Regular readers already know that I like shirt jackets for casual wear. Unstructured coats in tweed, flannel, moleskin, drill or linen are comfortable, cover the waist and add the necessary pockets to an ensemble.
In this case, unstructured means that shirt jacket construction has no canvas or pads, and just enough lining to hang an interior pocket or two when that is necessary. Otherwise, it is simply a layer of cloth, and that simplicity is what gives an unstructured jacket its lightness and comfort.
Interestingly, the conventional jacket and the shirt jacket show some signs of merging. I saw a Brunello Cucinelli coat yesterday that was an example of where these things are going; a conventionally styled piece but unconstructed, with just a bit of buggy lining and a two piece collar. That is a better make in many ways for warm weather than a conventional odd jacket and of course it is considerably less expensive than an odd jacket to put together.
Now I am too cheap to spend $3,000 on a designer safari jacket that was made to fit someone with a better figure than mine in the first place, so I am approaching this unconstructed jacket thing from two directions. Joe Hemrajani has a new hand tailoring operation in Hong Kong that he says is Oxxford quality, and they are making me a ghillie collared jacket with just a bit of lining from a length of 10 ounce/300 gram Loro Piana cashmere. And the good folks at Inis Meáin are also making me a coat in unlined Irish linen, as worn by the young lady in the photo.
I will report on them when they arrive in February.
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8 comments:
Will,
Joe made me a very nice jacket recently that I posted on AAAC. I think it is very cool and nicely made. Joe is really doing an excellent job with his new operations.
Here is a link to the post.
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?62656-What-Are-You-Wearing-Today&p=1161071#post1161071
The post is # 18787
G
I too have long been fond of shirt jackets for casual situations. For the purposes of my comparison I’ll arbitrarily divide them into two classes; those that more closely resemble shirts and those that are more like tailored jackets. My prosaic acquisitions over the years have been the former, really more oversized shirts, with a shirt type of collar and cuffs and a full cut body. I consider these to be at the most casual end of the spectrum, but I like them and they suit me.
I’ve seen photos and illustrations of shirt jackets of all kinds going back at least to the late ‘40’s and likely even earlier. One of the more handsome examples of the tailored version that I’ve seen over the years was offered by Paul Stuart and was introduced, I believe, in 1983 and called by them the Cabbot Jacket. (Yes, two B’s.) It aesthetically split the difference in cut between shirt and jacket. It was full cut with two or three buttons, a one-button shirt type cuff and a notch collar like a tailored jacket, only fuller and softer. It had no padding or lining, three open patch pockets and a half belt in back. They had them made up by Southwick in tweeds and cashmere.
Never picked one up as they didn’t offer it in my size, but I have long wished I had one, with just one addition. My personal preference is for a full lining, and I would have added a light one, such as Bemberg.
A mixed manly cloth, curiously worn by a girl, which in no way distracts from its distinctly masculine look.
I like it; and, especially the collar, which gives it distinction
Funny timing. Coincidentally, I met with Joe yesterday myself to have him do something similar. I have a similar Cucinelli sport coat as you described and I left it with Joe to make something similar also in an LP cashmere.
Ghillie collar? Isn't that a bit Tony Curtis in The Persuaders?
No.
Is Joe's new maker Crittiden Rawlings?
Will, do you know any good source for heavy duty linen like you'll be using?
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