My Favorite Blue Jacketing

I hadn't visited Cobbler's Laboratory for some time when I went there the other day to look for an image to use for my "I'm Think I'm Turning Japanese" post of a few days ago. While I was there I took a moment to look at what is perhaps my favorite blue odd jacket cloth. I wouldn't style a jacket the same way for myself but the cloth is a homespun tweed with a wonderful texture. Unfortunately, when I asked the man who made it, Peter Harvey of Fallan & Harvey, he couldn't recall where the cloth came from.

Casual Friday

Leaving for the country garb on a Friday. Black and white wool odd jacket, cashmere and linen vest, blue twill shirt, Drake's pocket square and a Hober necktie. Below the waist, dark gray flannels and brown slip-ons.

Economy

Good times or bad, few of us can have everything we want and we must each establish our own priorities. For me these days, sales hold few bargains. My needs, or rather my desires, are highly specific and unlikely to be found on sale.

It's important to remember that the cost of clothing is not the initial cost, but the price divided by the number of times it's worn, plus some arbitrary amount of bonus points for the pleasure it provides. A bespoke suit worn for twenty years can be a bargain. Conversely, I own a cotton Luciano Barbera suit that had a retail price as high as most bespoke suits. I bought it for 70% off on a whim and have worn it only twice because the collar just does not fit properly around the neck. It may be the most expensive item that I own.

That said, I have my own ways to economize. For example, I buy my own cloth for odd trousers and send it to a factory where it's made up. Trousers are principally straight seams and I don't see enough difference between MTM and bespoke in this instance to warrant paying twice as much per pair. I do the same with overcoats and most of my shirts.

The best economy is a wardrobe of simple, obviously high quality items that give you pleasure every time you wear them. The uncomplicated odd jacket and gray flannels to the left can be dressed up or down with changes to its accessories, so it can be worn repeatedly without becoming tiresome.

Peter Harvey's Coming to Town

He's come and gone actually, but Peter Harvey of tailors Fallan & Harvey brought a jacket with him for fitting and that always feels like a visit from Santa even though I pay for it.

I didn't bring anyone with me to take a photo this time so we laid the jacket on a sofa. It's an 18 ounce gun club tweed with crescent pockets and a two button front that will be ready in the summer. Peter makes quite a few crescent pocket jackets for Japanese clients who, like me, are looking for something that evokes the late Duke of Windsor.

The visit also provided the opportunity to start a flannel suit for Fall. It will be made from the London Lounge triple check cloth that's been written about here before, in a three button single breasted that rolls to the center button, with a shawl collared double breasted vest. All in all, a bit of holiday spirit in the midst of Spring.

Gabardine is for Spring

It's a month early in the season for the hat in the illustration, but if you are in Northern California and happen to see a man attired like the guy in the illustration, say hello. It's probably me.

I probably over-do solid tan odd jackets. Tweed patterns in mid-weight worsted for warm weather wear have always seemed like a bit of a perversion of purpose to me, so solid linen, fresco and gabardine make up most of my Spring and summer odd jacket wardrobe.

And when I'm looking for something to wear in a weight between a heavy tweed and a warm weather jacket, I reach for gabardine. It wears too warm for hot days, but it's perfect for temperatures in the 60's and 70's (farenheit). Add a shirt and a light-weight pair of gray flannels and I'm almost ready to walk out the door.

Irish Idylls

A young Desmond Guiness photographed in County Kildare in 1963, with Leixlip Castle in the background. The castle dates from the Norman invasion of 1171 with the round tower added in the 14th Century.

But for the five sleeve buttons on his blazer, perfection.

The Summer Blazer

The illustration shows us how to wear a summer blazer. The jacket itself should be a lighter hue of blue than winter's navy and in a breathable fabric like fresco or linen. Three buttons is best, rolling to 2.5, and there should be patch side pockets so the jacket can have the minimum of interior lining. Personally, I like sterling silver buttons for a change of pace, with two of them on each sleeve.

Wear the jacket with light gray fresco trousers and brown and white spectator shoes. A panama hat tops off the ensemble with flair.

And there you have the summer blazer. If you can manage to be tall and thin, so much the better.

Send in the Clowns

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, whose Caraceni double breasted suits I greatly admire, appears in public dressed in jeans and running shoes. He attempts a save with an odd jacket and a pocket square.

The shoes are not, shall we say, to my taste but the choice of square is a good one for the setting.

Odd Jacket and Odd Vest

Spring and Fall are when I seem to pull out my odd vests. A vest provides another way to vary the look of a jacket and trousers. It also adds a layer of warmth that extends the wearability of a light-weight jacket into cool weather, and a mid-weight into cold weather.

In the photo, I'm wearing a linen odd vest with a fresco odd jacket. The day is windy on the coast and that wind whistles right through the fresco. In combination the two are perfect for the conditions.

As I've written before, a vest requires trousers that will stay up without a belt as a visible belt buckle under a vest is a sin comparable to showing bare skin above your socks when you cross your legs. Don't do it.

But do consider the versatility of an odd vest with your odd jacket.

The Disappearing Norfolk

The Norfolk jacket was arguably the "casual" coat that re-started the mode of trousers that complemented, but did not match, the jacket. Of course, men's clothing has gone back and forth from matching to complementing since the first dandy invented pantaloons shortly after discovering fire. But we owe the current era to this, the first modern sport coat.

The principal feature of the Norfolk is the shoulder construction that made it easier to raise a gun to bear on a bird. And this same feature is the principal reason we see so few of them today. The action back and half belt make it more complex to sew, which translates to more expensive to make. Which in turn means it won't be found on many retail racks.

Still, a man wearing one won't see himself coming and going. And he can dress it down with moleskins or dress it up with gabardines like the man in the illustration. Because his trousers don't have to match.

Chasing in the Shires

Readers may think I'm fairly random at times, and today is the epitome of randomness. I've had the above illustration since before I began writing ASW, and I've never found a reason to use it. But it's a great image with some great clothes, and it's one of the few remaining that I haven't posted. So today's the day.

The popularity of derby style hats on the men is of course because the original derby was a hard shell hat that would help break a fall from horseback. And, if they're not poseurs, the men wearing jodhpurs will be riding hard a bit later in the day.

The countryside is also the original domain of the glen check suit, and there's a particularly nice version on the fourth figure from the left edge. I prefer a large black on white check unadorned with colored overchecks, just like the one he's wearing. There's also a paddock style jacket on the man in the upper right, standing on the coach for a better view.

Exchange the riding breeches for trousers, replace the riding boots with brown suede chukkas and these clothes would look better than most of the odd jacket and trouser combinations we see on today's streets.

Luciano Wears An Odd Jacket

My candidates for the best dressed men in the apparel business tend to be Italian. Mind you, Italian dressing is often over the top for my taste. But one man who always looks good is Luciano Barbera, nattily dressed in the photo for a weekend afternoon. Suede shoes (probably chukkas), flannel trousers and an odd jacket with patch pockets in a classic palette of browns, blues, gray, and green.

The pièce de résistance is the pocket square. It relates to nothing else. And yet it does. Brilliant.

Dressing The Day After

Welcome to 2008. Clothes for a late lunch the day following New Years Eve. Scottish Keeper's Tweed jacket with a silk knit necktie.


Worn with charcoal whipcord trousers, argyle socks and crepe soled bluchers.

An Italian Dandy

Validating any jokes you may have heard about art gallery owners, Philippe Daverio, the man in the photos, is an Italian who's promoting himself as a dandy. Many men might be hesitant to walk around in the clothes he's wearing in these shots but there are some things to appreciate once we get past the matching bow tie and pocket square.


Considered for an ensemble for a Saturday afternoon, the bow tie works for me and the solid brown trousers and waistcoat go a long way towards balancing the combined checks of the shirt and jacket. The socks relate to the shirt without repeating anything but the color. The gunboat sized bluchers are good shoes that couldn't be worn with anything more formal than what he has on. Overall I give the ensemble a B+.

Daverio is not a handsome man, however his dress consistently draws my eyes to his face and that is the objective. I'm still trying to decide if this is a case of clothes making the man or whether the look of the man makes it more difficult to appreciate the clothes.

A Blurry Forward Fitting

Well to his dismay your fearless reporter forgot to charge his camera battery before his fitting with Peter Harvey of Fallan & Harvey last week. The photos in this essay are from an iPhone. They don't show what they should but they are hopefully better than nothing.


I missed Peter when I was in London last July so this was the first chance we'd had to fit the coat since I wrote about his Spring visit to San Francisco. The faults we found in the first fitting were all fixed, leaving an issue with the sleeve length and the buttons and buttonholes as the only tasks remaining. As is too often the case with bespoke, that means my warm weather jacket will be finished just as the weather turns cold.


It's a three roll 2.5 jacket with patch pockets that will have gilt buttons as it's intended to replace a worn navy blazer. I plan to wear it with gray fresco or, when I'm feeling bold, terra cotta linen trousers.

I left Peter a couple yards of gun club tweed (barely visible on the chair in the back of the second photo) for our next project, an odd jacket for Fall. That one will have crescent pockets and a paddock front.

Fall Foliage

It must have been something in the air. Yesterday was the first time that Fall colors felt right to me this season, so I wore an old light-weight cashmere jacket, cotton drill trousers, blue royal oxford shirt, a wool necktie, paisley pocket square and saddle shoes.

Cifonelli Style

One thing that struck me during my visit to Cifonelli in Paris last month was that the work rooms were full of conservative suits in process but the showroom models were beautifully detailed odd jackets rather than suits. I neglected to ask why this was so, but I'll guess it's to demonstrate that the firm can execute more than navy blue double breasteds.

For example, the pictured jacket is a modern version of a hunting coat in lightweight tweed with a half lining. The four button front can be closed completely to keep out the wind and there's leather under the collar and at the ends of the sleeves because both are meant to be turned up.

The coat is impeccably finished, with a yoke across the back, beautifully buffed seams and a zippered ticket pocket.

The blue jacket is another lightweight, unvented coat. This one has a one button front with buttoning patch pockets. It's perhaps a little too aggressively styled for my taste, but it wouldn't be at all out of place in Paris.


The inside of the half lined blue jacket shows the attention to detail that was evident in everything I saw.

When you are next in Paris, make the trip to Rue Marbeuf. Go through the unmarked doors to the left of Cifonelli's street level retail shop and up the stairs to the second floor fitting room. As Le Guide Michelin would say, it's worth the journey.

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.

A Double Breast Pocketed Jacket

A nephew of mine begins his Ph.D. program at Michigan this Fall. I reminded him that he'd need a tweed jacket and recommended a look at the film The Good Shepherd for a professorial example. When I went back to look myself, I was struck by something I hadn't noticed the first time. Costume designer Ann Roth has Sir Michael Gambon, who plays the English professor, in a double breast pocketed odd jacket. Never saw one of those before.

Does one wear it with two pocket squares or leave them both empty?

Summer's Best Jacket

Summer's best jacket was inspired by colonial military tailoring in the 1930's. The safari jacket has all the pockets a man can reasonably need for travel, can be dressed up or down to suit a variety of occasions, and takes abuse better than a regular odd jacket.

The classic safari jacket is made from tan cotton drill, gabardine, linen or fresco and, if your closet can accommodate two, you should pick one from column a (drill and gabardine) and one from column b (linen and fresco). Whatever the material, a safari should have a yoke back and front, epaulettes, a belt, four gusseted pockets with flaps and buttons (the two lower ones should be patch and bellows) and cuffed long sleeves that can be rolled up above the elbow and buttoned to stay there.

The safari pairs well with a panama hat or linen cap and, in Southern Europe if nowhere else, can be dressed up with a silk scarf at the neck. It needs only a polo or a tee shirt under it, a pair of trousers, and summer shoes that can range from espadrilles to spectators.