Shoulder pads give form to the jacket and shoulders, affect sleeve length, and how it hangs. Jacket patterns that have shoulder pads are drafted to include them. Why don't you like them?

Most, if not all suits and coats have shoulder pads in them, applied just as you describe. Id say your jacket needs those pads......I can understand wanting to change them if they're 80s-style power shoulders, in which case you'd be doing a major alteration, but you say it's a timeless style, so I think you should leave them alone.

Clothes are so deconstructed now - I've tried this suit on and I feel like a linebacker. It sounds like at minimum the lining seams would need to be opened to get at the pads, and possibly the sleeves would need to be shortened - another ugh because the cuffs have buttons.

Soleil, unless you are an experienced seamstress, I wouldn't touch shoulder alterations. Maybe you could pick the brain of a tailor to get a solid opinion on whether this will work with your jacket. Your jacket probably also has sleeve heads that you may or may not have to deal with.

Sherry

You might be able to replace them with a thinner pad.

The way into the jacket without taking the whole thing apart is likely the lining in one of the sleeves. If you turn the sleeves inside out you may see a seam stitched from the outside. This is your point of entry. You can carefully turn the jacket inside out from this seam and snip out the pads.

I’m working on on such a dress - took out sleeves and inserted darts in front of dress - hope to replace sleeves totally

I hate to say it but shoulder pads are totally coming back girl I know crazy right 😱

The first thing you should do is analyze your own shoulders! If you have broad, sharp shoulders that sort of stick up (like some gymnasts or swimmers), then it is likely you need only minimal shoulder padding (if any). Analyze your shoulders' angles. Do they have a steep slope do to the outside or your body? Or are they almost perpendicular to neck? How long is your neck? The fatter the shoulder pads, the more "stumpy" your neck will look. You really have to analyze the shape & slope of your shoulders, their breadth, and their relationship to your neck.

Coco Chanel often said that "setting a shoulder" is one of the most difficult things for a tailor. (But honestly, it's not that hard to remove pads...) If, after analysis, you decide to remove the pads completely or install a thinner one, you'll have to unpick the seams into which they are sewn, and then re-analyze and re-drape the shoulder taking up the slack along the appropriate seams so that the should seam line is perfect. You might even be taking in slack from the seam that runs across the top of your shoulder. If you do not feel comfortable doing this yourself, go to a "real tailor" who was trained in cutting & fitting high-end men's suits (older ones often know more...) Get somebody who really knows what they are doing (ask an older investment banker or somebody who's been using a bespoke tailor). For more expensive suits, I would not just take it to my local dry cleaners. If you have the time, you can teach yourself.

To avoid the 1990's "dumpy" and/or football linebacker look, you will also have to raise the bottom of the arm hole, and take in the side seams under it. The higher the cut of the arm hole, the more trim & fitted the look. (Analyze the Duchess Kate's suits--all high cut arm holes. Same with many old Chanel suits...)

As Coco Chanel said, setting a shoulder is an art... If it is done well, it makes a huge difference.