Photo: Antonio PanicoThere are other shades but the three most elegant linen suits to my eye are colored french blue, cream and mustard, the shade of Neapolitan tailor Antonio Panico's suit in the photograph.
I am thinking about linen today as I will be spending some time with Mr. Patrick Chu of Hong Kong's W. W. Chan and may order another. The price is half that of my English tailors and that is a considerable advantage for what is essentially just a warm weather walk in the park pleasure suit. Quarter lined blue single breasted with patch pockets is the most useful.
I have written before that the key to successful linen wearing is the weight of the cloth. The lighter stuff creases where the heavier versions rumple. Rumples make for a more useful suit than do wrinkles.
Flâneurs who are looking for linen cloth might want to spend some time with Scabal's linen swatches. Their half-width 13 ounce (400 gram) stuff is a bit lighter than Holland & Sherry's 14 ounce book, and it has a softer hand as if its been washed in the River Tweed or something. I have several pair of trousers from it and, if I do overcome my reluctance to add another tailor to my mix, it will be from Scabal's fabric.
So much for my plan to post swatches of the three linen suit colors as I cannot seem to get on to Scabal's web site today.
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9 comments:
Ah beautiful cream linen! But....
As a late response to your previous post (if I may). This puts me in mind of a trip many years ago with the late Lord Brechin (Brechin incidentally spent much of his time in his younger days causing havoc on the Orient Express at a period when the train was given over to intrigue and adventuresses).
We were motoring north in his Hispano-Suiza I remember, for the fishing and had decided to break the journey half way. It was unseasonably warm for the time of year (early May) and Brechin found himself somewhat over-clothed. Coming across a tailor in the little market town in which we were to stay, we looked in, and there, on the table was a bolt of cloth much like that in your colour photograph, although perhaps an ounce or two lighter.
Anyway that’s bye the bye – Brechin charms the man and persuades him to make him up a pair of shorts, yes SHORTS, from the cloth by the very next morning, and dash it, he did! Half lined, pleated front, with turn ups (I believe you Americans call them cuffs?). Of course I can’t say how much this cost my friend but even in those days it was well over a hundred guineas.
He wore the shorts throughout the trip and they were much admired, though I’ve never seen a pair like them since. He wore them incidentally, with cream, cotton socks held aloft by garters with tassels in the family tartan.
The trip, you will be pleased to hear, was a great success and we motored back with a full creel apiece, sharing a bottle or two of the ’47 Bordeaux from Brechin’s excellent cellar.
Yesterday I had an appointment to review fabrics with Patrick. I enjoyed seeing a few of the things you've written about--Breanish Tweed, Minnis Frescos and Flannels, and even some Solaro. Thanks for educating me about these things. By the way, Patrick will do a basted fitting if you ask. He can bring it back with him in July for the final fitting.
Interesting post, Will. I am at this moment considering a Linen suit in a darker shade of "sand". I would love to find a nice French blue linen but that is a tough find in my opinion.
Humm, you have given me pause before I place my fabric order.
Cheers,
Carl
Would you consider linen sport coat colors to be better in different shades, or OK in the ones you listed? Does a dark colored, say navy, linen coat not make sense given that they would normally be worn on hot days, and the dark colors absorb heat?
You only give the three options. I would certainly add the dove grey shade. A color very near that represented in the illustration of several days ago with the grey suit and cream stripe. Very useful color but less frequently seen, as you noted then.
Will,
I have a medium blue linen suit. My question is: would it be appropiate to pair it with a shirt that has a white contrasting collar with white turn-back cuffs? Even though I like the look, I'm not sure if it would be a sartorial sin to pair such a formal shirt with a leisure suit.
Carl, Scabal has a lovely french blue in a 14 ounce weight. It has a softer hand than the Holland & Sherry cloth as well.
Jeff, I think lighter colors work better for summer cloths but more for the look than the heat conduction.
And Franklin, white collar and cuffs is probably too formal for linen but in this day and age no-one is likely to call you out for it.
I am curious about Panico's tailoring. Will, could you say a little about him?
M Hampton
Will,
Might I bother you for the Scabal fabric numbers for the three shades you mention? I am on the Scabal site, but don't find much in the 400g weight.
Many thanks for this, and all of your posts.
Larry
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