Fabric comes in different weights. In the menswear industry, this is measured in ounces or grams per square meter. American tailors tend to use ounces; Europeans and Asian tailors tend to use grams. Here we see swatches from Draper's Ascot book ranging from 8oz to 12oz.
In men's tailoring, 12-14oz is considered midweight. Anything less than 12 oz is lightweight; anything above 14oz is heavyweight. Once you get above 18oz, this is considered "coating" weight, which is to say it's typically used for overcoats.
If you live in a very hot, humid climate, then you might want to wear lighter weight fabrics, especially in open weaves, as they will wear cooler. Here's a suit made from a Harrisons of Edinburgh cloth (from their Indigo book). If I remember correctly, this is an 8oz fabric.
Conversely, here's a pair of grey flannel trousers made from what I believe is a 16oz cloth and a wrap coat made from a whooping 27oz cloth. You would melt if you wore this outfit in the summer, so it's strictly for cold days.
Lots of things go into how a fabric hangs or keeps its shape: the fiber composition, the weave, the finishing, etc. However, one important dimension is the weight. Here are two pure linen suits. Right is 11oz; left is 17oz. Look at the difference in the wrinkles around the lap.
Men in the past wore much heavier fabrics. It wasn't unusual for a summer suit to start around 13oz; winter suits to start around 16oz. This is partly why everything hung so well and looked so great. Look at the sharpness of these trousers.
Over time, fabric has gotten lighter weight for a variety of reasons. First, the spread of central heating meant that people no longer had to wear heavy clothes indoors. Second, a combination of technology and animal breeding made lightweight cloth more accessible.
The fashion industry also sold men on the idea that lighter, shinier, and silkier fabrics were more luxurious. "Oh la la, monsieur! Just feel that fabric. So silky and smooth and lightweight. You will always be so comfortable!"
There are two problems with lightweight fabrics. First, any mismatch between the tailoring and your body will show up in the form of ugly wrinkles and creases. Heavy fabrics hang better, so they're more forgiving. Check out how these heavy tweed trousers hang.
Second, as mentioned earlier, lightweight fabrics will hold their winkles more readily than their heavier counterparts (all things equal). Trump buys many of his suits from Brioni, and luxury Italian brands like these often sell customers on the idea of "luxurious" wools.
If you get a lightweight fabric, you have to compensate in other ways. For instance, Ascot's 2-ply Ascot fabrics clock in at 8oz. But the yarn has been given an extra twist during the spinning process, which makes them naturally wrinkle resistant.
Everyone has to figure out which types of fabrics are right for them. Your internal furnace, sensitivity to heat, lifestyle, and climate all play a part. One person might sweat in 14oz fabrics; another person is totally fine in something as heavy as 18oz, even in the same area.
But as a general rule of thumb, you should try to wear the heaviest fabrics you can bear. Trump favors lightweight, luxurious wools almost year round, and that's why his pants often look wrinkly.
Sorry, this is switched. The suit on the left is made from an 11oz pure linen. The suit on the right is made from 17oz pure linen. You can see how the suit on the right is less wrinkly. This is due to the difference in fabric weight.
Men look better with some kind of neckwear. Let's run through some examples. 🧵
Neckwear doesn't have to mean a tie, although it includes ties. See how Jason Jules incorporates everything from neckerchiefs to scarves to floppy silk knit ties (the most casual kind of necktie).
Yasuto Kamoshita employs the same things. In the third slide, you can see how a neckerchief peeks out from beneath his sweater.
Let's talk about minimalism as an aesthetic in menswear. 🧵
First, the coat in question. Samuel is referring to the coat on the left, which is just a slimmed up, truncated version of a single-breasted mac. This blue coat is made with a zip front and technical fabric. The originals had buttons and fit more like the ones on the right.
IMO, it's wrong to describe that coat as being part of the minimalist tradition. Instead, it flows from a different history. In the early 2000s, designers such as Hedi Slimane and Thom Browne shrank men's silhouettes as a counter reaction to the voluminous clothes of the 1990s.
Caveat: this thread covers a wide range of styles and prices. It's written for a general audience, not any specific person. So please don't get mad if some style or price doesn't fit your specific needs. Take what's useful; leave what's not.
The first and most obvious is any store that specializes in traditional men's clothes, particularly with a clientele that skews towards older men. In the US, such stores include O'Connell's, J. Press, The Andover Shop, and H. Stockton.
I get a lot of requests to "stick to fashion." IMO, clothing is a kind of social language and you can't understand how to dress better unless you consider the social, cultural, and even political dimension of clothes. 🧵
The reason why black oxfords are always "correct" with navy suits, and brown derbies sit comfortably alongside tweed, has nothing to do with color theory. It has to do with our notion of "good taste," which is just the preferences and habits of the ruling class pre-1980.
Similarly, the reason why military surplus field jackets— such as the M-43, M-51, and M-65—look good with sweatshirts, jeans, and graphic tees has to do with how anti-authoritarian youths turned Army jackets into a countercultural pose during the 1970s.
There's a popular narrative here that says immigrants are destroying Western culture.
I'd like to assert the opposite: immigrants are not only contributing to Western culture, they are often saving parts of it. Let's explore. 🧵
First, I need to establish three things.
Although clothes are often trivialized, I think they're important to culture. They're a way for us to signal our belonging to groups and our individuality within them. Modes of dress are often tied to cultural identity and practice.
Second, while history has themes, the specificities of our fights today are not identical our fights in the past. Ironically, images hailed as "traditional" often hold within them stories about social cleavages and prejudices long forgotten (e.g., Catholic churches).
I want to show you how to get some deals on eBay. Since I write about menswear, this thread will be focused on men's clothing and accessories. But my guess is that you can apply these tricks to other categories. 🧵
Most people use eBay in a very straightforward manner. They go to the website and type something into the search bar. Sometimes that's description of an item, such as vintage Aran sweaters. Or it's the name of a brand, such as Hermes or Louis Vuitton.
eBay is full of deals, so even if you use these techniques, you will likely pay less than retail. But if you use the site like everyone else, you reduce your chances of scoring bigger deals. That's because you're competing with a larger group of people.