The London Lounge

To casually* don a suit and/or tie at the weekend, these days, is atypical and invites curiosity from acquaintances (hopefully, our friends should know us better) even in genteel London. Nonetheless, I suppose the sartorially splendid set represented here at LL is probably inclined to flout today’s lowest-common-denominator norm and set forth magnficently clad even on a Saturday.

The added advantage, of course, is that, this being the weekend, any constrictions one might face (or imagine) in their weekday wear can be cast aside.

Do you have one or more suits that you tend to wear in your free time, specifically at weekends?

* By “casually” I mean aside from occasions where the dress code calls or a suit.

Luca wrote:
Do you have one or more suits that you tend to wear in your free time, specifically at weekends?

Dear Luca,

In summer: linen and light colour cotton plus Brisa light grey chalkstripe and PoW. Then I also have two Rangoon suits in ivory.
In winter: most flannel suits and tweed suits and my corduroy.

In summary: everything what doesn't look like a business suit works for me on weekends.

Cheers, David

My week is made of 7 Saturdays, which in the past used to lead to excessive indulgence and some mistakes Things got better when I realised that I actually have a boss, and that boss is myself.

The occasional bow-tie if it's summer, the occasional fedora if it's fall/winter (...looking forward to being old enough to wear them comfortably and authoritatively every day). Tan, cream or spectator shoes, again in summer... The truth is that I can't tell the difference between the days of the week - I like them all equally and I make sure that each of them has something enjoyable

Don't wait until Saturday:

Seneca (epistle I) wrote:For, as our ancestors believed, it is too late to spare when you reach the dregs of the cask. Of that which remains at the bottom, the amount is slight, and the quality is vile.

Frederic Leighton wrote:My week is made of 7 Saturdays... Don't wait until Saturday:

I see your point. However, working in a bank, even a borderline exhibitionist like myself avoids spectators, for instance.


Mostly, though, I have a couple of flannel suits the trousers of which I just cannot tolerate in an environment where 25C temperatures are not uncommon.

It is a sad state of affairs, but provincially in the UK at least, wearing a suit on Saturday means that you are either a wedding guest, working in some job that does not give you weekends off, or just mildly eccentric. (I'm still trying to tone down my own eccentricity to the level of 'mild'...)

By contrast, wearing any kind of a suit in London on a Saturday can be an excellent plan, I have discovered - largely because, I suspect, you are assumed by others not to be a tourist.

Wear something other than a business suit and you are suddenly an object of fascination : the pavement clears before your stridings, shop assistants ignore others to inquire of your wellbeing and possible inclination to buy and (the acid test) restaurant tables (not being next to the loos / kitchen doors) in W1, WC1 and SW1 suddenly become available. Remarkable.

I did notice something similar albeit to a lesser degree during the week in Town when I took to wearing a white linen pocket square with my suits, but in the last 2 years the Don Draper effect seems to have prompted a rash of pocket-squarism that has dulled the effect. Chiz.

Regards,

David.

Melcombe wrote:It is a sad state of affairs, but provincially in the UK at least, wearing a suit on Saturday means that you are either a wedding guest, working in some job that does not give you weekends off, or just mildly eccentric. (I'm still trying to tone down my own eccentricity to the level of 'mild'...)

I've never really found that, frankly the majority of people out & about on a Saturday aren't going to give anyone's dress much of a thought anyway.

That aside - please don't tone down any eccentricity - we need interesting people.

Regards
Ruusell

Melcombe wrote:[...] but in the last 2 years the Don Draper effect seems to have prompted a rash of pocket-squarism that has dulled the effect.

Dear David, thank you for this very enjoyable and well-fitting description! No-socks has been the new pocket-square this summer in London, if that makes any sense I don't remember seeing such a big number of well-dressed gentlemen going sock-less in past years. I always enjoy seeing people who take pleasure in expressing themselves through what they wear (or don't wear). At the same time, I'm familiar with the son-of-the-sheik effect you describe and tend to consider it a waste product of society - a totally ungrounded association between appearance and wealth (and, on top of that, the assumption of material wealth as an indicator of happiness).

Russell wrote:[...] please don't tone down any eccentricity - we need interesting people.

The best line I've ever read in the LL.

I did a video a few years ago about "Weekend Suits" and non business suit fabrics. Like Melcombe, I find non business suit suits to have all the potent side effects he described (every day of the week) and would only add approving nods and twinkles from the fair sex to his list.

And it so happens that the other day in Manhatten I saw a woman (must have been Italian or French) dressed in the most tantalizing and feminine couture. She radiated from among the mass of standard unisex slovens. I suspect that men who master the art of masculine style, surrounded by the mass of track suiters, must have the same effect on ladies. At least, that is my experience. So wear suits guys!

Cheers

Is the video still around, Mr Alden? Could you please include a link?

My friends and I, all mid- to late-twenties and in professions for which a suit during the week is de rigeur, tend to vary it at the weekend somewhere along these lines (bearing in mind a typical Saturday sees us meet for brunch near Green Park, then go on to a club for afternoon drinks before dinner chez one or other of us):

Navy blazer, DB, or muted tweed coat
Brightly coloured chinos
Blue/butcher striped/colourful shirt - NEVER white
School, club, OTC or other tie
Silk pocket square, florals being a favourite
Contrasting socks
Tan brogues in summer, darker brown in winter

This tends to have the same effect as noted by Alden et al., perfectly acceptable for decent restaurants, attractive to the fairer sex, setting one apart from hoi polloi, without being quite too close for decency to the weekday suit. It is, I suppose, a fairly standard English (or more specifically, London) uniform for the weekend; yet it combines the formal and the flamboyant in a way one could not hope to pass off during the week. Possible exception: tweed suit on a Friday if going down to the country, though this is dying out in favour of changing at the end of the working day. A pity, I feel it keenly, but sic transit.

I'd be most interested to know how this ensemble would go down in, say, Manhattan or on the Rue Faubourg. Anyone care to elucidate?

Yrs &c.

I'd be most interested to know how this ensemble would go down in, say, Manhattan or on the Rue Faubourg. Anyone care to elucidate?

Would been seen in a similar light on the Faubourg as in London.

I think it is safe to say that most Europeans would find the standard of dress in America incomprehensible. Anything other than track suits is frowned upon. Even in Manhattan, anything we would describe as "clothing" (much less tailored clothing) is rarely seen except in the confines of Wall St. or a few places midtown. It is the equivalent of a Sartorial Hiroshima here. I dress as I normally do and accept the stares of disbelief and shock. "You dress like people from another country!" is characteristic comment from the Utes of NY. A few senior citizens will wink and smile however.

Cheers

alden wrote: Even in Manhattan, anything we would describe as "clothing" (much less tailored clothing) is rarely seen except in the confines of Wall St. or a few places midtown.

Very true. Based on what you exactly see walking down the streets.
But my day to day experience is also that once you step off the sidewalks and into law firms, boardrooms, high-end restaurants, hotels and shops, clubs, diplomatic delegations, fundraisers, the halls at Lincoln Center, even a few museums and galleries, the sartorial level goes up significantly. It goes up both in men´s and women´s dress. The streets are a jungle full of loincloths, but there still is another more debonair NY in which Busonian´s proposed ensemble would feel at home.

Agreed.

I really enjoy classical music and often find myself going to a weekend concert, almost always of amateur musicians. Suits are not the norm for attendees, but I always wear one. The musicians have volunteered many free hours and seem to appreciate a well dressed guest. Moreover, they usually wear evening clothes so a suit is not out of place, even if rare. For an evening occasion I like the blue of grey flannel, always DB. For the afternoon a POW check or lighter color DB would be my choice. For a dinner at a friend's house I usually wear a blazer with a beau tie. Every hostess that I have known seems to love this.