Overall, the article has great info, but it has some absolutely ridiculous stuff in there:
Under three common suit cuts is a jacket I’ve never seen - a double breasted, shawl-collared monstrosity. If it had frog closures and was bottle green velvet, I’d say it was a smoking jacket but not in a zillion years a suit jacket. Makes me think this article was written by someone who knows little about clothing.
“Regatta stripes” on a blazer will only be found at a Ralph Lauren photo shoot here in the states. Pure Great Gatsby cosplay.
Ditto, I’ve never seen shawl lapels except on tuxes. Not to say they’re not out there, but it’s not a common style. And double-breasted goes in and out of fashion.
Not playing football, but when you are out quail hunting. In the 1800’s. And you’re rich.
I thought blazers had to be single-breasted and single vent, made from a plain material in a plain weave (tabby or simple twill) of one color. So no herringbone. Also, I thought blazers had to have a a brushed finish, but maybe I don’t get around enough.
Then sports coats could be single or double breasted, with one or two vents, and could be flashy twills or herringbones or houndstooth.
Or if it’s a jacket for a woman it’s a blazer no matter what the style or material. We don’t have sports coats.
iiandyiiii, some advice from a total fashion boor:
I got the following uber-simplified explanation once:
A sport coat is simply a suit coat that doesn’t match the trousers.
A popular strategy is alleged to be this: Own two separate complete suits, each having matching coat and trousers, but the two suits not matching one another. When the occasion calls for a sport coat, simply wear the coat from one of the suits along with the trousers from the other suit.
From your description, it sounds like you already own enough components to assemble one set of coat and non-matching trousers. So there you have it.
To me, it’s kind of like obscenity - you know which it is when you see it.
Try to imagine someone approaching you and trying to sell you something, and yelling, “excuse me sir/ma’am!” What do you assume he is going to ask? I am talking about your first visceral reaction, don’t spend time appraising the cut or fabric!
Suit jacket - stocks or something
Blazer - real estate
Sport coat - used car?
Black guy with a suit jacket and bowtie - bean pie
If I’m buying one, it’s a suit. I’d rather be over dressed than under dressed (NB: my job lets me wear whatever I want, I’m talking about occassions).
This isn’t right. A suit jacket should really not be worn without the pants. You wear the suit or choose a sport coat or blazers.
Blazers are rather casual, they were originally worm but (according to the story you want to choose to believe) members of the English Navy serving on the H.M.S. Blazer or by one of the rowing teams in England. Eton or Oxford, I think, can’t remember now. Most blazers brave contrasting gold or silver buttons.
A true sport coat is not very common these days. Think “sportswear” as it applied to David Niven or Cary Grant. Think tweed, a gentleman at a country estate for the weekend where you still had to dress for dinner. Some were cut for wingshooting, some had extra pockets for shells. This is the realm of the hacking jacket. It can be rather refined, like what you’d see on an equestrian, or something looser that barely looks like a blazer-type jacket at all.
These days, “sport coat” and “blazer” are used interchangeably by most. But there really is a difference for those in more bespoke end of the business.
Finally, none of these are “formal”. The dinner jacket is usually a cream or black tuxedo-type jacket worn without tuxedo pants. naturally, the full tuxedo is also formal. But it certain situations it will be viewed as being over dressed.
On 500 Questions, they said the blazer was first worn by rowing clubs in Cambridge, with the red giving it the name “blazer”. Of course I assumed they meant the Crimson of Cambridge, Mass. :smack:
wiki:
The sartorial term blazer originated with the red ‘blazers’ of the Lady Margaret Boat Club (1825), the rowing club of St. John’s College, Cambridge. The Lady Margaret club jackets were termed blazers because of the bright red cloth; the term survived the original red coat.
