Falling for Autumn – Sportcoats and Blazers

Despite our average high temperature not getting below 80 degrees until October, I am looking forward to fall! (Yes, I know I missed posting menswear articles for the entire summer.  I am sorry.  Hopefully you got some good uses out of your seersucker).  We don’t talk about “trends” in menswear often here at Southern Ash. There is a reason for that – trends are often fashionable but not necessarily stylish.  It is far more important to dress well in a way you feel good about than worry about what the next fad is in the pipeline. That said, the wardrobe change to fall and winter isn’t so much a trend as a pragmatic shift.   Fit has remained, and I tend to agree that the revolution of fit was a sea change in menswear that we won’t see revert for at least another decade.  In addition to the desire to strip down the outfits to less complicated components, fall brings more serious and somber outfits.  The crisper air lends itself well to less frivolity than you see in the summer.  The darker colors used also fit with the color palette you will see in nature – earth tones, greens, oranges, and browns.

It is time to rotate the wardrobe and begin the change from spring/summer to fall/winter.  Now is a great time to also refresh your cedar storage if you don’t have an old school cedar chest.  Before you store your pieces, make sure to clean them either dry cleaning or a thorough steaming. I am going to focus on 2-3 pieces in different categories  showing you what I am putting into storage and what is either coming out of storage or being given a prominent role for the upcoming  season.

Today we will focus on sportcoats and blazers.

Out – Blue cotton unstructured, unlined light grey, and the cream.

The cream and pale grey are easy to see why they are getting a break and moving to the cedar infused storage area. Don’t get me wrong – I love an unstructured cotton blazer!  This particular model is the Target Kensington that I had tailored 8 ways from Sunday to fit me.  Honestly, I could wear this year-round but instead I will give it a break. As the weather gets crisper, however, I think every place I would wear this blazer will be replaced by the feathertweed sport coat.

In:

  • Feathertweed

This is my favorite early summer thrifting find.  It is a Brooks Brother’s Feather Tweed sport coat.  It is woven wool, like all tweed, with a nice pattern and subtle windowpane of both blue and tan.  Most importantly for fall, it is a thin tweed with no lining meaning that it will not be as toasty warm as the 16oz Harris tweed in the closet still until we get out of the 80s. This coat has more than enough character to carry most of an outfit in the fall.  Some neutral slacks and a solid shirt will make it exceptional.  The bonus points here will be the shirts that are blue to pull through a little bit of the same color.

  • Brown Blazer

This is pretty much the opposite of the feathertweed.  It is a solid brown wool blazer with small points of distinction.  It is the neutral for any outfit in which to pair it.  Instead of the plain shirts, I plan to use this one with more patterned shirts that, when paired with a suitable tie, will be the center of the outfit.  This can be a go-to piece to be slightly more dressy in a casual setting.  Combine with dark denim, a tattersall shirt with metal collar stays, and some slightly worn Doc Marten boots for a fall appropriate casual look.

  • Green/Brown Corduroy Blazer

The final piece I’ll highlight in my transition to fall for blazers and sport coats is a corduroy jacket.  It falls somewhere between blazer and sport coat just as its color seems to fall between green and brown depending on the angle.  Corduroy itself is more suited to colder weather and coupled with the texture from the wales means that this is a great evening or weekend fall piece.  If you’ve made it this far I won’t repeat the sort of ideas I posted in the two parts above.  We even talked about corduroy last year in our Sport Coat post complete with this very jacket in the pics.

What do you think?  Do you have any summer jackets about to go into the closet or fall pieces you are anticipating?