolved rapidly among the wealthy during the [[Regency period]], various styles of closure saw popularity, from fastenings at the top, the middle, or even hanging open. The turn-down collar popular on earlier garments like the [[frock]] was succeeded by long lapels folded down to below the waist (fashionably tightly nipped in). Invariably, there were long rows of buttons down the front, most of which did not fasten; in fact even into the late [[Victorian era]], all frock coats had a long row of button holes on the lapel, long since obsolete. As buttoning styles changed, the loosely folded front of the coat correspondingly shifted shape, and the ''V'' then formed by the meeting of the fold and the collar continues now in the traditional shape of notched and peaked lapels, both of which originate from that period.

Once double breasted frock coats were established, lapels were sharply creased and their form was more static, varying only in details such as height, since they were buttoned nearly to the neck by the [[Edwardian]]s, then lengthened to the classic three-button shape, the two-button jacket being a further American innovation. The other significant change over that period was the use of the [[revers]] in the construction of the lapel, as the Victorians used elaborate three-part patterns to cut a fold of cloth from the lining into the front of the lapel, a universal consideration of frock coats and dress coats of the period, but abandoned in favor of the current single-piece lapels at the same time as the switch to morning coats and lounge suits. Modern lapels are largely identical in form to their 1930s counterparts.{{Fact|date=June 2012}}

Some historians of dress such as [[Bernard Rudofsky]] have ridiculed the evolution of jacket lapels into "vastly unnecessary flaps" and "decorative rudiments",<ref name="BernardRudofsky47.122">Rodofsky(1947). p. 122</ref> while others have celebrated the transformation of lapels into "fetishes" as part of fashion as expression.<ref>{{cite web | last = Machete | first = A.J. | title = Jacket Lapels | work = The Complete Suit Guide | date = 2010-10-28 | url = http://denverbespoke.com/?p=687 | access-date = 2011-10-27}}</ref>

== Lapelless jackets==
Though less common among men's suits in the west, other jacket styles feature no lapels. Jackets with [[mandarin collar]]s, also called stand collars, band collars, or choker collars, include [[Nehru jacket]]s and various military dress uniforms, such as the [[British Army Uniform|British Army]] and [[Uniforms of the United States Marine Corps|US Marine Corps]]. [[Turndown collar]]s, also called Prussian collars and ghillie collars, were once common on military uniforms and on the [[Mao suit]].

==Notes==
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==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |title=The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style |last=Antongiavanni| first=Nicholas |year=2006 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0-06-089186-2}}
*{{cite book |title= Clothes and the Man: The Principles of Fine Men's Dress|last=Flusser |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Flusser |year=1985 |publisher=[[Villard (imprint)|Villard]] |isbn=0-394-54623-7 |url=http://www.throughtherye.com/flusser/index_current.html |access-date=2008-09-20 }}
*{{cite book |title= Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion |last= Flusser |first= Alan |author-link= Alan Flusser|year= 2002 |publisher= [[HarperCollins]] |isbn= 0-06-019144-9}}
*{{cite book |title= Are Clothes Modern? |last= Rudofsky |first= Bernard |author-link= Bernard Rudofsky|year= 1947 |publisher= [[Paul Theobald]] }}
*Whife, A.A (ed): ''The Modern Tailor Outfitter and Clothier''. The Caxton Publishing Company Ltd, London, 1951

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{{Clothing materials and parts}}

[[Category:Jackets]]
[[Category:Suits (clothing)]]
[[Category:Parts of clothing]]