A Consolation

I got out my somewhat new backgammon dice cups the other day for a friendly game, if any activity involving dice and betting can ever truly be friendly. The cups are new in the sense that I had never used them, though they have been sitting around the house for some time. You see, a lady named Sarah, who was inadvertently the MD of W. S. Foster & Son for a while, resurrected my interest in the game (she was, and no doubt still is, a backgammon shark in a very nice but very literal sense of the word) and when I pulled out my decades old board the bottoms of the cups were worn through. Imagine my surprise when I learned that a new set of comparable quality was a couple thousand dollars. Fortunately, Sarah volunteered her firm to make me replacement cups and after quite a long wait and only somewhat less money than the cost of a new board I had lovely new ones and new dice to go with them.

So I have begun playing again, though with nothing approaching the 24/7 enthusiasm of my youth. The unfortunate part of the story is that by the time the cups did arrive Sarah had fallen in love and stopped travelling with Foster's, who will be arriving the first week of November. As consolation they should be bringing a pair of shoes.

Photo: W. S. Foster & Son

Alfred Sargent On Tour

Chay Cooper of Northampton's Alfred Sargent is in San Francisco this week for that company's first ever visit to the west coast of North America. Chay brought with him a trunkload of samples from the company's Handgrade line of made to order shoes.

First some history. Sargent was started in 1899 and spent the early part of the 21st century principally making basic shoes for its own label and fine shoes for others, including Gaziano & Girling when that firm went into the machine-made shoe business. This was apparently not the best financial arrangement and Sargent ran into difficulties (part of the fallout from those being that G&G was forced to start making its own shoes somewhat earlier than it had planned), from which it was rescued by an investment by the French firm that is its largest customer. Time for a new beginning, thinks the men of Alfred Sargent, which dropped the low end product and began making fine shoes for its own label. And very nice shoes these Handgrades are, with a well-cut waist that is as good as anything I have seen.

Moves upmarket are not without their difficulties of course and at least one of Sargent's is typical of all the Northampton makers. In order to warrant spending $1,275 ($1,300 for boots) on a pair of their lovely made to order shoes the customer has to be fitted, which can only happen at a trunk show, at the factory (a forty minute train ride outside of London), or at one of a very few retailers around the world (New York's Leffot being one). But if the prospective buyer can overcome that obstacle, the product looks to be good value, if value is a word that can be applied to $1,300 footwear. The materials used are first class, the punching is clean, the proportions well balanced, the waists as I mentioned beautifully cut and though I have no personal experience I am inclined to think that the company is likely to be easier to deal with than the other Northampton makers.

Keep an eye out for Sargent's next visit to your part of the world and get fitted.

An Automotive Digression

We digress periodically, and this is one of those days. For James Bond is back, in book form anyway, and I was happy to see that he rides in style again in Carte Blanche. No more Volvos, or whatever sensible thing the previous authors for hire were placing him in. No, Jeffrey Deaver remembered that Bond's parents left him a small sum when they passed and he has spent it properly, on a Bentley Continental. Good choice. Twin turbo V-12. Zero to 60 in under five seconds. And a better than expected if not completely sensible 19 MPG on the daily commute.

Though I cannot get all the way past the idea that the Continental is a re-bodied Volkswagen Phaeton, this is not a terrible thing. It frankly does not happen often but when I am passed on the highways these days it is usually by a young man in an Audi after all and those are Volkswagens too. The company has been building some very respectable transportation in recent years.

The wheels are turning.

Photo: Adrian Pingstone

Indian Cut

Thomas Mahon of tailors English Cut learned his craft at Savile Row's Anderson & Sheppard under the guidance of managing director Mr Dennis Hallberry, whose contribution to English tailoring is indelible.

But Mahon is also an innovator. His blog ‘English Cut’ built his brand early on and gives him a unique connection with his customers. The blog also ensures that he is seen not just as a master tailor but also as an educator in an industry that has traditionally been both private and understated.

Thomas's latest innovation shows that he is also a business man. And while his bespoke services starting at $3530 (£2260) for a suit may be out of reach to many people who appreciate fine tailoring, prices from $2160 (£1400) for made to measure are considerably more accessible.

So what is the compromise? Quite simply the only concession is that English Cut MTM suits will be made in India. Mahon is open and honest about this. He has invested many trips of several weeks at a time sourcing and training a highly skilled team that he is confident to entrust with his name and reputation.

Last week's launch of the made to measure line featured a short film highlighting the time Thomas spent working with the tailors in India. Surrounded by a collection of well crafted suits, coats and jackets, he eulogised the skill and craftsmanship of his Indian team, one of them singled out for special praise being skilled beyond his years at just 25 years old.

Though made to measure rather than to a pattern made for the individual, the new English Cut line features much more hand stitching than most if not all Savile Row bespoke suits as well as the unstructured shoulders and modest drape that are Thomas's tailoring trademark and beautifully formed lapels that roll properly. Nor is there any compromise in the cloth, which comes from bespoke quality sources such as W. Bill.

English Cut made to measure is currently available directly from Thomas at his studio in Cumbria or by appointment in London (a new shop will be opening there shortly). 

This post was contributed by Christian Price from London. Visit Christian on the web at http://www.thelongwing.com/.

Three Dandies

Andre Churchwell, Alan Flusser and Keith Churchwell posed for a photograph in Nashville, Tennessee recently. Flusser's clothing is so relaxed he looks as though he has been sipping coffee and reading the morning newspaper in his hotel suite before donning a necktie and a pair of slipon shoes to face the day.

The Last Formal Wardrobe

Perhaps the most interesting thing to me about the wardrobe of the late Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. that was auctioned off earlier this month was that it was among the last on the planet to include a full selection of what is now essentially extinct formal clothing. There were tailcoats, morning coats and half a dozen smoking jackets in addition to the black tie that most of us now think of as formal wear.

Faribanks' wardrobe bridged the first and second half of the twentieth centuries. Residing in London after the Second World War, he was part of the capital's social circle during a time when men wore formal day wear with some frequency and usually dressed for dinner. By the end of his life, the lounge suit had supplanted most of that clothing for 99% of the occasions when it was once worn.

Change being constant, the lounge suit is in the late stages of becoming our version of formal dress. Seen during the day on a relative handful of professionals, it is worn in the evening by men who wear shirt and trousers to the office (at least those who believe that dressing up means more than throwing an odd jacket over a pair of khaki trousers, however that is another discussion entirely).

There were half a dozen blazers in Fairbanks' closet but I only recall one of what we otherwise think of as odd jackets at the auction - they were not worn in the city. By contrast, today's Silicon Valley venture capitalist has odd jackets aplenty but if he owns a suit it rarely leaves its hanger.

None of this is good or bad of course, only different. But Mr. Fairbanks was one of the last of a now departed era.

Favorites

I wrote the other day that autumn is the best season and that is true for several reasons, not least of them is the sheer beauty of the season's textiles. Take, if you will, this season's collection from Drake's London on the ASW store for example. Drake's was one of the first lines I began offering roughly two years ago and it never disappoints. This year there are spotted squares in wool and silk that work well as either ascots or neckerchiefs.

The most popular items I have offered in the past are Drake's printed pocket squares, which this year are in the classic unicorn print. They are joined by wool and silk and ancient madder squares in eight new patterns.

And then there are the scarves of course, the original product when Michael Drake and his partners began making things. I have half a dozen new offerings on the store so far, including the pictured Kelim print as well as a huge piece of ancient madder that is the most extravagant piece of neckwear I have ever seen.

These are only some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Before the Flood

The first cashmere tie of the season appeared in a travel outfit the other day, accompanied by an ancient madder pocket square, an end on end shirt and my Breanish tweed jacket that comes out a couple times each spring and fall. In typical Bay area fashion it was a perfect weight for the coast and the City but far too warm for the countryside in between.

All this inland heat is re-shaping my wardrobe. After years of wearing what ready to wear makers consider impossibly heavy cloth year-round, I think only of lighter stuff these days. Unfortunately, the lead times built into my clothing acquisitions means little is coming out of the pipeline. It is a situation reminiscent of Winston Churchill's  description of the armaments manufacturing cycle: "The first year nothing, the second year a trickle and the third year a flood."  Next year there will be a flood, if we can only get there from here.  

The Best Season

The San Francisco Symphony's Opening Night Gala is usually scheduled for the first week of September, and that begins what I think of as the best season in the City. Black tie events do not exactly abound these days, but there are a reasonable number of occasions to dress more formally. The fog is gone and days that are warm without being consistently so hot as to make jacket wearing uncomfortable are followed by nights that reward a regular weight coat. So what I think of as the good stuff will soon start coming out of the closet. Tweeds for the country of course, and flannels for town, accompanied by cashmere neckties and my favorite homburg. Life is at its best then.

In fairness, tweeds and flannels are still a month away but black tie is the harbinger. The straw hats are in storage, replaced by felts, and the ritual of changing out the closets will begin with clothes for those cooler evenings.  Which reminds me. I have a new bow tie to try out.

Fall is the best season.

The Search Took Years

In 1991, an Italian publisher commissioned author G. Bruce Boyer to write introductions to a set of oversized paperbound collections of graphics, advertisements and articles from Apparel Arts magazine, the 1930s era menswear trade magazine that eventually morphed into Gentleman's Quarterly. 1500 copies were printed and I searched for one of them for years.

I found a set in Germany last year and got as far as paying for it only to be told the bookstore had sold it out from under me. But then RJ pointed me to another in Italy a few months ago and, after a two month wait for the Italian postal service, it finally arrived.

The text is in Italian which is a challenge for me, but the set contains dozens of graphics that I had not seen before and the original accompanying text is in English. And for my efforts I can better understand what the best dressed men of the time were wearing in an era when there were textile mills aplenty and anything was possible.

No-one in this day and age is likely to wear a gray flannel odd jacket to a warm weather resort as is suggested in the photo immediately above, but a similar effect can be achieved with a lightweight bell hopsack, for example. The navy polo, fawn trousers and red espadrilles are timeless. Similarly, we might not wear the brown gabardine of the photo above it in summer today unless we lived in San Francisco, but the combination shown is still a good one for spring and warm fall.

The search took years, but it was worth it.

Tender Buttons

Tired of plain brass blazer buttons? Thinking your jacket needs something from the closet of the late Duke of Windsor or 18th century France? Millicent Safro, proprietor of Manhattan's Tender Buttons on the upper East side, that being perhaps the only store in North America devoted entirely to buttons, has them.

I stopped by recently looking for silver buttons for that gray odd jacket to be based loosely on Cary Grant's in To Catch a Thief and was not disappointed. Catching my eye among her thousands of choices are buttons Safro commissions from one of New York's finest jewelers.

The store has other buttons of course, in corozo, mother of pearl, and horn as well materials ranging from paintings on ivory through Wedgewood to plastic Mickey Mouse buttons from the 1940s. But the enamelled metal are worth a detour all by themselves.

For a Warm Sunday

Summer may have ended in Manhattan last week as the temperatures declined to the 60s (18 degrees C) but it was warm and fog free in Sonoma County over the weekend. Sunny fall days are a good time to wear tan, and I usually combine it with a black accent of some kind.

Black, maroon and ecru shantung necktie from the ASW store worn with a linen odd jacket, a white linen shirt and an old Turnbull & Asser silk pocket square that happened to have a facing with black and maroon dots. Below the waist, light gray fresco trousers and tan bluchers.

A New Place to Browse

Jeweler Trianon has a new website, and it is a fine place to browse, if not to shop since shopping is not enabled. Trianon of course is the sister company of Seaman Schepps of New York and its offerings are sold at that company's locations in Manhattan, Nantucket and Palm Beach as well as Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Arnys in Paris.

Trianon's specialty is jewelry in unusual combinations of precious and exotic materials, like the cufflinks of cowrie shell and 18kt gold at the left in the top photograph and another of my favorites, the links of bamboo and gold to the right in the bottom photo.

Cufflinks and dress sets are priced from $1,000 to $15,000.

Photos: Trianon

Autumn Arrives, Installment I

Autumn has begun to arrive at the ASW store, with the first of our Drakes London pieces for the season online and more going up daily. There are, or will be, cashmere, ancient madder and tussah silk neckties and ancient madder pocket squares, many of them unique to us. I am excited in particular about the madders, which are made the original way for the first time in many years. Their soft finish is perfect next to flannel and tweed jackets.

I hope to see you on the store.

The Pennsylvania Shoemaker

A second generation bespoke shoemaker, and one of only three men I know of in the United States who craft world class shoes by hand, Perry Ercolino makes something more than one pair of beautiful shoes each week in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (he makes the two hour trek into New York each Wednesday to see customers). Each pair requires about sixty hours of skilled labor. The results are nicely proportioned and uniquely his own. Nothing is too extreme.

Barring a physical need for special orthopedics, bespoke shoes are arguably even more of a luxury than bespoke tailoring and I will grant you that most men will never spend $3800 a pair to shod themselves. Some want a unique design for a special pair, but most bespoke shoe customers are simply people who demand the very best for themselves and have the means to afford it.

One of Perry's customers said it best, "They don't feel like shoes. They feel like my feet."

A Good Day

Yesterday's auction of some of the effects of the late Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. raised more than $500,000, exceeding even the more optimistic expectations. Most of the things I was interested in sold for considerably more than their estimates, not the least of which was a 9kt gold dresser set that had belonged to Faribanks' father. The estimate was around $3,000 and the set was sold for $47,000.

I did come away with a black and white silk evening scarf that belonged to the late actor John Barrymore and was given to Fairbanks on the occasion of his 90th birthday along with a letter from Barrymore's fourth and final wife attesting to its provenance. Once the scarf arrives in San Francisco it will join the ASW store as one of the first items in a new Rarities category of one of a kind and other interesting clothing-related things.

From the auction, I made my way to Tender Buttons, New York's fine button store, where I got to see Millicent Safro's collection of enamelled jacket buttons from the estate of the late Duke of Windsor (hopefully the photos will be deemed usable when they are looked at tomorrow).

It was a good day.

Cotton?

When I mentioned this jacket in a post this past summer, a reader wrote that he thought it was made of flannel, but viewed in this screen grab I think it more likely cotton gabardine or Palm Beach cloth. The chest pocket, for example, appears too thin to be even a light worsted flannel. This of course is A Good Thing as even the lightest flannel would wear too warm for a summer day on the Riviera, or nearly anywhere else for that matter.

I am in New York for a few days this week and one of my planned destinations is Tender Buttons, home to one of the world's larger supplies of buttons of all kinds, where I intend to seek out a set of silver buttons that might be appropriate for a coat like this, should the issue of the cloth ever be settled. But I am currently leaning towards cotton.

The Planter's Hat Arrives

When I arrived at my office the other day there was a Leon Drexler hat box on my credenza, containing my planter style hat, that beaver felt version of the straw that Clark Gable wore in Gone With the Wind (it is felt because our California summer begins after the official end of straw hat season but I wanted a wide brim that would shield me from the sun while I drove).

The hat is definitely not for the city, emulating as it does something that was designed to be worn on horseback while riding through one's tobacco fields, but looks fine in the country to my eye. I think of it as a porkpie with a wide homburg brim, which was essentially what I asked for, admittedly with some trepidation as neither I nor hatmaker Stephen Tempkin had ever seen a felt version. These experiments do not always work out, but in this case the finished product has already proved itself appropriate for top open country driving in the sunshine, cigar (Fuente Don Carlos Reserve #4)  in hand. 

Stephen earned every penny of his $465 for this hat and he may hope never to be asked to make another, but if nothing else it got him to set up his brim binding equipment and he is now able to make a conventional homburg as well as the unbound lord's hat version he made for me last season.

Recommended for both smokers and non-smokers.

Dark Blue Odd Jackets

A man needs several dark blue odd jackets in his wardrobe. Now let me clarify this by pointing out that not all blue odd jackets are blazers, just as not all blazers are blue odd jackets. The intersection of the two terms however is a well populated place and for the purpose of this essay I will use either name  interchangeably to mean a not quite navy or darker blue coat with or without metal buttons and either single or double breasted.

The place of the blue odd jacket in the wardrobe is unique. Too casual for business and too formal for most casual wear, it resides between the two. It can be worn for cocktails with gray flannels, for travel with a pair of jeans and, as Emily Post wrote many years ago, it is a good choice for church or lunch in the country.

With all these opportunities a man should really have a blue odd jacket for each season. A few days ago I mentioned G. Bruce Boyer's navy cotton double breasted with black horn buttons (those right out of the pages of Apparel Arts by the way) and something like that or its brother in linen is good for warm weather. A Finmeresco or mid-weight lambswool or cashmere coat with horn buttons will take a man through the shoulder seasons, and a heavier flannel or hopsack does the trick for the cold (dark blue Donegal tweed makes a nice change of pace).

The blazer was first worn with cream colored flannel trousers and those are still the best choice in warm weather and clean locales, and it is now worn most often with gray. Be careful by the way that your own gray is no darker than medium so that jacket and trousers have an appropriate contrast. Tan or stone trousers also complement blue. Whatever the color, weights and materials need only be seasonally appropriate. Choose cavalry twill and moleskin in winter; gabardine is nice for shoulder season and fresco, cotton or linen are good for the heat.

Striped neckties are at their best with blue odd jackets, as are emblematics of all types to which one is entitled. Demonstrating the blazer's flexibility, tattersall shirts look good and at the other end of the formality spectrum so do dress shirts with checked bodies and white collars and cuffs paired with a bow tie for an early evening drink.

A man can not have too many dark blue odd jackets.

Interesting Times

They were, as I wrote yesterday, interesting times these past few days. On the ASW store side of things our would-be featured product for the week was brought all the way to our door by the good people at the carrier, who then decided that said shipment had not actually cleared customs after all and took it back, leaving us with an empty space in our promotion calendar. But with challenges come opportunities, and I would be remiss if I did not take the occasion to report that I wore a pair of navy blue suede house shoes for most of my Florida trip and they performed flawlessly. Two pair should be the minimum in a closet in my opinion (I would think that of course) and the blue are a great complement to the brown with blue trim.

We were not completely without arrivals this past week as the dusty olive overshoes did finally arrive. The olive is a great color that works much better than black with shoes of black or brown.

Finally, I suggest that anyone interested in neckwear keep an eye on the store this coming week as we expect to receive the first portion of a massive-for-us shipment of things from Drake's London, including dozens of neckties, scarves and squares that I was most excited about when I selected the stuff with Michael Drake this past January. The majority of it is unique to ASW and it will be, as I am prone to say, well worth a look.

I hope to see you on the store.

Reimagining Mr. Hulot

It has been a while since technical difficulties prevented me from posting, but I felt yesterday like a reimagining of Jacques Tati as Mr. Hulot. Most relevant to you dear reader, the cable provider in central Florida had a local outage. Said failure illustrates the downside of bundling one's telephone, television and internet service: lose one and you lose all three. It is not clear whether that failure was in any way connected to the one car accident that closed Interstate 75 for ninety minutes as I was trying to get to the airport (the road runs through a swamp and, as I waited, a frog jumped onto the hood - a frog!). It was a comic kind of day so long as you weren't living it.

Despite the obstacles, I did eventually return home to find a new planter's hat and three Grupo GFT Apparel Arts reprints that I thought would never emerge from the depths of the Italian postal service (service is perhaps not the appropriate word when applied to that particular institution, but I digress). So all was not completely lost, and we will attempt to restart this thing tomorrow.

W. E.

Costume designer Arianne Phillips did excellent work for the film W. E., about the late Duke and Duchess of Windsor (Andrea Riseborough as the Duchess is visually a considerable improvement over the original).

But this is of course about the clothes, which though bit more monochromatic in palette than the late Duke would have countenanced, are in reasonably good taste and actually appear to fit. Worth a look.

Photos: Tom Munro for Vanity Fair

Suits in the Endless Summer

A younger Florida attorney asked me to speak to dressing for summers that never end, and to that I say he has it easier than most of us. Once he chooses the level of formality with which to face his days, and that should be based on what his clients (or the seniors in his firm) expect their attorney to be wearing, he need only worry about a two season wardrobe with clothing for the heat and for the more moderate temperatures of winter.

For the heat, assuming the clients expect to see their counsel in a suit, I would choose the lightest weight air conditioned cloth I could find. Nine ounce/280 gram stuff from Minnis or Smith Woolens, in the usual navys, mid-grays and the occasional light gray would make up the majority of my wardrobe. I would complement it with a few tropical weight things in patterns, since the majority of the fresco and finmeresco cloth available is solid or striped, and a couple of mid-weight suits for cool winter days or trips North. Tropical weight cloth like H. Lesser's 8/9 ounce stuff is wearable in all but the worst heat but also warm enough for a day with temperatures in the sixties (perhaps 18C).

It may be a digression and it is certainly an expression of my own prejudices to add that in that young man's situation I would choose to wear suits even if his clients and peers dress in odd jackets or sweat suits, for dress sends marketing signals and clients respond best to professionals who look more professional than they do. If the environment is casual, lighter colors and patterns such as glen checks will fit in better than charcoal solids and pin stripes. But don't get carried away. Pierce Brosnan's light gray in the photo is just about right.

The End of the Season

Summer ends officially on different days in different places, or at least that is what I am told. It seems to have ended in Ireland on the first of September, for example, though it continues until the 21st here in the United States. That makes a certain amount of sense given that it was over a hundred degrees F (38C) in Nashville this past weekend but barely reached the low sixties (16C) in London.

Summer is of course the principal time for cream colored trousers in linen, gabardine and lightweight flannel if you can find it. Dr. Keith Churchwell is wearing a pair in the photograph, and looking good in the process if I may say so. His tan jacket has just enough cream in the pattern to soften the contrast with his trousers and pull the look together while its blue overcheck is complemented by his necktie.

Oh, and by the way, publication of ASW may be a little spotty this coming week as I am travelling to visit family in Florida, where it is still unquestionably summer for at least a little while longer.

Photo: Andre Churchwell



Save the Date

Those interested in men's clothing will want to know that items from the New York residence of actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who was inducted into the Vanity Fair International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame in 1969, will be auctioned at Doyle New York in Manhattan on Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 10am. The sale comprises over 430 lots of memorabilia, bespoke clothing, accessories, photographs, books, silver, furniture, artwork and decorations.

Born into Hollywood royalty – his father was the actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and his stepmother was "America’s Sweetheart" Mary Pickford – Fairbanks' had an overly fashionable personal style that was in my opinion a distinct rung below the Astaires and Grants of the time but was nonetheless generally well turned out. My favorite photo of the man has him standing next to then President Ronald Reagan and Cary Grant, and looking considerably better than either of those worthies on that occasion.

See you there.

Socially Adept Overshoes

This week we are introducing SWIMS Classic II overshoes at the ASW store, in colors that blend with your shoes so you don't look socially inept when the weather turns ugly this autumn. Slip them on before walking wet or muddy streets and slip them off when you arrive at your destination. With a high-grip sole, a waterproof rubber exterior and a unique low friction felted lining, SWIMS are easy on and off as well as insulated to help keep your feet warm in the cold. Offered in black for black shoes, dark brown for brown shoes and (any day now) dusty olive that goes with either black or brown. Sized to fit U.S. 8 1/2 - 13 (Euro 41-47).

See you on the store.

Suits and Socks, Installment XXVII

I have written before about how both Grant and Astaire used socks lighter than their trousers to good effect and it has become a favorite technique. In the photograph, tan Edward Green cap toes show their stuff for perhaps the last time this season (they go into storage to make room for boots) below my blue-gray Finmeresco suit. In between, light silver-gray cotton socks complement an unseen gray striped shirt. A tan Shantung necktie completed the picture.

Speaking of Finmeresco, Smith Woolens has re-issued the Finmeresco book but the one I am looking at contains a strange assortment of choices to my mind. There are some very nice three ply 9/10 ounce (360 gram) offerings including a dusty blue but the 9/10 is too light for regular wear in the City and the heart of the collection had been the four ply 11/12 ounce (360 gram) stuff that is nine month cloth in San Francisco. I found several shades of navy and a plethora of olives, tans and browns but not a single gray, and none of the more interesting colors like mustard and my own blue-gray that were in the original book. This is unfortunate as I had just about convinced myself that another Finmeresco should be next on my list when Mr. Thomas Mahon visits in November but I guess I will stick to gabardine for shoulder season. 13 ounce (400 gram) gab wears warmer and wrinkles more easily than Finmeresco but it has a definite charm of its own. Or perhaps it is time for a visit to Jodek, the H. Lesser distributor in Los Angeles for a look at what is left in that inventory.

Cream Jackets for Summer

Perhaps the most seasonally appropriate of warm weather jackets is a solid or semi-solid with a cream ground. The reason for that is simple - cream complements a sun tan, like the one that perpetually graces the face of Mr. George Hamilton in the photo.

Cream is the exception to the general rule that odd jacket ensembles should have contrast. HRH Prince Charles for example usually combines his cream linen double breasted with khaki cotton trousers during the day. Add a white shirt and some tan or white shoes and it all works together. Other colors have their place on holiday or the weekend, especially below the waist summer classics like Breton red and madras trousers.

After six o'clock, contrast comes into its own. Worn with lightweight trousers in charcoal gray, a cream single breasted jacket, white shirt and a bow tie are all but semi-formal.

Key to choosing the cream jacket is to be certain that it is visibly not white. White cotton in particular is a bit too similar to the coats worn by service people on duty, and though honorable duty that is probably not a desirable image on social occasions.  Ecru, ivory or eggshell though, in linen, gabardine, or silk, will be just the thing.

Photo: Robert Sebree