Harris Wharf London Cropped Raglan Jacket

A raglan sleeve is joined to the body by a diagonal seam running from the underarm up to the neckline, so the sleeve includes the shoulder rather than being attached below it. There is no shoulder seam and no armhole in the usual sense. Two things follow. The arm can rotate through a much wider range without the whole jacket lifting, which is why raglan construction turns up on outerwear meant to be worn over other clothes. And the shoulder line is soft rather than square, so the jacket takes the shape of the person wearing it instead of imposing one. Cropped, it stops at or above the hip, which puts the eye higher and lets whatever is underneath show below the hem. The cloth agrees with all of it: seventy-two percent polyamide with twenty-eight percent elastane, which is a stretch cloth rather than a tailoring one, so a jacket built to let an arm move is cut from a material that moves too. Made in Italy.

A raglan is the easiest jacket to layer and a cropped one is the easiest to wear over a dress. Both of those are practical answers rather than design ones, which is why we wanted it.

Seventy-two percent polyamide and twenty-eight percent elastane, made in Italy. Raglan sleeve construction. Cropped length. Color: Black.

We do not describe a lining, a fastening, or a pocket on this jacket, because we do not hold them. Ask us and we will look at the piece with you.

Raglan sleeves fit a broader range of shoulders than set-in sleeves, because there is no seam sitting at a point that has to match your own. The cloth widens that further: at twenty-eight percent elastane it gives in every direction and recovers, so this is a jacket that accommodates rather than one that has to be matched. Cropped outerwear needs whatever is under it to be worth seeing below the hem.

Over the Geometric Dress, over the Bell Sleeve Dress, over a high-waisted trouser where the crop and the waistband meet. Black over black uses the shape rather than a color to do the work.

The elastane decides this jacket and heat is what destroys elastane: a hot wash, a tumble dryer, or an iron will break it down, and the stretch does not come back. Wash cool, dry flat and away from a radiator, and do not press it. The polyamide points the same way, since it melts at a temperature a domestic iron reaches. Our general guidance on elastane in blends covers the rest.

The Stand Up Collar Blazer is another unlined jacket, in a pressed virgin wool, with a collar that stands or lies flat. There is more on the house on the Harris Wharf London designer page. Everything we carry from Harris Wharf London is listed together.