The London Lounge

As many of you will know, this DB overcoat worn by Windsor has long been a favorite of mine. So I handed a lovely piece of vintage 800 gms Moorbrook overcoating to my team down South and told them to get on with it…



This is the result. The coat relies on the cut and drape to give it its shape as there is nothing in the way of structure at all. The overcoat feels like a very nice sweater over the flannel suit.













Gotta run. I hope you enjoyed the coat.



Cheers

Michael

Beautifull coat Mr. Alden!
I have enjoyed of the pictures.

The look recalls Gary Cooper in the final scenes in "Love in the Afternoon."

Exquisite! Beautiful proportions. My only quirk is that I would like slighlty shorter sleeves for myself, but this is just a quirk. It looks supremely elegant without conveying any impression of being “dressed up” thanks to its unaffected simplicity in colour and cut. It is an organic part of the whole.

Gorgeous.

First of all the coat is stunning. Realizing you probably were leaning to interpreting instead of replicating the DoW, could you comment on your decision to forego the cuffed sleeves and the addition of front buttons? The DoW's stature has been discussed before but did this factor into your choice of proportions (lapel width). Maybe your thoughts would be helpful to others when using a photographic history. Well done!

JAS

My winter coat is a similar weight and style, cut by Dege. Apart from the internal structure, mine differs in that it has angled out pockets and Dege's usual flared skirt. I ordered it in the days when I simply relied on my tailor and paid no attention to the source of the cloth, but about a year or so ago, I was wearing it in the street and ran into the US Lesser rep who thought he identified it as Moorebrook (one of their lines).

Incidentally, the ebay cloth seller carries Moorebrook remnants from time to time and has some now. I just ordered one in 850 gms. The remaining lengths are probably too short for me, but there is at least one nice one.

Alden: your hat is especially nice and the shape suits you well.

Fantastic Alden.

Dear Mr. Alden:

Another great looking overcoat, it is timeless and elegant.

Also the tie caught my eye as well, very nice.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

I prefer the modern realization to the original inspiration for cut: shorter collar, six front buttons instead of four, no turn-up on the sleeve. And I like three buttons on the sleeve of an informal topcoat, instead of two or four.

Any chance to see how the back of this wonderful coat looks, Sir?

Stunning. Looks great.

Quite sharp! Enjoy it. I too was wondering about the cuffs. Comments Mr. Alden?

Cordovan

First of all the coat is stunning. Realizing you probably were leaning to interpreting instead of replicating the DoW, could you comment on your decision to forego the cuffed sleeves and the addition of front buttons? The DoW's stature has been discussed before but did this factor into your choice of proportions (lapel width). Maybe your thoughts would be helpful to others when using a photographic history. Well done!

The choice of cloth attracted me to the Duke’s DB more than anything else. It is supremely elegant and understated. I searched for quite some time to find a heavyweight barleycorn in a subtle gray before I stumbled upon the Moorbrook birdseye. So my DB was really an original work inspired by a simple piece of cloth.

I am not a terrible amount of fun at a fitting. My aim is to reduce a garment’s expression down to the absolute minimum. Cuffed sleeves, especially when made from a very heavy cloth, appear ungainly and awkward to my eye. I prefer cleanliness of line. But my own physical limitations have a part to play in the decision as well. Men who have long torsos and short legs and arms should be cautious in their use of cuffs of any kind.

Details and added on options are not the beauty of bespoke, they are the pitfalls of bespoke.

As regards the 6 x 2 DB, it is the signature choice, a timeless classic in every respect.



As regards lapel width it is a question of composition. In the Duke’s day, wider lapels were in vogue. And wider lapels can be very handsome and refined if they are composed properly. And there are a few secrets involved, of course. The secret is in the measure of the overlap. If the dimensions of the overlap are in harmony with the width of the lapel, the image can be elegant. See the pictures of the Duke, Gable and Fairbanks above as examples.

If the overlap is either too narrow or too wide, the wider lapel does not work. One mostly sees too narrow overlaps that tend to exaggerate the width of the lapels creating an overly pronounced V shape. Think of the relationship between the overlap and lapel in the way we do the trunk of a tree and its principal branches. Would we see a sapling with huge branches or an immense, centuries old trunk with thin stems instead of branches? No, the upper structure of the tree is in harmony with the trunk.

In the DB, if the overlap, button point and lapel height and width are in harmony, the eye reposes on the overall image and there is no movement ie we see the whole garment in an instant of time. This elicits a pleasing aesthetic effect. If, for example, the overlap is too narrow, the button point too low, and the lapel too wide, the eye races to the dominant lapel and loses the rest of the coat. The point is that if you create movement or distraction in your cut, it will be extroverted. It will cease to be “unseen.”

Of prime importance is understanding the amount of overlap your figure can bear as this will have an effect on the width of lapel you can wear as well. An example comes from Naples where we see DBs cut for short and stout men with massive overlaps and very wide lapels, the dreaded “fireplug” cut. Small and stocky men simply cannot wear deeply set overlaps, it makes them look wider than they already are. And the exaggerated wide lapels make them look shorter than they are…it’s the double’s double indemnity. Likewise, on a slender man who is over a foot taller than Windsor, wearing a narrow overlap and narrow lapels will have the effect of lengthening and slimming an already slim figure. This is not an advantageous use of a tailor’s time.

I would venture that the height of the peaks is also a relevant consideration. The DoW was short and thin and the spread and proportion which you nicely describe, together with proportionate extra height ,can also have an effect to broaden the chest of even a four-penny rabbit and also make him appear taller. Interestingly, you have pictures of both Fairbanks (Sr and Jr) and Gable. Both Fairbanks Jr and Gable, when these photos were taken, were (obviously not exclusively) Davies & Son customers - as, sometimes, was the DoW. However, for my money, the Gable coat knocks both of the Fairbanks' coats into a cocked hat.