Wearing Odd Jackets

Until the introduction of the Norfolk in 1918, there was no such thing as a sports jacket. At resorts, men sometimes wore their suit coats with trousers (often white flannel) from a different suit. But once the Norfolk became popular for shooting, the odd jacket took off. What we would consider a standard three button jacket was ubiquitous in the well-provisioned wardrobes of the mid 1920's and the Norfolk was followed by jackets specific to other sports, the source of the wealth of details that differentiates odd jackets.

Most odd jackets have long been blue (the ubiquitous blazer), gray (usually combinations of black and white that appear gray) for city wear, and tan or brown for the country. The most important fabrics are tweed, flannel and linen followed by gabardine (usually with a belted back). Pattern is found most frequently in the tweeds.

The principal differences between suit and odd jackets should be in the details. Avoid odd jackets that have been made with suit coat features, saving the maker money at the expense of style. Instead, revel in patch pockets, slanted hacking pockets, bellows pockets, pleated backs, and half and full belts. Though hopefully not all at the same time.

Every wardrobe should have a solid tan and a solid blue jacket in summer cloth, and a blue jacket and a tweed or two for winter. You can combine them with fresco, gabardine and flannel dress trousers as well as more casual linen and cotton corduroy, moleskin and drill. If you wear them with a neckties, think of cashmere and linen solids in season as well as silk ribbon stripes and bar stripes. Gummed twill paisley makes a beautiful Fall necktie if you can find it.

The rules for mix and match separates are simple. Wear dark trousers with a light jacket, and light trousers with a dark one. And if either jacket or trousers is patterned, the other piece should usually be a solid.

Personally, I believe that odd jackets are not ideal for business. Business clothes are supposed to fade in to the background, and an odd jacket that doesn't stand out is neither fish nor fowl. When you need neutral clothes, spend your money on a suit. For travel or leisure, wear a tan fresco jacket with patch pockets and gilt buttons in summer. Or a three button gun club tweed with leather buttons, lapel extension and bellows pockets in the Fall. The bolder the better!

Essential Odd Trousers

An odd trouser wardrobe should be a mixed lot of fabrics and weights that suits every season. Depending on how often you wear them, you'll need at least five, and more likely ten, pair for warm days and the same for cooler weather.

I've divided the essentials into casual and dress trousers with the idea being that casuals can take a little dirt. You might wear them with a jacket but they'll be paired with a sweater or a polo more often than not.

Casual Trousers
-Khaki cotton drill. Gentleman's jeans for weekend wear. Olive is another classic color.
-Cotton moleskin. Soft and warm trousers for the cold.
-Cords. In moss and mouse, for cool weather from Fall to Spring, with sweaters or odd jackets.
-Poplin. Spring casuals for golf and similar pursuits. Try a soft pink.

Dress Trousers
-Gray flannels. Every wardrobe needs at least two pair, in mid-gray and charcoal. Aficionados also like them in light gray for Spring (like the hatted fellow in the illustration) , and in weights from medium to heavy. As Alan Flusser wrote, "If you are considering a new sport jacket and are having difficulty visualizing it with a medium gray trouser, move on."
-Fawn and cream flannels. A change of pace from gray.
-Gabardines. Silky smooth trousers are ideal for much of the year in California and similar climates. Wear them in cream, brown and olive.
-Tan cavalry twill. With a navy odd jacket it's the English uniform.
-Linen. Linen breathes, so it's a good choice for hot weather. Get the heaviest linen you can find, because heavier fabric will drape better and rumple rather than wrinkle. Think in terms of half a dozen pair in cream, tan, brown and mustard.
-Light gray and tan fresco trousers. More summer wear. Fresco doesn't wrinkle like linen and it holds a crease. Wear them on unrumpled occasions with a tan or navy odd jacket.

Odd Jackets

I don't believe that a classic wardrobe requires many odd jackets. They are very useful when you need something to throw on above a pair of cords, but a flannel, tweed or linen suit looks as good or better at other times.

That doesn't mean odd jackets are not perfectly acceptable for lunch at the club, Sunday worship and any business trip where you'll arrive too late for a meeting. It just means that they are a discretionary purchase once you have a few of them. I think four or five of them cover the basics, with two or three pairs of trousers that you can wear with each jacket.

For spring and summer, you should have a navy blazer of 10 oz. fresco. A tan linen or fresco jacket makes a good change of pace. Complementary trousers could include tan and cream linen, light gray and tan fresco, and tan and khaki cotton drill.

For fall and winter you’ll want to start with a blazer of blue flannel or serge, and one or two tweed jackets. Medium and dark gray flannel trousers go with almost any jacketing. Tan cavalry twill is also a classic with the navy jacket and corduroy looks great with tweed.

A great feature of odd jackets is that they give you quite a bit of room to exercise your creativity in the details while remaining appropriately dressed. A belted safari jacket, or safariana, can be a different look in warm weather. Patch and bellows pockets on a tweed coat, developed to hold shotgun shells, are a good place to put your Blackberry.

That flexibility is probably enough reason to have more than four or five of them.