The London Lounge

This came up in another thread recently.

It's hard to find nice ones, and I have only two that I like. One is a black and white glen plaid in wool & silk (I think it's 50/50). The wool makes the finish nice and dry for summer, and the silk makes it slubby and informal. The other one is a miniature gun club check in all wool, about 8 ounces, with a yellow/gold ground and a tan, blue and bottle green check. It's much quieter than it sounds, though it's not quiet.

I just saw a nice book of similar checks, Carlo Barbera lambswool, 8 ounces. Same color palette. Checks with light yellow grounds, and lots of pale blue, green, tan and such. Again, it sounds garish, but it looks really sophisticated. Also better quality than my jacket, which is Zegna. Worth considering.

These Carlo B. checks do sound nice, Manton. Is the book of a named collection?

I wish I had paid more attention to the name of the book. All I remember is Carlo Barbera. It might have been CB for Lesser but I can't remember.

It's clearly an old book, with a lot of swatches pulled out (because the patterns ran out long ago, presumably). I had never come across it because I haven't been interested in a summer odd jacket in years. And, actually, I still am not -- I'm happy with the ones I have. But it was on the top of the pile, and because we had been talking about it here recently, I thumbed through it.

Like I said, the quality is definitely better than the cloth my coat is made from. The designs and colors are really nice, too. Though, on balance, I still prefer the pattern I got. It's exactly what I was looking for at the time, and -- 13 years later -- I still love it.

Its Carlo Barbera for Lesser

Your own odd jacket sounds handsome indeed, Manton. But this CB for Lesser (thanks, sj1) appeals to me, too. I'll try to look at it when I'm in town at the end of this week.