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#1 2009-05-31 06:43:32

Alex Roest
Member
From: The Hague, The Netherlands
Posts: 2165

Reclaiming the Blazer

 

#2 2009-05-31 07:00:07

AQG
Member
From: The Sticks
Posts: 1306

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Wear the blazer with a loud, Jermyn Street check, some dark jeans, and brown suede semi-brogues.  Socks are either argyle, striped or just brightly colored.  Not very Ivy, but rather wicked.  Especially when the blazer is double-breasted.

 

#3 2009-05-31 07:00:51

Tom Rath
Member
Posts: 172

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

I had a natural dislike for the blue blazer for years and years, since 99% of the people I see wearing it look like shit. Either totally ill fitting or they end up looking like the epitomy of "trad" AAAC style.

I found a vintage Yale Co-op version a little while ago, and I am coming around. For me, its essential that the blazer is snug through the shoulders, narrow lapeled, and a little short. Gives what is a very conservative item a bit of an edge.

 

#4 2009-05-31 07:05:26

Alex Roest
Member
From: The Hague, The Netherlands
Posts: 2165

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

 

#5 2009-05-31 07:07:22

AQG
Member
From: The Sticks
Posts: 1306

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

I'd wear either a button down collar with barrel cuffs or a spread collar (not radically cutaway, though) with French cuffs.  Good opportunity to haul out the more whimsical links in a fellow's collection.

 

#6 2009-05-31 07:07:29

Alex Roest
Member
From: The Hague, The Netherlands
Posts: 2165

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

 

#7 2009-05-31 07:09:01

Alex Roest
Member
From: The Hague, The Netherlands
Posts: 2165

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

 

#8 2009-05-31 07:10:13

AQG
Member
From: The Sticks
Posts: 1306

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Last edited by AQG (2009-05-31 07:11:17)

 

#9 2009-05-31 07:17:56

Natural Sole Brother
Ivy, naturally.
Posts: 782

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Agreed that fit is everything, as are details.

Great examples can be thrifted very cheaply.

A favoured look at the moment for me is a navy Golden Fleece blazer (has a hooked and swelled vent so must be quite old; the shoulders are extremely natural), long sleeved wide-striped t-shirt in black and very dark indigo from APC, very dark indigo '1937' Japanese Levi's and very white vintage Converse Skidgrips. Replace the sneakers with #8 loafers and you're good to go dancing.

 

#10 2009-05-31 07:19:28

Tom Rath
Member
Posts: 172

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Yea, ive worn it a few times. I think I am going to get rid of the brass buttons though.

 

#11 2009-05-31 07:27:48

Alex Roest
Member
From: The Hague, The Netherlands
Posts: 2165

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

 

#12 2009-05-31 07:28:13

Natural Sole Brother
Ivy, naturally.
Posts: 782

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Bizarrely enough I think the brass buttons add a touch of 'difference' on this side of the Atlantic.

I might replace brass with white pearl on another blazer, though. Something I've seen on nouveau tailoring like Mark Powell, Richard James etc. and think it could work quite well. I don't think I would go for buttons which were intended for a business suit.

 

#13 2009-05-31 07:34:45

Alex Roest
Member
From: The Hague, The Netherlands
Posts: 2165

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Last edited by Alex Roest (2009-05-31 11:44:40)

 

#14 2009-05-31 08:11:45

adam!
The Future
Posts: 608

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Last edited by adam! (2009-05-31 08:12:27)

 

#15 2009-05-31 09:43:04

Ian Strachan's Raincoat
Member
Posts: 521

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

 

#16 2009-05-31 10:56:33

heikki k
The Ivyist's Ivyist
Posts: 1442

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

i had my blazer's brass buttons changed to dark navy ones, have been wearing it with red gingham check (also half-sleeve) or loud madras or plaid check bd's, dark denims and dessies, playboys or oxblood brogues. have worn it only a few times though.. i also have problems with the conservative / yacht club connotations.

wouldn't ever wear a double-breasted though. ever. too yachting club bourgeois for me.

adam's pic is a good example of alex's theme imo.

 

#17 2009-05-31 11:49:09

Alex Roest
Member
From: The Hague, The Netherlands
Posts: 2165

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

 

#18 2009-05-31 12:52:49

Patrick
Member
Posts: 2646

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

I just chuck one of mine on without thinking about it. I've got two old 346 patch jobs, hopsack, the minimal lining and padding. One's a tad shorter than the other, like Tom Rath I prefer that.

I also have a Southwick that's dressier, more shoulder to it.

Isn't the key to making this funky the pants? A blue blazer's just like a 12-bar blues - anybody can have a stab at that, it's what's added or subtracted that make it new.

Plus sometimes it's just simpler for me to don the standard bd, repp tie and chinos and loafers with it. Doesn't require a lot of thought and I will blend in. Only a handful will notice the rolled over third button, or the tell-tale mark on the lapel where the unused button has rubbed through a bit.

I could defintely do without the brass buttons and the ersatz crest. Of all the things to learn how to sew on, blazer buttons must be the easiest. I'd like plain matte silver.


Otter : Take it easy, I'm pre-law.
Boon : I thought you were pre-med.
Otter : What's the difference?

 

#19 2009-05-31 14:08:09

Ian Strachan's Raincoat
Member
Posts: 521

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works, but, paradoxically, in England the blazer will work best now if it's given more than one twists.  Replacing the buttons and ditching the crest - and ersatz is a good choice of word there - would be a first step.  Wearing it in a 'conservative' but slightly insouciant manner would be a second, reason being that the blazer/jeans/brogues look was outdated twenty years ago.  It might still work in France or Italy, but here it's a Hugh Grant style-free zone thing.  Chinos and brogues might do it - it's taking the denim away that's essential - and the BD and repp a la Patrick would look very acceptable for a quick trip to some quiet boozer.  You'd be taking that vital Ivy 'step back': blending in, maybe looking more classic Hollywood (Astaire, Cary Grant) than Young Conservative Tim Nice But Dim Sloaney. 
The blazer could still be a good stand-by, like the enlisted man's pea coat in the winter and half-sleeves in the summer.

 

#20 2009-05-31 14:09:22

Ian Strachan's Raincoat
Member
Posts: 521

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

After all, reclaiming it is only like reclaiming Burberrys' from the chavs and footballers' wives.

 

#21 2009-05-31 16:32:53

ScarletStreet
Member
Posts: 540

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Last edited by ScarletStreet (2009-05-31 16:35:55)


"All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it." -- H.L. Mencken

 

#22 2009-05-31 20:55:08

AQG
Member
From: The Sticks
Posts: 1306

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Crests are for stuffed chests.  Brass butttons though; they are sublime.

 

#23 2009-05-31 23:29:25

Ian Strachan's Raincoat
Member
Posts: 521

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

 

#24 2009-06-01 00:26:14

ScarletStreet
Member
Posts: 540

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

Well that's just fine. He made it work. The same basic choices as so many other guys but just an attitude that made him different. That specific combo is almost like a uniform around these parts. I have heard it called the Louisville suit. I have a very specific reaction to it. His picture changed that perception. Ivy, Trad, Americana..small town yankee reporter style, whatever he had going on in that photo it certainly worked.


"All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it." -- H.L. Mencken

 

#25 2009-06-01 00:36:48

Taylor McIntyre
Son of Ivy...
Posts: 342

Re: Reclaiming the Blazer

I like the old Ray Ban or Ray Ban look-alike look meself. Makes me think of Paul Newman in Sweet Bird of Youth.

Hard ass is good. Soft ass is not so good. But which is the most Ivy ass? wink

 

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