Cap'n,

I live in the country.  Not the country as you describe it, but rural central Pennsylvania.  I think that it qualifies and I'm sure that you must be familiar with the place given your profession and our hunting industry.  While not in routine danger of attack from bears and rattlesnakes (though I've seen a few of each and one roams into town every so often) our rural bona fides are pretty sound.

Standards of dress are fairly low out here.  Hell, even our biggest city, Philadelphia is a pretty sloppy place.  There is an upside to this.  I can wear those country suits, the tweeds, flannels, and checks to the office if I feel like it.  It's a bit of perk, really.  Here, if you put out a modicum of sartorial effort, you're the bloody Duke of Windsor.

Even if I were working in a large firm in a metropolitan area, I'd think I could still do it the same way.  If its big client or big trial day, dress it up.  Otherwise, all of those country suits are fine, Sator's objections notwithstanding.

I guess my opinion on the matter is that you can get a lot of mileage out of the things if you ignore the internet gentlemen who wouldn't know a "rule" from London clubland if it hit them on the swelled head.

EDIT:  Formby:  Ask me anything about The Sticks you like.  I live there.

Last edited by AQG (2008-03-07 15:07:52)

I'm not sinking to the local level, Sator.  Trust me when I tell you that those who do as I do around here are few and far between.  Admittedly, however, I am rustic degenerate without a single frock coat in the closet.  How I've managed to keep a full set of teeth I shall never know.

I have 4 or 5 "Country Suits" and wear them frequently in the winter. Often they allow me to do without an overcoat, as I go from heated garage, to garage, or a sprint from a parking lot to a building. They are very elegant, very comfortable, and if you choose the cloth carefully, not too loud in terms of the trousers. Also, the jackets can double as sports jackets, leveraging the investment, so to speak.

The Porter and Harding GlenRoyal and Hartwist ranges are very nice. I also have a covert cloth suit, if that counts as a Country Suit. I do take some teasing from colleagues about the Country Suits, but never a criticism.

l've hardly seen anyone in Australia who wears country tweed suits or even overcoats for that matter. lt's usually too hot over here for all that type of stuff; + with airconditioning/heating, it's usually light wool/polyester suits that are worn for business. Many people in the country don't even wear a suit.

I can't remember anyone in my childhood dressing in tweed or any other classic English-country style clothes.  But then again, I grew up in the south, where even the winters were short and relatively mild, and the summers had a humidity and temperature both approaching the high 90s!

Summer getaways were very casual, and when dressing for dinner we could often get away with a seersucker jacket or doeskin blazer paired with reds or khakis.  No one went to the country in the winter unless you lived there or were visiting your grandparents.  Most of us owned the beat-up brown or grey Harris tweed jacket, but they were odd sportcoats and as such worn with flannels in the winter.

Now that I'm in Colorado (where formal seems to mean you've pressed your Wranglers), I own several tweed and corduroy jackets but still nothing that could be termed a country suit.