Crackpots #56: A Few Of My Favorite Things (Part 3) (Patreon)

Hi everyone, Yung Chomsky here. I hope all of you who celebrate had a nice Thanksgiving. I’m currently en route back to New York from The Netherlands, where I spent the holiday with my friend John Vanderslice and his lovely wife and collaborator Maria. If you’re not familiar with John and his work, you should listen to TrueAnon Presents: Keep The Dream Alive with John Vanderslice.

Since the cold season is here once again, I’m bringing you another entry in this occasional series. You can read the previous entries here and here. This is a chance for me to do a little show-and-tell about some of my favorite articles of clothing, and talk about how I approach getting dressed.

Unstructured Corduroy Suit

Drake’s, an English brand with brick-and-mortar locations in NYC, London, and South Korea, calls this ready-to-wear model the “games suit,” and they offer it in several variations. A few things distinguish these from traditional suits and make them a bit more like workwear than tailoring. Most significantly, the jacket features no internal structure. Whereas a typical suit jacket has some amount of padding in the shoulders, plus an interlining in the chest made from canvas and horsehair to give the garment shape, this jacket has none. It also lacks a rear vent (suit jackets typically have either a single or double vent) and sleeve buttons. The lack of structure makes it unfussy and great for travel — I wore it on both plane rides for this trip. As a broad generalization, a sleeker, less busy garment will be more formal; one with more details, whether in texture, pattern, or construction, will be more casual. The bold details here — flapped patch hip pockets, patch breast pocket, edge stitching, belt loops plus side adjusters on the trousers — as well as the fabric place it even further into casual territory. The casual nature means it can also easily be broken up; I've worn the trousers and jacket separately on many occasions, whereas this wouldn't tend to look right with a traditional suit. I also really like the shade of green; reminiscent of army fatigues, and just vibrant enough to stand out a bit and not be mistaken for brown. This is one of the things I’ve always enjoyed about Drake’s: they have a knack for taking classic garments and silhouettes from tailoring, workwear, and militaria, and making them a little more playful. I also really love their approach to editorials and lookbooks, which can be a great source of inspiration even if you never buy anything from them.

Now I’d be remiss if I didn’t make a brief digression here about price. Drake’s prices can be eye-watering. The majority of Drake's items I've acquired have been purchased second-hand (saved eBay searches are a godsend) or bought on sale, but I actually bought this suit at retail a couple of years back. The fast-cheap-good triangle, which I referred to a year ago, is relevant here. That said, I think it's totally understandable to look at something from a brand like Drake's and ask: could this item really be worth that price? There are certainly some objective markers of quality, like the type of fabric or construction methods used to make a garment. And then there are other factors that affect prices without directly impacting the garment, e.g. how much the company spends on advertising and staff. But I would argue that getting too wrapped up in the idea of quality-per-dollar metrics can be a faulty mindset, redolent of the Gear Guy. One type of Gear Guy always wants the most expensive thing because he assumes it's the best; another type of Gear Guy scoffs at the expensive thing because he thinks that price is only justified by "specs;" that something which costs twice as much is only worthwhile if it's objectively twice as good.

But the truth is that when we're talking about style, a lot of what we're paying for is design, which is not so easily quantified. For me, it comes down to knowing what I'm looking for. I'm more than a decade into my journey of caring about style, and while I would never claim that my tastes are objectively correct, I have a pretty clear sense of what kind of aesthetics I enjoy and how I want things to fit. And of course I honed this sense over time by trying a lot of things, some of which worked and others which did not.

Now, there may be other brands that offer unstructured corduroy suits at much lower prices — although a quick browse through the current offerings of J. Crew, Todd Snyder, and Alex Mill doesn't turn up anything that looks too close. But even when two makers are drawing on the same source material for inspiration, they will often differ in fit and details. When I went into the Drake's store and handled this one in person and tried it on and saw the way it fit, I knew it was worthwhile for me. The saying "buy nice or buy twice" comes to mind — not necessarily because the cheaper one is going to fall apart sooner, but because settling for cheaper versions can leave you with a closet full of stuff you don't really love. Sometimes there will be a cheaper version of something that ticks all the same boxes for you, but not always. It's best to take it slow, try on in person whenever possible, and be selective about what you buy new.

Tartan Dinner "Suit"

This is a fun one. The trousers are vintage Polo Ralph Lauren, and I found them on eBay last year. I found the jacket a month ago at Alfargo's marketplace, a monthly menswear bazaar in New York. The satin shawl lapels and single covered button distinguish it as a dinner jacket. It was made by Jess Butz, a menswear shop that at one time operated on the University of Pennsylvania campus. A quick search turns up a couple of other Jess Butz garments, as well as a 2002 mention of the shop by a 1951 Penn alum:

Jess Butz, Haberdasher, always held slim brim hats for sale along with the preppiest ties, shirts, three-button suits, and shoes. His wife, Jessie, did all the sewing with a cigarette dangling from her mouth. A large ash was always waiting to fall.

It would seem likely that at some point seventy-plus years ago, a young man brought some fabric into the Jess Butz shop and specially commissioned this jacket. Whereas plaid is a generic term, tartans come from specific clans in Scotland, and are catalogued in an official government registry. This fabric features the Stewart Hunting tartan. If you look closely, though, you'll notice that while the jacket's tartan matches the image in the official registry, the pattern on the trousers is slightly different; the checks are smaller in scale, and the red and green overchecks are doubled. I imagine that the Ralph Lauren designers simply took some creative license with the pattern.

In traditional thinking, this would present a problem for wearing the jacket and trousers together. A suit, in its broadest definition, is a jacket and pants made from the same fabric. Wearing a jacket with pants made from similar-but-not-matching fabrics is a common faux pas. I consider this a good example of "know the rules before you can break them," though. A dinner jacket is the top half of a tuxedo — it's formal wear for an evening event. (Ok, if we're being super traditional and pedantic, it's semiformal — true "formal" is white tie, i.e. tails, but that is very rarely worn these days, especially in the USA.) As mentioned above, more formal clothing is typically sleeker, with fewer details, patterns, and textures, so a tartan dinner jacket is already funky on its own. This would stand out awkwardly at a very conservative, traditional black-tie event, but I have very few of those in my life. Given the playful nature of the jacket, I think the not-quite-matching trousers are actually perfect. This is a great piece for the holiday season, and a perfect outfit for an event with a "creative black tie" dress code.

Tweed Polo Coat

This is a polo coat made by Polo Ralph Lauren. I got it from a Ralph obsessive guy who I follow on Instagram. I’m not sure exactly when it was made, but it’s fairly recent. Polo coats were originally worn by British polo players in the earlier 20th century, and soon caught on with American college students. The most classic polo coats are made in camelhair, but you can find them in a variety of other fabrics, like this black and white herringbone tweed. Last year I wrote about another favorite overcoat of mine, also in herringbone tweed. That one is a balmacaan, which has raglan sleeves. You can see that despite the similar materials and overall function, this one has a very different silhouette. PRL's polo coat is a classic for good reason; I love the strong shoulders and dramatic lapels. The flapped breast pocket is another great detail. Like the other coat, this one hits below the knee, as I think any good overcoat should. Say no to short overcoats!

Tweed Sport Jacket

This is a tweed sport coat made by Gant, made in the USA. I got it from a guy I know on Instagram for very cheap. I have four different brown tweed jackets in my closet right now; I sometimes think about getting rid of one or two, but I can never decide which to keep, as they all differ slightly in the details. This one is the most rugged of the bunch, featuring leather football buttons and suede elbow patches. Garments like this are where the term "sport jacket" comes from, as they were originally worn in the countryside for fox hunts and such. A jacket like this can be paired with anything from jeans, to 5-pocket corduroy pants, to flannel trousers. It’s warm and looks a little sophisticated without being too stuffy.

Western Down Vest

This is a vintage vest made by Woolrich. I got it from Mask Santa Fe, a great vintage curator with a knack for southwestern styles. I think this is a nice classic alternative to the ugly padded vest worn like a uniform by finance bros and techies alike. I’ll generally wear it in a straightforward western / Americana way, although I’ve seen people incorporate pieces like this with tailoring in a fun way, too.

Shawl Cardigan

This is a shawl collar cardigan from Scott and Charters in 100% lambswool. I got it secondhand from a guy on Styleforum who had purchased it from No Man Walks Alone, a multi-brand boutique based in NYC which carries a lot of great brands. I’ve had it for 6 or 7 years and it’s one of the coziest things I own. I don’t have a lot of photos of me wearing it because I tend to wear it around the house rather than outside, although it’s perfectly wearable as an outer layer in the autumn. I love the burnt orange color and the hefty shawl lapel. I wore a hole through one of the elbows, so I had my dry cleaner add fabric patches on both sides; I think it adds some nice character.

That's all for now! Happy dressing. Until next time,

YC