I see too many blue suits that are so dark they might as well be (shudder) black. Worn during the day, dark navy is less than complementary to most complexions. A slightly lighter shade works better for the vast majority of men (those that were called Autumns excepted). It looks recognizably blue in sunlight.
In the photo, author Tom Wolfe is captured by a reader as he leaves the funeral of William F. Buckley Jr. last year. His suit and overcoat are, in my opinion, the right shade of navy.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Right Shade of Navy
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10 comments:
Random question: What is the difference between a blazer, a sport coat, an odd jacket, and a suit jacket?
What type of hat is he wearing?
Will,
Is that an Inverness cape on Mr. Wolfe? A post on capes would be valued.
Thanks,
Charles
Chase, a suit has matching trousers. The others are jackets.
There's no difference between a sport coat and an odd jacket, and a blazer is a form of odd jacket.
If you use the search function for the terms in question you'll find quite a bit more.
That is a homburg hat.
I cemented my status as a dandy when I overheard the conversation of a clerk at a men's store who was telling a customer over the phone that he didn't think they had any homburg hat. I pointed out to him that they had several right next to the fedoras "The ones that look like a Indiana Jones hat".
Will,
Except to be NAVY blue, it must be nearly black. Other wise it is DARK blue. Navy is Navy.
Mark
I think the brim is too wide for it to be a true Homburg, splendid as it is - see Bates of Jermyn Street for a comparison: http://www.bates-hats.co.uk/formal.html . This is a wonderful hat-maker; I covet one of their extra-wide-brimmed Panamas...
Mark makes a good point. Let us not stand for semantic sloppiness any more than we would stand for sartorial sloppiness.
In a larger way, however, I wonder why Tom Wolfe wore this color to a funeral. Very dark gray would seem to me much more appropriate.
Charles, to the best of my knowledge he owns only cream and blue clothing. Like the rest of us he wears what he has.
"Except to be NAVY blue, it must be nearly black. Other wise it is DARK blue. Navy is Navy."
...unless Will was talking about French Navy :)
Paul
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