The Case for a Statement Jacket

Jacket: Custom, Shirt: Eton, Tie: Thomas Pink, Pocket Square: Drake's, Chinos: J.Crew, Shoes: Meermin Mallorca

The conundrum with defining your own signature style is that as you evolve, you inevitably find comfort in the familiar. Perhaps blue suits compliment your skin tone, or you have a penchant for suede loafers. Similarly to any aspect of life, if you don’t step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself, you don't grow and improve to be the best version of yourself.

The best thing anyone can do to elevate one's style is to take risks and see if something works. In fact, part of the motivation behind this website was to challenge my style and find unique ways to improve and experiment with style combinations I may not typically explore. 

A great strategy to experiment with your day-to-day ensemble is to consider a statement piece in the form of a custom sport coat or blazer. That is, a statement which expresses your individual qualities and personality. While I’ve experienced some custom tailoring in the past, this this was my first foray into proper bespoke where a garment with a pattern is created completely from scratch to fit your body, requiring multiple fittings to complete.

I was looking for a unique garment but at the same time something I could wear regularly. I was keen on pushing my regular boundaries a bit, but also keeping to my character. Luckily, soft structured Italian style jackets are pretty much the bedrock of my wardrobe so it was the perfect garment to have a bit of fun with. The benefit of a timeless, sharply tailored jacket is that is that it’s never going to come across as a cry for attention, especially if you wear a lot of jackets normally. ​​

With the help of my tailor, we focused on a few salient details that give the jacket character:

• The cut is a nod to the Neapolitan style with the shoulder construction (though not a full expression of spalla camicia)
• Wide high gorge lapels
• Barchetta breast pocket
• Brandy glass patch pockets

The fabric I chose is a burnt orange in a heavy flannel. For me, a Fall/Winter jacket is more practical since it can work in a wider range of climates and be layered for when its gets really cold. Check out The Autumn Sport Coat for how you can maximize the use of a lighter material across seasons.

Orange is surprisingly a lot more versatile then it may seem at first glance. It behaves a lot like brown and there aren’t many colours it doesn’t work with, except for reds and other oranges. You can pair it with black just as easily as white, grey and blue. When choosing the colour and pattern, choose a colour you may not own and if it's a bright colour, choose a subtle pattern. A statement jacket is powerful, strong and bold, but not ostentatious, loud and garish.

​In the end, I couldn’t be more pleased with the investment. It was different than anything I own, but still complimented my overall style approach and existing wardrobe. It has become one of those pieces that I actually have to restrain myself from wearing too much – I wouldn’t want to be the “orange” jacket guy after all.