A blazer lives or dies at five fit checkpoints — and only some are fixable after purchase. The fit exam: what must be right off the rack, what the tailor can move, and the checkpoint order that decides in ninety seconds.

Checkpoint One: The Shoulder

The unfixable first: the shoulder seam ends at YOUR shoulder point (the overhang reads borrowed; the pinch reads outgrown) — shoulder surgery is the alteration tailors decline. The deliberate oversized cut moves the seam by DESIGN, evenly; the accidental mis-fit droops on one axis. Wrong shoulder, back on the rack, exam over.

Checkpoints Two and Three: Button and Back

The button stance: fastened, the closure sits without an X-pull (the strain lines across the button are a size vote), and one fist fits inside. The back check: no collar gap at the neck (the standing-away collar is a cut mismatch) and no horizontal ripples below it. Both partially tailorable — the waist takes in; the collar rarely resolves.

Checkpoints Four and Five: Sleeve and Length

The sleeve line: ending at the wrist bone (the shirt cuff’s quarter-inch reveal is classic; the knuckle-graze is a hem fee), and the body length by intent — the classic covering the seat’s curve, the cropped ending deliberately high, and nothing hovering ambiguously between. Sleeves and hems are the tailor’s easiest wins.

The Ninety-Second Protocol

The fitting room run: shoulders in the mirror, button and fist, the back twist-check, arms up (the lift test — the blazer that pins arms fails its actual job), sit down once, photo protocol. Five checkpoints, two unfixables, one confident verdict — the blazer exam never needs longer.

Shoulder first and final, fist at the button, tailor the sleeves. A blazer’s fit was always five questions — and the rack answers the two that matter before the register does.