The Silhouette:

Years ago, it was common to differentiate the silhouette of a men's dress suit in three different styles of custom tailoring: the English, the Italian and the American.

Each suit shape could be identified by its national custom tailoring tradition.
Today, the details of the three big styles are so mixed up that it is no longer possible to separate and identify a certain tailoring style just by the details.

The English suit:

The English style was influenced by the lines of the military uniform, such as the long fitting, hourglass-shaped hacking jacket. The shape was cut close to the body, with a subtle emphasis on the chest and a soft shoulder. The English style of the men's dress suit had the most conservative appearance and was usually worn with a vest.

The American suit:

The 'American look' of the men's dress suit is characterized by a three-button, single-breasted jacket with natural shoulders, fronts without darts, flap pockets, a center vent and trousers with plain fronts. The American style is the most casual men's suit style, and is usually more comfortable to wear than the other two styles.

The Italian suit (European style):

The Italian style of the men's dress suit is the opposite of the shapeless American sack suit.
Characterized by high, squarish shoulders and a short overall length, the jacket has small high armholes to give the chest the length which was taken from the short jacket. The cutting shape was close through the chest and hips, and the jacket was usually single-breasted, with two buttons and high notched lapels. The pockets are flapless and the back has no vent. The trouser has a lower rise and is cut closer to the leg.

The Italian style is a good fitted men's dress suit and is more casual than the English style.
The look is usually more modern than the conservative English style.

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