One Thing: The Blue Blazer

Over the past year or so I have occasionally highlighted essential pieces of a man’s wardrobe. The “One Thing” columns have covered a variety of items, but today I want to get back to basics with the blue blazer.

A blue blazer is the backbone of any serious wardrobe. The ever popular Preppy Handbook even dubbed it the male exoskeleton. Preppy or not, a blue blazer is the one article of dress clothing all men should have hanging in the closet. It is universally useful and chameleon-like when it comes to meeting your needs in a sartorial pinch.

When they hear “blue blazer” people tend to think of the classic brass button type found on the bridge of a yacht in a Ralph Lauren advertisement. Of course that version is the most traditional, but blue blazers come in a range of fabrics and styles; from lightweight linens to beefy flannels. As the king of odd jackets, a blue blazer can fill the gap when you need to dress somewhere between a suit and a sweater, regardless of the season.

Styles vary as much as materials. Some blazers have horn or resin buttons instead of shipshape brass ones. They can come with single, double or no vents; notched or peaked lapels. Other design variations can change the overall feel of the garment. A double breasted blazer, with its nipped waist and dramatic massing of buttons can impart formality. A single breasted sack jacket with no darting can give you a more casual “drinks at the club” New England persona.

When it comes to shoulders, there are some cultural variations as well. American blazers often have a soft natural shoulder, while English tailors tend to prefer them padded and more structured. This is particularly true with double breasted jackets. American makers like Brooks Bothers and J. Press are arbiters of the natural shoulder; a style I tend prefer.

When shopping for a blue blazer, approach it as a major investment. This should be a jacket that can carry you for years to come and something that you are happy to reach for in the morning. A well constructed blazer made from good fabric will be as comfortable as your favorite sweatshirt and its classic styling will conquer the vagaries of many fashion cycles.

The core benefit of the blue blazer is its inherent versatility. It can make jeans, Chuck Taylors and an old polo shirt look city cool or give khakis, boat shoes and an oxford some un-stuffy dressiness. The blue blazer works because of its balance between formal and comfortable. It’s one of those rare garments that has both stood the test of time and evolved to meet the needs of each generation.

The Italian Background

The generalisation that the English experiment with their shirts and the Italians with their jackets broadly holds, particularly in business wear. While the English tradition of checked and plaid wools is a fine one, it was always largely restricted to the country (or at least the weekend) and has died out slowly as fewer English men wore suits casually.

The Italians are more willing to experiment with suit cloth at every occasion. This necessitates a shirt and tie combination that makes no attempt to compete with that cloth – the Italian Background.

The Italian Background is simple: a plain blue or black tie on a plain blue shirt. (Occasionally the shirt will be white, but this can look a little funereal.)

The combination works well because a blue shirt suits most people more than white, and it fades more into the background; because a dark tie fades more into the background than a pale tie; and because the dark blue tie is the most similar in tone and harmonious combination with a blue shirt – without being too similar and evoking tone on tone.

But this is analysing the obvious. It works as the plainest and yet most sophisticated of supports to an otherwise daring suit pattern – or indeed odd jacket. It equally supports an adventurous pocket-handkerchief, gloves, hat or jacket. When trying to balance an outfit, the Italian would much rather tone down a tie than go without one.

Four examples are displayed here, all courtesy of The Sartorialist. The first is possibly the most extreme. The high contrast, double-breasted jacket stands out, but is supported effectively by an Italian Background and dark trousers. It even makes it possible to add a pointed handkerchief without appearing over the top.

The second example marries an Italian Background with a hat and bright coat, while number three includes a faintly ridiculous coat that needs all the help it can get. Notice the uniformity of dress in this second combination as well – with odd double-breasted jacket and spread collar. While this may be because they are both associated with the same clothing outlet, it shows the versatility of the Background.

Example number four brings out a particular aspect of the Background – its fruitful combination with beige or tan (yellow, essentially). It is no coincidence that every one of these pictures involves a jacket in some shade of tan. And the gentleman on the left in this example shows that the Background is the best choice for what could otherwise be a very hard suit to find combinations for.

If in doubt, go for the Italian Background. (Oh, and buy yourself a nice, plain blue tie.)

Two Tips on Ties

Here are a couple of tried and tested tips for tying ties. Apologies for the excessive alliteration.

I’m a fan of a nice, large dimple in a tie. Two reasons: I think it adds a certain lustre to the silk to be pulled in thus, and the added tension helps keep the tie in place, taut and a little pushed out.

I’m sure most are familiar with how, basically, to achieve a dimple (if not, please inform me in the comments section and I’ll do my best to describe it). However, I always found difficulty in achieving a consistent dimple in the middle of the tie. It would always verge over the one side and eventually, as a result, disappear. I also found that a decent dimple in the early stages of tying would seem to disappear in a similar way by the time it was tightened up to the collar.

So, two tips. First, lay out your tie on a flat, hard surface and estimate the two or three inches that pass through the knot during tying (perhaps hold it up to your body to discover this). Then, fold the tie along these two or three inches in half, with the front of the tie on the inside. Press gently along the fold with your fingers, or leave a heavy object on it briefly.

When you pick the tie back up again, there will be a visible fold down the blade. That will fade after a short while, but the lining of tie retains the fold. Because it is often a thinner silk or a canvas, it is more easily distorted. So when you next pull the tie taut, it will naturally return to that halfway fold, creating a perfectly placed dimple. The effect is also reinforced over time – the more a tie is tied with that dimple, the more easily it will return to it.

Second tip: always secure the knot and its dimple completely before pulling on the thinner blade to bring it up to the collar. Otherwise the dimple is likely to be loosened on the way up.

When you have pulled the wider blade under, over and down through the knot, let it hang for a second to pinch it ready to create the dimple. Then tighten the knot by pulling both the wider blade and the knot downwards – it is slightly counter intuitive to pull the knot down, as it will eventually go up again, but pulling it down thus will tighten it far better for the journey up to the collar.

One more tip, even though it does bring the total to three and spoil the alliteration: if your knot is a little too thin for your liking, try looping the wider blade over once more (in a four-in-hand knot this is) than usual. It makes less difference than you’d think, but just enough to satisfy.

Stripe Stereotypes: Show Your Stripes

What do your stripes say about you?  Whether I like it or not, the striped cotton creations I purchase on Jermyn Street do reveal a good deal about my character. For instance, my preference for old, ordered patterns - akin almost to Regency stripe wallpaper from Sanderson - exposes my love of the classical and the old-fashioned. Similarly, my reluctance to wear outrageously thick stripes or stripes of acidic tone, reveals my cautiousness and lack of daring. Anyone analysing my striped collection of shirts would judge me an aesthetically traditional conservative, and this is, without doubt, the most correct observation one can make. Even when my shirts do veer slightly from the classically hued Corinthian columned variety into something perhaps a little more exotic in tone, slightly more experimental in pattern, I tend to tone down the daring with a sober tie.

Stripes, so long a pattern of camouflage, can actually be terribly revealing; to expose your bias and make naked your idiosyncrasies. I admit, there is an awful lot of scope for generalisation on this topic. Of course there will be those who purchase a great range of stripes and who have the mightiest sartorial capacity; no style being off limits, no stripe too thin, too bright or too wide. However, I do find when I am casually eavesdropping in the bustle of a noisy shirt maker on Jermyn Street that people do have their ’types’ when it comes to ‘stripes’: “It’s not really me that one…”; “Nope, sorry - I’ll do pink, but not pink stripes”; “Hah, I’ll look like a butcher in that!” Opinions on the thousands of stripe designs that flood the ever popular high-end shirt market can frequently be heard if standing within earshot and the one thing that strikes me is how judgmental stripe buyers can be. Purchasing stripes, it seems, is rather political. An old gentleman in a covert coat when offered a pink and black natty looking model, straight from the style books of Etro or Paul Smith, might look askance at the shop assistant as if they were an Etonian who had just been offered an Old Harrovian tie.

The peer


As one of the few remaining hereditary members of the House of Lords, the peer is keeping up appearances for all aristocrats across Albion. In the good old days, the unelected House members could dash into their seats for a chat and a quick vote and be off to White’s or Pratt’s before three - all in the tailored, but evidently ancient, clothing they wore the day before. Bengal and Regency stripes are the general rule for the peer and the old made to measure cloths are making way for ’adjusted’ versions timidly suggested by Timothy at Turnbull & Asser. Healthy looking blues with feint touches of white and red are emblematic of his renewed patriotism and the only exception; an uncharacteristic Satsuma-tinted Bengal, which has become his favourite shirt: the result of a rather flattering comment by a particularly ambitious young female on his staff.

The Islington ‘media type’


The Islington ‘media type’ doesn’t really like Jermyn Street. It’s just not the sort of place he’d wish to be seen in. Duchamp, Interno8 and Paul Smith are more likely to receive his carefully bestowed custom and conveniently, they are all located just a liberal hop, skip and jump away from his Soho offices, on the other side of Regent Street. Traditionalists might refer to his multi-striped shirts as ’busy’, but he rather believes that his style of stripe is a future design classic. As one of the several head-honchos in a powerful P.R. firm, he has the influence, and the cash, to adapt his oh-so-Noughties office furniture to his taste for the nouveau stripe; even his Apple Mac is designed by Paul Smith.

The City trader


The City trader is a happy chap - he’s just been promoted in his department at the establishment investment bank where he has worked for 15 years. Patience and hard work seem to have paid off and his ‘matey mates’ are very impressed with his quick ascension, if a little surprised; it must be the first time a happy go lucky charmer from an inner city comprehensive has risen so quickly at such an old-school-tie bank. In celebration of his promotion, a few dozen shirts were purchased on a visit to Jermyn Street. In reverence to the affably arrogant management at the crusty bank, he decides upon a number of generously striped items considering it’ll make him look, as he put it, “more like a toff.”

Styles for Shorter Gentleman: Jimmy Au’s

When it comes to shorter men, finding well-tailored and well-designed clothes in styles that also enhance stature are not always easy to come by. In the business arena, clothing plays a key role because it can influence how others see you - tall or short, slim or wide. Perception, as usual, is king.

Based in Beverly Hills, Jimmy Au’s for Men 5’8” and Under, is an industry leader in tailored clothing for shorter gentlemen. Au is recognized as the leading authority in the men’s fashion industry when it comes to developing and designing quality clothing for shorter men. He is renowned for his uncompromising dedication to dressing shorter gentlemen and his store is where leading Hollywood studios turn for their television and motion picture wardrobe needs.

Alan Au, the founder’s son and company’s client relations director, spoke with www.OffTheCuffDC.com and outlined his key rules for dressing with style and increasing visual height. Although the average man in the United States is 5′9″, the average height of Jimmy Au’s customer is 5′4″. Alan, is also credited with encouraging his father to work with leading menswear brands like Michael Kors, DKNY, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Kenneth Cole to produce tailored fashion for men under 5′5″.

Show your stripes… While some fashion designers are abandoning these vertical enhancements, if you want to look taller at work, you need to consider stripes. Choose stripes of a thinner variety like beaded or pinstripes. Choose stripes where the width between stripes best balances your frame. ¼” to ¾” should be sufficient. The wider your frame, the wider the stripe option, however, any wider than ¾” and you’ll begin to look squat. Stay away from thick or wide stripes like chalk stripes or alternating colored stripes. The lighter color will dominate causing the width to visually double and, again, make you look squat.

Well suited… When trying on a suit, stand close to the mirror and take a good to see if it flatters you. Then, stand back about 5 to 10 feet from the mirror to get a visual sense of how others will see you in a typical day to day situation. Make sure you can see you in the suit and not just the suit. If only the suit looks good but not you in it, then pass.

The skinny on ties… Fashion designers seem to be split when it comes to tie widths. Some are going much wider while others are slimming down. For the short man, it’s best to go narrow. Not because it’s trendy, but because it’s more proportioned for a shorter frame. A ties that is 2 ½” to 3 ¼” at its widest point should be enough. Anything that will add width to your midsection will also make you look shorter, so stay away from the wide bib-looking ties. Narrower ties look more balanced and the effect will make you look better proportioned; which in turn makes you look taller.

Wear a shirt, not a chute… When you are less than 5′8″, the baggy shirt from the 1990s is an unwanted fashion statement in 2008. Even regular sized shirts are baggy on a shorter frame and that fullness makes you look like you’re wearing your older brother’s hand-me-downs. Choose a more trim European inspired fit with higher armholes and a slimmer body. These trimmer cuts can easily be shortened to fit your body and arms. Fuller cuts require more work from a skilled tailor.

Here comes the hammer… Pants that is! Some designers are showing pleated, full cut dress pants again. Avoid this look at all costs. Stick to more traditional cuts, preferably with a flat front and short rise. It’s not that you can’t wear pleated pants; just not ones that make you look like a B-movie genie. If you prefer a pleated pant because you have thick thighs or wide hips, stick to shallower pleats. You can have the extra width you need without having the extra depth you don’t; proportion is key. Regardless, making sure you purchase pants with a short rise greatly increases the likelihood of a proper fit.

The golden rule… The number one rule, no matter what the current fashion trend, is to have your clothes altered by a good tailor. This rule applies to men of all heights, but is particularly important to us short guys. Because of our shorter stature, most everything is big on us, which in turn makes us look even shorter.

Common sense proportions take on added importance for short men. Ensure that coat and shirt sleeves are the right length and that coat bottoms are not too long. Pant hems should never be too long nor pant legs too wide. Details matter even more for short men, particularly when the details are what can make or break your overall image.