Flannel Trouser Days

The rains arrived in Northern California the other day, bringing cool weather and a photo I used a year ago with them. That meant that flannel trouser days had begun and, frankly, if cool weather must come then nicely mottled woolen flannel trousers are one of the good things that come with it (worsted versions have their place but they don't tend to have the same look).

Woolen flannel weights begin around twelve ounces, or 360 grams and thirteen ounces/390 grams is the norm. The readily available stuff that I know of goes up to Holland & Sherry's 17 ounce/510 gram cloth, with plenty of choices in the sweet spot at the middle of that range. Between the weight and the uncut surface of the cloth, outdoor temperatures for woolen trousers probably top around sixty degrees (about 16 Celsius) but that leaves plenty of days to wear them. Have them in light gray, mid-gray, dark gray, cream and brown to complement all types of cool weather jackets and add a pair in a soft green if you can find the cloth.

Now of those colors the mid-gray is probably the most useful and cream the most neglected. I believe it was Alan Flusser who wrote that if a man is considering a new jacket and cannot see gray flannel trousers complementing it then he should look for another jacket, and that is true enough. But gray flannel is over-used with the navy blazer. Try wearing cream instead a time or two and be pleasantly surprised (Dormeuil has a version, as does Holland & Sherry).

That said, it is raining again today and I shall be wearing flannel trousers.