Blue Donegal tweed DB sportscoat?

[Costi]

Greger, I think we should first note that few if any men practice sports wearing a coat these days, so the "sports" jacket has lost most of its practical purpose and is worn differently today. But I also think there is a good dose of truth to what you are saying, namely the fact that many young men shun the tailored coat for casual wear as they consider it in some way "formal" just because it is a coat. Apart from the choice of cloth and fancy backs - which are the domain of sports jackets - how do you think a sports jacket should be made differently from a suit coat in terms of cut, styling etc.?

[Greger]

You ask some good questions. And I don't remember the few details I knew, and certainly had more to learn. About ten years ago I asked about it and somebody gave me a near word for word what I was told about 35-40 years earlier. Unfortunately, I forgot and didn't print it. Basically it is a small paragraph that separates the business suit and sports coat and blazer from each other. Within each category there are many other details one can do. Blazers were in the past a much more relaxed coat, but, some people, by at least the 40s, wanted a much more detailed coat that resemble a suit coat. You could also dance in them. It is as you say that coats change over time as peoples wants change or lost knowledge so new reasons get developed. A few years ago an old lady complained that the Mayor was showing up to town meetings without the proper clothes. A sports coat or blazer would have been better than a sweater, but wouldn't be right either, since the old rules was a suit. Times do change; my mom said that a SB peaked lapel was all wrong, about 1960, but her brother had one about twenty years earlier, which I think he made. Perhaps that was a blazer, so ok? I should send him a picture of it and ask. Even tailors have to, sometimes, be nimble to keep up with the times of the customers. And then there are generational clothes. Mom never wanted dad to wear braces. To old fashion (her father wore them). Nothing is really written in stone.