A Suitable Wardrobe

Any Time Colors

2008-08-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

It won't end officially until September 22 in the United States, and in California it will continue to be warm until the end of October, but the end of August has always been the end of summer in my mind. So here at A Suitable Wardrobe it's about time to stop looking at linen and think instead about worsteds in anticipation of the changing seasons. Too much change of course can be disruptive,

Solaro Time

2008-08-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's been decades since an 11 ounce cloth was considered summer weight, but here is a thoroughly modern industrialist, Luca di Montezemolo of Ferrari, wearing a suit of 11 ounce Solaro herringbone from Smith and Co. (the cloth gives itself away by the hint of red that comes from its colored underside). Re-purposed for the milder temperatures of spring and fall, Solaro is ideal for a place like

Lunch Time Linen

2008-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dress for a casual lunch with friends in Northern California this past Saturday. There was a high fog, which kept it overcast and cool on the coast, and mild inland. The day's clothes were chestnut leather and white suede spectators, linen trousers, a polo and a linen sweater. A cream linen cap waits down the stairs. Linen was the predecessor to cotton as a cloth-for-all-jobs, from bedding to

The Cream-Colored DB

2008-08-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Whenever I look at today's illustration I wonder whether the man in the double breasted suit might not be the seated man's attorney or some such. There certainly aren't many reasons to wear a cream-colored DB by the water otherwise. But if a man must be dressed while others are wearing as little as possible, here is one way to do it well. Cream shirt, cream and sky blue necktie (the exact tie

A Mad Men Contemporary

2008-08-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

For anyone who was wondering about the authenticity of the clothing in AMC's Mad Men set in the early 1960s, here is a young George Peppard in his role in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Peppard's not headed for an office in his black and white tweed jacket, tan sweater vest, white shirt with buttondown collar and brown grenadine necktie, but the tie and lapel width authenticate Don

Summer Silver

2008-08-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Putting my summer necktie wardrobe where my post was yesterday, here is a brown tinted silver grenadine necktie worn with a tan fresco jacket, a blue and white striped shirt and an Hermes square. Below the waist, mid-gray trousers and fox suede Adelaide brogues. We didn't take a full-length photo but this was the first time I'd worn the trousers, which are made from The London Lounge Brisa

On Shirt Pockets

2008-08-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

The photograph reminds us why pockets were first added to shirts. Minus ten points to any reader who thought I meant the young woman but I will admit that I've been looking for an excuse to post a photo of a pretty girl or two. Shirt pockets appeared on professional men in the early 1960's when Brooks Brothers added a pocket to its oxford cloth shirts, until that day the most famous

Summer Neckties

2008-08-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've always worn pastel-colored neckties in summer, and this year I added a new twist. In addition to donning the springtime colors of nature, like magenta, teal, fuschia and mint, I put several ties with white, silver and cream-colored grounds on my tie rack. Now neckties with light grounds had given me a lot of trouble in the past. I'm a firm believer that a man's tie should be darker than

A Logo Too Far

2008-08-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ralph Lauren had some good ideas for the U.S. Olympic team's clothes this year, with one notable exception that, to my mind at least, devalues the entire effort. And that's the over-sized polo pony that claims equal billing with the Olympic symbol on each ensemble. I mean, there were so many ways that the company can profit from its sponsorship. Did it really need to put a logo on the clothes?

Navy Shirts for Land or Lake

2008-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Land or lake, a man can never have too many dark blue shirts in summer. Particularly in linen, where lighter colors are often too sheer to wear without an undershirt that defeats the purpose. I like my navy shirts with tails, as they are worn tucked into cream or tan colored trousers. The pullover cotton knit versions are without pockets, but the linens close down the front and have two

Brummel's Legacy

2008-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Beau Brummel: This Charming Man is a worthwhile video that slipped by me unnoticed until recently. The 2006 BBC television production is based on Ian Kelly's biography, and James Purefoy plays the Beau. The clothes are reasonably true to the times. Watching it reminded me once again that one of Brummel's legacies (in addition to trousers, which he's arguably responsible for) is the day wear

Fashion vs. Style

2008-08-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

A man posted on one of the internet forums recently that he buys an inexpensive suit and wears it just three or four times, six or seven tops, before giving it away and buying a new one. He asks whether keeping a suit for years doesn't run counter to the notion of style, to which I say that he's got his sexual roles reversed. That's because fashion is for women and style is for men. The

Learning About Clothes

2008-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

A long-time reader asked how I developed my knowledge of sartorial things and to tell the truth I'm not completely certain because I never worked in the business. But I do know that my learning began while I was in my early teens, at a place called the Squire Shop. The Squire Shop of Hinsdale, the Illinois area where I lived with my family, was an independent clothier that operated in a Chicago

Lightweight Tweed Update

2008-08-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Some readers will remember that I began working with a weaver in Scotland on a lightweight tweed project this past spring. That's because standard widths of traditional Shetland and Cheviot tweeds rarely weight less than 14 ounces (400 grams) and make up into jackets that are a bit warm for the shoulder seasons, and for California generally. The lighter cloth that is sometimes promoted in

A Seersucker Necktie

2008-08-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

A reader wrote a week or two ago asking about the propriety of seersucker neckties. I replied that I hoped they are OK because I wear them in summer. Here's an example. The necktie in the photo is a nicely puckered 65% silk and 35% cotton seersucker from Nicky of Milan, and I wish it was easier to find more of that blend as I like my ties a bit narrower these days. The silk adds a lustre that

How to Carry an Umbrella

2008-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's not Labor Day yet but rainy season is not too terribly far in the future. And that makes it timely to write about umbrellas, so that there's ample opportunity to break oneself of bad habits before the season begins. We can assume that there are bad habits aplenty out there, because some men imagine that carrying an umbrella is intuitive. After all, they put crooked handles on the end,

Late Summer Musings

2008-08-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

I don't believe I've seen a pair of brogues like this pair from W. S. Foster where the leather has been left essentially uncolored, except in photographs, and then only twice. It may be the ultimate specialty shoe, too light in color for wear except in summer and, because of the limits that seasonality places on their usefulness, available only bespoke. It would befit the man who owns these

Reader Questions

2008-08-02T07:00:00.001-07:00

From Kenneth What is the appropriate shirt collar to wear with a bow tie - spread, point, or button down? Also, would the bow tie benefit from a three piece suit in fall and winter or should I opt for buttoning the third button on my suits and odd jackets? The look of a bow tie works best with less visible shirt, so choose double breasted jackets, vested suits, or three button jackets that

Quotation: Cognac

2008-08-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

"Until not so long ago, certainly well into this century, the spirit drinkers in these islands were in practice quite sharply divided by national and social boundaries. The Irish drank their whisky, the Scots dranks theirs, the lower classes in England drank gin and the upper classes drank brandy. How the Welsh managed without a national drink I don't know. The nearest vodka, of course, was a

The Scye's The Limit

2008-08-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have a number of lightweight jackets that I had made to measure while I was a customer of a Savile Row tailor for most of my clothes (the tailor in question was not Henry Poole, whose photo adds some visual interest to this post). You see, that was before globalization really took hold and these guys still believed they would never need to learn how to make jackets from anything lighter than

A Jacket for the Heat

2008-07-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Personally, I think a single breasted blazer is a better style for the heat but men who prioritize stylishness over comfort should consider the 4x1 double breasted blazer for summer. A 4x1, or 4 by 1 if you will, is a double breasted jacket with four buttons on the front that are cut so that the coat buttons on the lower rank below the waist. This gives it a longer line and exposes a little

Sticking With a Theme

2008-07-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

We found a theme in tan, white and black this week and we're sticking with it for another day. Hence this portrait of the late Prince Serge Obolensky, publicist, socialite and, during World War II, America's oldest paratrooper at age 53. Now the Prince was painted in the spring or fall instead of summer. He's got a coat over his shoulder and that cardigan would be intolerable in the heat. The

Linen and Gin

2008-07-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Watching the film A Good Woman the other day reminded me that I like the summer look of a tan jacket and white shirt accompanied by a necktie with a black ground. So here's a version suitable for whiling away an hour at a bar with a couple of friends. The jacket and shirt are linen, and the necktie's white dots work with the shirt to reduce the intensity of the black. During the week this is a

A Good Woman

2008-07-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

"Men don't trust women. Women don't trust women. No one trusts women. It's what binds the Catholic and the Hindu." So writes Oscar Wilde in A Good Woman or rather Lady Windermere's Fan, his 1893 play, which this 2004 production was based upon. I missed it the first time around but was glad I came across it on Netflix. The story is set in the 1930's on Italy's Amalfi coast and costume designer

Louche?

2008-07-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Few illustrations from Apparel Arts cause me to scratch my head and wonder what the illustrator was thinking, but this 1934 drawing is one of them. Each of the elements is fine on its own, especially the Optimo panama, but the spacing of the secondary stripes in the trousers conflicts with the jacket pattern. Replace the faux Norfolk jacket with one that matches the trousers and the ensemble