The role of bespoke in a relaxed environment

[arch]

This recent post by Alden made me think that it might be quite interesting to start a topic on day-time wear if one does not need to visit an office or business environment and the role of bespoke clothing.

"I am doing a bit of closet clearing work these days and thought some of our members might like to know about it. Since I do not go to offices very often, there are some wonderfully sewn objects, cut from the very best cloth made, that might serve someone else..."

It is acceptable to be more relaxed these days, which in most circumstances is a good thing. Of course it is sensible to have a suit, even if it is only worn to special occasions, but what about the rest of the time, sitting at home, a quick trip for coffee, informal meetings and the like? Essentially, day to day living?

[Concordia]

Just go back to the minimal wardrobe for college or (for some), boarding school. Blazer, maybe a suit for interviews or if required at chapel, tweed jacket if you might need a tie in class or if that was your thing. Black tie at some colleges.

Now strip out the suit. Add shirts, trousers, and shoes that fit and you're good to go.

[hectorm]

Of course it is sensible to have a suit, even if it is only worn to special occasions, but what about the rest of the time, sitting at home, a quick trip for coffee, informal meetings and the like? Essentially, day to day living?

My projected active professional life horizon is short now and I don´t see myself wearing my worsted navy or charcoal pinstripes and alike when retired and on my way to the golf course or strolling museums.
Notwithstanding I do see myself still wearing suits on day to day living. Just other kind of suits.
And so in the last few years every time I had to replace one of the "old guard" I have moved from commissioning conservative board-room wear towards the more "exotic" and casual suits which I´ve always wanted (like a couple of tweed suits, a chalk stripe woolen flannel, and a DB dupioni). I have found new delights in these bespoke endeavors related to a more relaxed environment and I´m sure that anybody with sartorial interests would too.

[Luca]

My projected active professional life horizon is short now and I don´t see myself wearing my worsted navy or charcoal pinstripes and alike when retired and on my way to the golf course or strolling museums.
Notwithstanding I do see myself still wearing suits on day to day living. Just other kind of suits.
And so in the last few years every time I had to replace one of the "old guard" I have moved from commissioning conservative board-room wear towards the more "exotic" and casual suits which I´ve always wanted (like a couple of tweed suits, a chalk stripe woolen flannel, and a DB dupioni). I have found new delights in these bespoke endeavors related to a more relaxed environment and I´m sure that anybody with sartorial interests would too.

Oh, Hector, you made my day!

Let's hear it for non-dull suits. Let's hear it for suits one wears at the museum, the club, the restaurant...

[davidhuh]

Gentlemen,

funny times that we are discussing this...

Seems Concordia and Hector are on the same plate - at least, there is some good company to enjoy

Cheers, David

[rodes]

Gentleman,
I am with you and find this period of my life to be an aesthetic delight. I am 64, work in an office every day and plan to continue for another ten years or so. Still, I have more children and grandchildren to live for, time and money to cultivate than I did when I was 30. My wife and I try to fill our lives with worship, art, music and all things eternal. ( I'll add great food, not eternal but close.) That means church, museums, concerts and plays. These are ideal places for the modes of dress that you describe. We travel as much as work allows, especially in the winter months. The tweed jacket has become my favorite. I usually wear one with cords or heavy twill trousers, sweater vest and bow tie whenever the occasion will permit. Life is good.

[aston]

Dear Rodes

I'm with you, although I would substitute a knitted silk or cashmere tie for the bow, and add on a bit of delicious local food to the list.

Life is good.

[JCH]

For the first time in my life lately I'm thinking along the lines of Hectorm and others--about a retirement horizon from my current profession and not desiring the conventional suitable-for-business wear. I'm liking the idea that more of what I'll want for the future is along the lines of my Agnelli check and Alden Glen check coats and the thornproof suit (a favorite) etc. Maybe even more of the, bolder as it were, LL flannels. Of course I'll probably succumb to some of Michael's proposed Brisetta. Luckily, the cloth club, if not the checkbook, obliges.

[Kayak81]

I'm curious about those who wear, or soon will be wearing, non-business suits for their everyday activities. Do you live in a city, or the suburbs? I'm in an atypical situation of being 5-10 years from retirement, but also living in a suburban/semi-rural area, working from home, and caring for a 5 year old daughter in the early morning and late afternoon.

Wearing a casual suit or sport coat feels completely appropriate and natural when visiting New York or London, but doesn't seem quite right when spending most of the day at home, and occasionally venturing out to environments where everyone is wearing blue jeans or sweats.

[andy57]

Gentleman,
We travel as much as work allows, especially in the winter months. The tweed jacket has become my favorite. I usually wear one with cords or heavy twill trousers, sweater vest and bow tie whenever the occasion will permit. Life is good.

I have always liked a tweed jacket, and now that I have treated myself to a bespoke tweed or two, I find I dress in much the way you describe, for the sheer pleasure of doing so.

I'm curious about those who wear, or soon will be wearing, non-business suits for their everyday activities. Do you live in a city, or the suburbs? I'm in an atypical situation of being 5-10 years from retirement, but also living in a suburban/semi-rural area, working from home, and caring for a 5 year old daughter in the early morning and late afternoon.

Wearing a casual suit or sport coat feels completely appropriate and natural when visiting New York or London, but doesn't seem quite right when spending most of the day at home, and occasionally venturing out to environments where everyone is wearing blue jeans or sweats.

I live in San Jose, in the middle of Silicon Valley. I skipped the entire "business suit" part of many people's career arc (save for a very brief spell in the late Eighties). My career has been in software development, almost always for one computer manufacturer or another. Accordingly, I have spent most of my professional life in a t-shirt or polo shirt and jeans. It is only lately that I have taken to wearing tailored clothing to work and elsewhere in my life. I'm lucky in that my employer has no dress code, so I can dress any way I please, although most take that to mean dressing down, not up. But I don't mind and neither do my colleagues. Dressing in this way bleeds over into our social life. If my wife and I go out in the evening, these days we dress "up", because we want to. It bothers us not at all if we are dressed more formally than everyone around us. We dress for ourselves and each other and that's it. We have reached a point in our lives where it is time to be ourselves. If we find ourselves in a place where everyone else is in jeans, so be it.

[Melcombe]

I'm curious about those who wear, or soon will be wearing, non-business suits for their everyday activities. Do you live in a city, or the suburbs? I'm in an atypical situation of being 5-10 years from retirement, but also living in a suburban/semi-rural area, working from home, and caring for a 5 year old daughter in the early morning and late afternoon.

Wearing a casual suit or sport coat feels completely appropriate and natural when visiting New York or London, but doesn't seem quite right when spending most of the day at home, and occasionally venturing out to environments where everyone is wearing blue jeans or sweats.

A very pertinent question. I think that the relative formality of clothing from casual to very formal sits in a noticeably different context today than even 10 years ago and continues to change at a fast pace.

Part of the reason for this is that work and home life seem to blend more than they ever did - and even the idea of retiring completely, itself seems a bit old fashioned.

If I'm working at home and have no meetings planned, I am normally in something very informal. Pitching the correct point on the scale of 'dressing up' starts when I'm meeting someone for work purposes or there is a specific trip 'out' planned for the day (by Mrs M usually) that might involve eating in a restaurant or similar public 'performance'. At the moment that necessitates a jacket at least, but rarely a tie. It's then quite difficult to figure whether such sequences occur in a relaxed environment or not.

The fun starts when a whole day of work involves visiting other peoples' workplaces or public buildings. My particular pleasure is wearing a suit that sings its bespoken origin while many around are wearing very expensive off the peg suits, usually without a tie (an execrable habit among younger colleagues in my line of work). This is a feature of the changing work environment I mention, since the tie-less would claim that what they have on is suitable for a "semi-relaxed environment" albeit a mainly work one, and away from home.

Looked at in another way, the trend is for relaxed environments to have become less relaxing. Email never leaves us alone unless one has the willpower to turn it off but thereby risk missing the domestic shopping list sent my the other half from her desk because she's working late.

In my view a fundamental (but often unmentioned) aspect of bespoke is its comfort. I will happily wear one of my tweed suits where others might be looking like flood victims in their charity shop bargains - not to make a sartorial statement but simply because the suits are supremely comfortable.

When retirement beckons, if Im still here, one matter I am hopeful for is a static waistline. I have always been in the habit of ordering 2 pairs of trousers with my suits with the result that I have an awful lot of life left in a fair collection of trousers. Just as well, since old geezers look funny in jeans (Mr Jagger take note)...

[hectorm]

I'm curious about those who wear, or soon will be wearing, non-business suits for their everyday activities. Do you live in a city, or the suburbs?

We live exactly half-way between the White House and the Georgetown University campus. Not precisely what you would call downtown DC but definitely a complete urban setting. Mostly residential save for a couple of commercial streets where the tourists and college students roam. Fortunately, non-business suits and tweed sports jackets are still at home here.
I understand that, in your case, living in a semi-rural area plus working from home opens fewer opportunities to wearing casual suits or tweed jackets, but still many more than it gives to business wear.
I believe that although we cannot extract ourselves from the environment in which we live, most of the time, limitations and opportunities are all in our minds.

[arch]

We live in a London suburb, that has its vibrant own centre, with small independent shops and cafes. I work from home. On a day to day basis my work involves meetings with clients in their homes. Day to day basis dress consists of a jacket and a shirt with a pair of casual trousers or smart jeans.There is little requirement for suits.The biggest sticking point in wearing a suit, and I have several tweed ones as well as a couple of more formal pieces, is a tie. It is simply inappropriate. I am not keen on the open shirt look with a suit unless the shirt collars are very well supported. Any thoughts?

[J.S. Groot]

Currently spending most of my time in academia, I wear roll necks and knitted polos (usually from cashmere) with suits and sport jackets very often during fall and winter and find it to be an excellent solutions for those days when shirt and tie is somehow unbearable. In terms of sticking out, where I come from it's game over as soon as one puts on a suit or even a jacket (one that fits, anyway), so for me it is really more a question of comfort than one of appropriate level of formality. However, thinking about it, I don't own any hard finished worsted suits or have any in the pipeline. It's flannels and frescos (and tweeds, but that ruins the alliteration) all the way down.

[challer]

I'm curious about those who wear, or soon will be wearing, non-business suits for their everyday activities. Do you live in a city, or the suburbs?

We live exactly half-way between the White House and the Georgetown University campus. Not precisely what you would call downtown DC but definitely a complete urban setting. Mostly residential save for a couple of commercial streets where the tourists and college students roam. Fortunately, non-business suits and tweed sports jackets are still at home here.
I understand that, in your case, living in a semi-rural area plus working from home opens fewer opportunities to wearing casual suits or tweed jackets, but still many more than it gives to business wear.
I believe that although we cannot extract ourselves from the environment in which we live, most of the time, limitations and opportunities are all in our minds.

I think that puts you in Rock Creek Park... In Alexandria the environment is the same. A sport coat or blazer is about as far as one can go before game over - I'm fortunate if most of my clients tuck in their shirts - this would include many CEOs of Fortune 100 companies. The typical uniform of my clients has become jeans, collared shirt and quarter zip sweater. Having just returned from a two week trip to Paris, Dublin, Berlin and Copenhagen, it would seem this a global trend.