Twist for Travel

Travel was relatively free of wrinkling when men could wear classic 15 ounce (or heavier) tweed like the green suit in the illustration. Unfortunately, tweed is too warm for the much of the year. And most of today's year-round worsteds wrinkle like crazy when sat upon, which means they don't travel well. But there's a twisted solution out there.

Most suit cloths, particularly the lighter worsteds, are woven of yarns combed flat, which means they will bend and stay bent. But when yarns are tightly twisted together before weaving, they bounce back into shape much more quickly, because each twist acts like a spring. The combination of twist yarns and a porous weave makes for cloth that wears cool and resists wrinkling.

Traditional fresco is perhaps the best known cloth that's made with twisted yarn. Fresco (a trademark of Hunt & Winterbotham), and its relations like CrispAire from Holland and Sherry, is made by twisting a double and a single yarn together, producing a thread that, when woven into cloth, retains its shape. Which is exactly what's required when a man faces one of those days that will begin with a flight that will be followed by a meeting that's followed in turn by another flight.

Though it's usually thought of as summer cloth, heavier weight fresco can do duty most of the year. A travelling man can be impeccable all day long with a half lined charcoal gray single breasted suit made from the 14 ounce version.

Reader Questions

From Peter

"I live in the the Northeastern U.S. and would appreciate your advice on the top 4 or 5 classic and versatile patterns for sports jackets."

Since you live in a place with seasons, you'll need jackets for both warm and cool weather. Consider these:

- Navy 13 ounce wool
- Brown 14-15 ounce gun club
- Brown 14-15 ounce Harris tweed herringbone

- Tan 14 ounce linen

- Navy 10 ounce fresco

The first three are for cool weather and the others for warm.

From Pat

"This spring in a fit of absolute madness I had a winter white, super 140, odd jacket made. The jacket is double breasted 6x1 shawl collared with side vents.

My original thought was for a dinner jacket like substitute. I have no intention of using it to replace a formal jacket, but for some reason I felt I would like an off white odd summer jacket when my wife and I go to dinner, or out for an evening. My question is do I dress it up with navy trousers and look like a sap who doesn't understand formal attire, or wear linen or colored poplin pants and risk looking like the help?

Should I keep it in the closet, as a reminder of a summer folly, or wear it with confidence with...."

The shawl collar makes it a dinner jacket in my book. You don't mention whether you had flaps on the pockets but you can always stick them inside. Wear the jacket with black trousers with a grosgrain stripe, a pleated white shirt, black grosgrain bow tie and evening shoes. And I'll bet you never get a request to refill someone's drink.

Fabrics for Summer

Summer temperatures call for fabrics that breathe. The wind shouldn't be whistling through your jacket when the temperatures are below freezing, but mohair, fresco (along with its imitators like Holland & Sherry's CrispAire), and linen help keep a man cool as the thermometer climbs. Each of them will keep you cooler than a tropical worsted, and each has its negatives. So does worsted, for that matter.

Mohair is the hair of an Angora goat. It's got a bit of sheen to it, which makes it a good fabric for a warm weather dinner jacket or a navy blue suit, and a tendency to crack if it's not blended with wool, but it stays crisp in the heat. Ten ounce cloth that's 30% or 40% mohair makes a cool wearing suit that drapes well. Higher proportions of mohair may show an ufortunate tendency to wilt in the rain.

Fresco is a rough-to-the-hand open weave worsted that's trademarked by the parent company of weaver J&J Minnis, provider of the good stuff. 14 ounces used to be the weight of a standard summer suit fifty years ago. Today I like ten, though it's available in eight (the eight doesn't drape as well, wrinkles more easily and is only a touch cooler). If you're a fan of high Super number worsteds, fresco may feel a bit rough until you get used to it but in compensation it has the additional benefit of rubbing any excess hair from your legs so you look better in a bathing suit.

And finally there's linen, woven from the plant. I prefer the Irish version in 14 ounce weight. Holland & Sherry makes some of the best. The negative to linen is that it rumples, though the heavier weights work to minimize that. Better suited for a walk through the park than a seat in the board room.

Some Trouser Details

In 1923, according to a survey of 300 men in Palm Beach, Florida by the now-defunct Men's Wear, 76% wore white odd trousers or plus fours in flannel or linen, 21% wore suits, 1% wore gray flannels and 2% wore knickers in other fabrics. Trousers, particularly the gray flannel variety, have covered a lot of ground in the intervening 85 years, and we've substituted shorts for plus fours and knickers along the way.

But this essay is on trousers and there are two basic types with countless variations. For my taste, the dressier of the two are high waisted English style trousers cut to be worn beltless, with side tabs or braces (the straps that Americans call suspenders), and pleats in the front and cuffs on the bottoms. Braces let trousers hang straighter and don't require adjustment during the day. They are dressier because the high waist sits above a mature man's paunch and lets the trousers hang in a straight line to the shoe. Needless to say, this allows for a sleeker appearance than does a suggestion of stomach protruding over a belted waistline. The negative is that they should be covered by a vest or jacket at all times even if your name is Larry King.

The back in the photograph so eloquently illustrating trousers with a English, or fishtail, back, is provided by critic Francis Bown, whose website Bown's Bespoke periodically covers aspects of the bespoke tailoring arts. The fishtail originated with Scottish trews (trousers that may be worn with a short jacket) and keep a man's shirt covered below his waistcoat when he leans forward (shirts are underwear, after all).

The other principal type of trouser is flat fronted, cut to be worn belted on the hips, and usually without cuffs. This style was originally laborer's garb but it's been elevated to the status of art by continental tailors who prefer it for suits cut for men with trim figures. It's a fine look as long as the wearer is careful that the open quarters of his jacket don't expose his belt buckle and blind pedestrians with the flash.

I prefer high waisted trousers with suits but either belted or beltless trousers are reasonable choices with odd jackets and for more casual wear. There are several options for keeping up beltless trousers, including side straps instead of tabs, and the DAK waistband, however these are usually difficult to find ready to wear.

Button cuffs may be the most obscure trouser detail. Instead of stitching the turned-up cuff to the trouser leg, the tailor sews a button to the inside of the cuff and a buttonhole on the seam of the pant leg. Each cuff has two buttons, one on each side. This feature can safely be left to men who commonly need to brush debris out of their trouser bottoms.

Finally, we should consider the fly, and that's usually closed by a zipper, a relatively modern invention that no longer jams like it used to. The older alternative is the button fly, normally eight buttons that pretty well guarantee that a man will be fumbling with himself at a urinal long enough to draw nervous glances from those around him. The Duke of Windsor preferred the zipper and that's good enough for me.

Trouser fabrics are widely available in much more variety than was seen in Palm Beach those many years ago. Flannel, linen, corduroy, cotton drill, and fresco are some of the common odd trouser types. For some thoughts on an odd trouser wardrobe, see my January essay here.

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!

Sources: J & J Minnis - John G. Hardy

If you want one of the world's best trouser makers, such as Naples' Salvatore Ambrosi, to make for you, you have to provide the cloth. Unlike most of the suppliers to bespoke tailors and high end ready to wear clothing manufacturers, royal warrant holders J & J Minnis - John G. Hardy sell some of the best cloth of their types directly to retail customers.

Minnis and Hardy are the two trading names for English cloth merchants Hunt & Winterbotham of Huddersfield, England. Though they have many other offerings, Minnis is particularly known for its flannels and frescos (the term fresco was patented and trademarked by the company in 1907), and Hardy holds up its end with a range of 12 ounce Venetian, Gaberdine, Whipcord, Bedford Cord and Cavalry Twill fabrics. The two also offer good quality tweeds and worsteds.

Retail pricing for this stuff is steep. A pair of my high waisted trousers requires two meters of cloth starting at £30.00 per meter for cottons and £60.00 per meter for gabardine and fresco (including VAT that is deducted from the price paid by buyers from outside the UK). Customers can order directly off the web site, which has photos of all the cloth.

On the negative side, the photos are dark and don't show detail. A 3% surcharge is added for credit cards, which I believe violates the Visa and Mastercard merchant agreements. The company doesn't respond to emails (I had an answer to one inquiry out of four). And what I dislike most is the company's insistance on sending parcels to the States by UPS. Unlike the Postal Service, UPS adds to the shipping charge an exorbitant fee for clearing the parcel through customs. But the flannel, in particular, is probably worth dealing with those irritations.

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.