Few men wear suits or odd jackets generally to attend sporting events any longer, no matter how well-heeled the audience, but what was once clothing for spectator sports still has lessons to teach us. The odd lovat or Donegal tweed suit is deserving of consideration on days when an odd jacket might be the automatic choice, and either suit or odd jacket benefits from the accessories worn by our man in the Esquire illustration.
The suit itself is a change of pace from the odd jackets that flood American streets. Eyes today are less used to seeing trousers that match jackets unless both are black, and the effect is a pleasant one, often accompanied by "I need one of those" or a similar thought.
Scanning the accessories from bottom up, we first see snuff brown suede chukka boots with natural crepe soles. Shoes with properly maintained crepe soles are still as comfortable as shoes ever get, and I am including every pair of athletic shoes I have ever worn in that comparison. Brown suede of course makes about the best looking casual shoe a man can have.
Above the trousers, the eye stops at the tattersall waistcoat, something that in one of the plainer patterns is quite wearable. It makes for an interesting accent with flannel suits, blazers, and the kinds of tweed suitings that some of us might wear to the office in Manhattan. Which is to say twills, herringbones and the like.
Finally, for I will not consider the Trilby hat, there is the oxford cloth shirt, a thing popularized by Brooks Brothers during its heyday as arbiter of the dress of the American male, with a club collar worn pinned. A man would need to have a shirt with that collar made for himself but would be well rewarded for doing so, particularly if he were to eschew pre-made eyelets and just pin the thing through the collar as nature intended.
And there is the bell.
Illustration: Esquire
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19 comments:
This is one of many entries in which you implicitly demote the odd jacket in favor of the suit, that is, in contexts that are considered informal. While I certainly respect your blog overall and your knowledge of men's raiment, could you please make more explicit your feelings on and reasons for this particular stance?
Will, I fully endorse your effort to revive the sports suit.
Man does not live by navy serge suits alone!
A well-rounded closet should have at least one sports or weekend suit.
The only problem I find with this is that the illustration doesn't exactly reflect US climatic reality although it may represent British reality where it can in the low forties in June. When people are playing polo it's going to be in the Spring to late summer/early fall period and no one is going to wear a tweed suit in that environment over here. I agree about the basic idea of wearing a sports suit however, but it would have to be a lightish weight wool with a "rustic" pattern. Maybe a glen check in brown or grey. On the subject of real tweed suits most people are not going to own several because the US climate is either too hot or too cold to wear them so it's probably a good idea to identify the most versatile and imho that would be the Donegal but not in too heavy a weight. I say this as someone who lived in England for awhile, purchased several tweed suits over there but never wore them once back in the US.
You might be surprised Joe. I have four tweed suits, with another on the way, that I wear regularly in Northern California. Nor am I alone.
The point of the post is not about polo but I will say that outside of Chicago, where I grew up, polo is played indoors (the old Chicago Armory among other venues) in cool weather and the temperature for spectators is perfect for tweed.
As a little addendum to my previous rather extended comment I was trying to think of the sort of event that would be appropriate for a sports suit and came up with Saratoga Springs Races which start sometime in mid July and finish in early September. Q.E.D.
Northern CA is a bit like Seattle, it can get chilly I agree but it's something of an exception in the US although a large exception. Interesting you mention the Chicago Armory, I once rented it for an event years after it had fallen into disuse. It was filthy we had an army of guys cleaning for two weeks. I also knew a guy who used to play polo there, a big Chicago Irishman, now sadly deceased.
I'd add btw Will, I love tweed. There are few fabrics that sit as well on the body but I just don't think the climate is conducive to wearing it outside of the coastal Pacific NW which sort of starts in SF.
I heartily concur as to the versatility of a casual suit like this. Especially in today's rather casual world, they are often a nice compromise, as well as being a pleasant change from an odd jacket. I think I've got a couple, but could stand to add another one at some point.
On another matter, you probably don't remember, but I asked you about the benefits of crepe soles vs dainite in a post of yours about such boots some months ago, and I notice you mention this again in this post.
Your advice was in my mind earlier this week when I was considering a couple of different pairs of chukkas, and I ended up going with the one with crepe soles. They're very comfortable; I hope they hold up well to use. Thanks for the advice!
Brummagem Joe,
As usual, your comments are a wonderful addition to what Will has written.
I would venture just one addendum, if I may be so bold, and that is how far south the Pacific Northwest climate extends.
While Oregon's Willamette Valley, being further inland than Seattle or SF, experiences four seasons, the relative uniformity of the Northern California climate extends, along the coast at least, to the Monterey Bay (where I am), and probably even further south than that.
Which is a roundabout way of saying that I, too, can wear tweed nearly year-round.
I think that is a binocular case rather than a bell, unless I am looking entirely at the wrong thing.
I think it is worth noting the absence of flaps on the coat's pockets, making it less formal and more practical in an outdoor context.
Jeremy, it is a binocular case however unflapped side pockets are generally considered to increase the formality of a jacket. After all, dinner jackets normally do not have flaps, despite what we see from time to time at the Academy Awards.
Will, any particular reason you "will not consider the Trilby?" Is it just preference or is there an interesting story hidden in there?
Horatio said...
"...the relative uniformity of the Northern California climate extends, along the coast at least, to the Monterey Bay (where I am), and probably even further south than that."
Lucky Man with both location and tweeds. I tend to regard everything down to Carmel as SF, a geographical solecism I'm sure but that's the mental picture I have, probably from some chilly golf games. The climate along the entire NW coast is distinctive, Seattle is very like Britain but go over the Cascades to the Yakima valley and it can be scorching. Given the free choice of a place to live in the US I'd choose Northern CA or Seattle so you and Will are lucky.
I thought discussing the hat would be a diversion from the point.
I should have mentioned that for this type of suit and as I think one can tell on the illustration, the pockets are sown onto the jacket, rather than being integrated to the lining, hence my view that this was less formal. Otherwise, I have to agree with you in your faultless reasoning about the ladder of formality.
Will,
You laud brown suede as making "about the best looking casual shoe a man can have." Seems about right to me.
As you probably know, recently, chukka boots have become available in other colors as well, with sand, loden, gray, and navy being particularly popular, it seems. (I've even seen them in white!) Assuming that one already has chukka boots in brown, what is your opinion of other colors?
Sand is in keeping with their heritage. As to the rest Horatio, I might wear blue suede oxfords but I think I will pass on colored chukkas.
Horatio said...
"As you probably know, recently, chukka boots have become available in other colors as well,"
Horatio: The colored items I've seen are really desert boots I think rather than chukka boots and thus even less formal. Alden and Church's both had some on their shelves. I think Will is right about various shades of brown/sand being best even in desert boots but that said if you're younger, red or blue desert boots for wandering the back streets of Siena doesn't strike me as particularly innapropriate. Clothes are meant to be fun after all.
Brummagem Joe,
I was of the impression that desert boot was Clark's (trademarked?) term for its crepe-soled chukkas, but if I am mistaken, I would certainly welcome the opportunity to be corrected.
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