It is not ready to wear quite yet but the cloth in the photo will be transformed for next fall. On the bottom is a 14 ounce Shetland jacketing in a dark and light brown herringbone with overchecks in navy and tan. It will go to Peter Harvey of London's Davies and Son in February to be made into an odd jacket.
Resting on the tweed is a swatch of a 13 ounce rust-colored gabardine that appears to bring out the tan overcheck. I'm going to see what that color looks like made up into trousers.
We often see cavalry twill or whipcord trousers with a tweed jacket and gabardine is in that same twill family. Jacket and trousers will be close enough in weight to be worn together and the tightly woven gabardine will add visual interest next to the roughness of the tweed.
Repeating a secondary color of a jacket in the trousers can make for harmonious combinations just as it does with shirts and neckties. The palette of rust, brown, tan and navy blue should provide plenty of opportunity to wear it with interesting shirts and neckwear.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Combining Jacket and Trousers
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8 comments:
Will, this is a lovely cloth. I always enjoy your comments. Unlike the 'fashion' magazines, you tell men who want to dress well what they need to know.
I have a question. In his book "The Suit", Nicholas Antongiavanni mentions "The magnificant but now extinct Paddock Coat.' I have never heard of this coat before. Can you tell me what it is?
Thanks,
Steve
I have a pair of very, very, heavy cavalry twill
trousers in what appears to be exactly the same
rust color. They go well with most of my tweed
jackets in the brown/greenish category. I have
even worn them with a blue blazer. They were purchased when I lived in Chicago where they were ideal for 10 degrees F and lower, especially when
worn with an Invertere greatcoat. Brrr!
When did Harvey go to Davies?
Steve, the Paddock coat is a formal DB with cuffs and a velvet collar. Six buttons are arranged like those on a formal DB vest, that is to say they are close together vertically and each row is closer together than the row above it. The skirt is flared and the back has pleated side vents.
Eric, Peter Harvey joined Davies late last year.
Beautiful cloth. Who makes it? I'd love to have a similar coat made
Thanks!
Darren
Such splendid choice of cloth Will! I do have one question for you though: since you are someone who uses a variety of establishments and more than one tailor, what is the criteria for a particular firm or tailor when you acquire fabric? For example, why did you pick Harvey in this instance? Is it because some tailors are better at certain weights of cloth like tweed than other,s or is it that you simply prefer how a tailor will do odd jackets and another for sutings?
M Hampton
My two tailors are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Thomas Mahon makes his coat the way he is used to making it. Fortunately, that's a great DB jacket. I just wear it.
With Peter Harvey I can specify what I want and he makes it. And he makes everything for me except for my DB jackets. Nothing wrong with his, but it's good to have two tailors in case something happens to one of them so there's still clothes coming in.
Darren, the cloth is a discontinued Scabal Shetland.
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