The London Lounge

I've almost decided to order a Solaro suit, but I'm not sure I can pull off the manifestly iridescent look. Besides, the Smith original is too heavy for my intended use (summer in Northern Europe, Spring/Autumn in the South). By googling around I found this cloth by Ariston:



It's 240g wool, super 130's if that makes a difference to anyone. It's a small herringbone, though one can't quite see it in the photo. I hope my tailor can source it, though he doesn't usually carry Ariston (is it a good mill/distributor, by the way? I've never heard of it). This is the finished effect:



I quite like the lighter colour as well as the more subtle iridescence. Question: is this too much of a cop-out? Does one need to go the old school Solaro way or abstain altogether? I'm quite persuadable either way. Cheers.

I would try to find a more traditional weight and a 2by2 weave. This cloth will wear out sooner than later and will pucker with hand stitches.

I quite like the lighter colour as well as the more subtle iridescence. Question: is this too much of a cop-out? Does one need to go the old school Solaro way or abstain altogether? I'm quite persuadable either way. Cheers.

One needs to go the old school Solaro way or abstain altogether.

You can find a high quality tan suit cloth worthy of a craftsman's considerable time and your considerable money. It seems a shame to trifle with both on insignificant fabrics. I know a lot of people disagree with me, but that has always been my line of thought on the subject; and why I felt compelled to start making my own cloth.

Good luck

Cheers

alden wrote:

I quite like the lighter colour as well as the more subtle iridescence. Question: is this too much of a cop-out? Does one need to go the old school Solaro way or abstain altogether? I'm quite persuadable either way. Cheers.

One needs to go the old school Solaro way or abstain altogether.

+ 1

alden wrote:

One needs to go the old school Solaro way or abstain altogether.

You can find a high quality tan suit cloth worthy of a craftsman's considerable time and your considerable money. It seems a shame to trifle with both on insignificant fabrics. I know a lot of people disagree with me, but that has always been my line of thought on the subject; and why I felt compelled to start making my own cloth.

Thank you. I suppose I needed to hear this. It's just that now I'm not sure what cloth to go for, since I don't think I've the panache for a real Solaro. The function of the suit would be similar to that of my (gorgeous) LL heavy tobacco linen, but I don't want another linen, and I don't want something from the Zegna Trofeo book, which is usually where I end up when I can't find what I want for suiting. I made trousers in a tan wool gabardine and I'm not happy with that material at all, plus my tailor says it doesn't make up well for coats. I'd love a matte shantung or even a hemp, but those are hard to find. Any other ideas? Any LL cloths I overlooked? Cheers.

RD

I have two tan suits in Cavalry Twill (SB and DB) and like them very much.

IMG_0499 by The London Lounge, on Flickr

The other option for Summer I favor is mohair. My tan mohair suit gets a lot of wear in the warm months.

Cheers

Cavalry twill for summer? It's the stuff of my heaviest winter trousers!

Mohair is an idea, though I'm wary of the shine. As usual it's all about finding the right token of a kind.

Thanks!

There are lighter weight cavalry twills about the same weight or less than Solaro cloth. Still neither of them are what I would call Summer fabrics.

We did a Piuma cloth in Tan a few years ago and that worked out very well. A Tan tropical worsted is another idea.

Cheers

Perhaps a tropical tan herringbone wool that looks similar to the new linen. You don't have to do olive/red like real Solaro, but the Smiths book has some nice patterns worth alluding to.