A Suitable Wardrobe

Blazer Buddies

2009-11-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

On occasions when a necktie might be too much, accompany a navy blue blazer with a Pacific blue ascot with navy dots and a paisley silk pocket square in gold, navy and green on a burgundy ground. A blue royal oxford shirt, gray flannel trousers and brogued brown bluchers complete a perfect picture.

Tasty

2009-11-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Jesse Thorne at Put This On for introducing me to INVENTORY, perhaps the tastiest contemporary clothing scene I have so far encountered on the Web. Inventory has been working with a few smaller manufacturers, such as American tie maker Alexander Olch, to produce an edited selection of items for sale. My personal favorite is a brilliantly conceived pair of blue suede shoes with red brick

New Pents

2009-11-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

The mail brought a new pair of mid-weight worsted flannel trousers the other day. Or pents, if you will. That is what the Neapolitan maker, Salvatore Ambrosi, calls them and, since his English is much better than my Italian, I am happy with that name. Dormeuil's worsted flannel is usually for spring and fall but our cool Bay temperatures should permit wear during much of the summer as well. Cream

If This Is JFK It Must Be Tuesday

2009-11-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

The public face of tailoring is the thirty minutes that client and cutter spend together once or twice for each jacket or suit order. The rest of the year may be mostly introvert's work, but part of the cost of bespoke clothing is the measurement and fitting time, when the external face of the tailoring firm has the job of imparting confidence that the client will be getting the professional

Buttoning Up

2009-11-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

The 6x2 overcoat, by which we mean a coat that has six buttons on the front with two of them functional like the camel colored version worn in the photo by HRH Prince Charles, is probably the most common double breasted style. Compared to coats with three or four working buttons it exposes more shirt front, so, despite the example set by the Prince, a scarf is desireable lest a stream of cold air

The Brown Glen Check

2009-11-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Heavy tweed takes a few wearings for the shoulders and collar to settle in and until it does the jacket to this 15 ounce/450 gram suit will keep coming off the back of my neck. The weather is a little too warm for the full regalia, so here is the jacket during the break-in process. Brown glen check jacket with red overcheck worn with brown bluchers, gray flannel trousers, a blue royal oxford

The Least Formal DJ

2009-11-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

The least formal but still correct dinner jacket that a man can own is the double breasted shawl collar. Colored black, midnight blue or even dark brown like the one Noel Coward wore with matching brown trousers, the shawl DB is one small step up from a smoking jacket, and two big steps down from white tie and tails. That is because the shawl comes directly from the smoking, which took it from

Standing Out Without Shocking

2009-10-31T07:00:00.001-07:00

Men in the public eye sometimes have reason to dress so that they stand out, and that does not mean they have to dress to shock. Consider, for example, the late French actor Philippe Noiret at the Cannes Film Festival for a photocall for the film Les Cotelettes in 2003. Brilliant, isn't he?Noiret's father was in the clothing trade and that may have given him an advantage over most of us. But

The Practical Tweed Topcoat

2009-10-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, the tweed topcoat should get more respect. Single breasted, with raglan sleeves like the coat on the right in the Esquire illustration, a ghillie collar, slash pockets and turnback sleeve cuffs, it is good looking, hard wearing, warm and rain resistant. It is cost effective as well, since the simple construction of the raglan sleeves means made to measure versions are effectively

Beautiful Shoes, Terrible Photo

2009-10-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Emma Lakin of shoemakers W. S. Foster & Son is visiting the City this week, bringing with her for fitting the first iteration of some slip-on shoes commissioned last summer.Lacking the support of laced shoes around the top of the foot, bespoke slip-ons are usually made on a separate last. Most makers want to check the first pair from any last on the client's feet before attaching the upper to the

A Sunny Day Suit

2009-10-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

A package arrived from Cumbria the other day containing the suit Thomas Mahon fitted this past July, just in time for the end of the season. Intended for our San Francisco "summers" where temperatures rarely reach 75f (24c), the suit is made from Smiths' 11 ounce/330 gram Finmeresco. Finmeresco is smoother than other high twist fabrics of my experience, but that comes with a price as it does not

Sunday in the Park

2009-10-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

On a late Indian summer day, Sunday afternoon in the park clothing consisted of a black and white houndstooth suit, blue end on end shirt, midnight blue satin necktie, fox suede semi-brogues, washed silk pocket paisley pocket square with a purple ground and a James Lock fedora.A small houndstooth pattern appears solid from a short distance but resolves into pattern up close. By chance, the suit

How Many Braces?

2009-10-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

A surprising thing about the photo of the late Richard Merkin is the number of braces hanging on his closet door. Braces being underwear and not for public display, there can be several reasons a man chooses to acquire such a collection.Of course, this presupposes that a man wears braces with his suits. English influenced dressers do. Men who prefer a continental style wear belts. The latter may

Seven of a Kind

2009-10-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

The necktie in the photograph is a bespoke combination of red stripes on gray in a textured mixture of silk and linen, folded six times and lined with wool so it drapes beautifully. A dozen were ordered last Spring. It proved virtually impossible to crease the material cleanly and the English maker unfortunately lost his proverbial shirt before finally delivering seven of them this month. There

Every Man Should Have a Pair

2009-10-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

In the most formal of clothing lexicons, slip-on shoes are for wear about the house or with casual clothing outdoors in summer. Needless to say, that useage has gone out of fashion, and slip-on shoes are often worn with suits in the United States, Italy, and other countries other than England. The default style is arguably the Alden tassel moccasin, a perfectly fine shoe with an odd jacket but

Fittings

2009-10-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

Of the six tailors that have made more than one item for me, five want the customer to try on garments that are fairly complete. The jackets look like the one Sean Connery is wearing in the publicity still from the 1963 film From Russia With Love, with the canvas, shoulder pads, pockets, sleeves and lapels sewn in place. At this stage, known as a forward fitting, it is easy to visualize the

Mis-Matched Grosgrain

2009-10-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

A man's black tie is supposed to be made from the same stuff as his jacket's lapels, something that is easier said than done these days. The single breasted and the smoking have matching ties but the lapels of the pictured DB DJ are unfortunately considerably duller than any grosgrain bow in the wardrobe, and the tailor responsible for making that coat will not sew one for me. So begins the task

The Bespoke Waistband

2009-10-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the wind for making the waistbands visible on Frank and Dean's trousers in the photo, which is from Eric Musgrave's book Sharp Suits. Sharp-eyed readers will note that said waists are beltless, which some people may be surprised to learn was the usual state for bespoke garments before ready to wear clothes trained the eye to expect a belt.In the English tailoring tradition, suit

Next Time Try a Suit

2009-10-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

This past week I was reminded that several men who I respect have many more odd jackets than suits in their wardrobes. They are employed in occupations of medium formality, and perhaps that is the reason, but I had always taken on faith that a man's closets should contain more suits than odd jackets.The late Duke of Windsor's 1960 autobiography, Windsor Revisited, describes a wardrobe containing

When a Man Needs His Wellies

2009-10-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

When the water runs so deep that a man needs his wellies, ordinary raincoats may not keep him dry. And that is when a length of rubber coated cotton from the Mackintosh folks in Glasgow, Scotland might serve him well. Produced in one form or another for about 150 years, the Mack is utility with a thin gloss of fashion. Unlined, it does little beyond keep between its wearer and the wet, but a

Mouchoirs and Pochettes

2009-10-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

The handkerchiefs and pocket squares of Brussels based Simonnot-Godard are to my taste perhaps the very best of their type in the world. The pair in the top photo are 48 cm/18 inch cotton squares from the Lys collection, colored Verte vif and Cuivre respectively. What appear to be two different handkerchiefs in the second photo are actually two sides of one design, the Madras weave in a 48 cm/ 18

Boots and Flannels

2009-10-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Not one but two winter storms arrived this week, bringing high winds and autumn's first serious rain to a parched Northern California. The forecast called the pictured shell cordovan boots to duty on only their second day out of seasonal storage. Shell cordovan of course is the water resistant leather made from the rump muscle (or shell) of a horse, and in boot form it provides protection from

Peter Harvey Comes to Town

2009-10-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Graham Lawless and Peter Harvey of Savile Row's Davies & Son have been in the City this week. Peter's Fallan & Harvey name has been incorporated into Davies for about a year now.In the photo, Peter is marking up a problem with the collar on an odd jacket while yours truly appears to be describing a recent aeronautical experience.Peter and Graham brought with them a completed brown tweed suit

The First Moleskins of the Season

2009-10-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was was the season's first truly cool day and it called for a pair of moleskin trousers. The short, velvet-like nap on cotton moleskin traps air next to the body so in a 16 ounce/480 gram weight it wears warm. They were worn with a tweed shirt-jacket over a flannelette shirt, a silk scarf, a tweed hat and tan Norwegian style bluchers. Consistent with the change in temperature, two

Well Done

2009-10-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

The fellow in the Esquire illustration today combines about as many classic details for an odd jacket ensemble as are safe to wear outside the privacy of one's own home: brown bluchers, large trouser cuffs, three patch and flap jacket pockets, a sweater under that jacket, a pinned shirt collar, a knit necktie and a tweed cap. Well done!