Seersucker Jacket
Posted on Saturday, May 21st, 2011 at 12:23 pmSeersucker Jacket
If you want to get ahead, get a flat cap
To the residents of the Yorkshire village of Holmfirth, it must all seem very strange. In August, the BBC aired the final ever episode of Last Of The Summer Wine after 37 years on screen. The comedy had been filmed in the village since 1973 and has made Holmfirth recognisable around the world, along with a reliable uniform of tweed jackets and flat caps. With the programme gone, it was as if modern life had finally encroached. Yet Marks and Spencer yesterday announced they’ve seen an annual rise of 989% in the sale of flat caps. That’s 989%. It’s a startling figure, as if menswear has gone all Compo and Clegg in defiant protest. Luckily, this is not the case.
Indeed it would be easy to reach for some obvious celebrity examples to explain this odd trend – David Beckham, say, or Guy Ritchie – except none of these celebrities are particularly new in their fondness for the flat cap. Ritchie has been wearing them since he made Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels in 1998. Beckham has long had them as part of his wardrobe, and has recently been moving towards a more formal appearance in the clothing of Tom Ford. To claim them as the reason for this sudden increase in sales would be as nostalgic as the flat cap itself.
The posh have always done the flat cap (step forward Prince Charles) and so have the nation’s workers (cue Unite’s Charlie Whelan). But it is by observing the lunchtime crowd in the centre of London that you get to see what’s really happening. Positioned outside a coffee shop favoured by the media and advertising industries, I spotted five young men in quick succession all in flat caps. They were wearing the cap as if it were a modern invention: one bearded man wore his flat cap with a cropped black trench and skinny chinos, another wore his with a grey cropped suit jacket and jeans. Twice I saw men wearing them with a chunky cardigan that was acting as their outer layer, one adding a chunky long white scarf. Another had his with a plaid baseball jacket with cream leather sleeves. All of these were examples of personal style rather than anyone particularly aping the look of a celebrity. There’s clearly something else going on here.
Fashion loves reappropriation and reinvention, taking some past garment and making it work in a modern context. The bow-tie stopped being a novelty item for men years ago, thanks to Lanvin. Burberry Scarf began its turnaround by making the trench not only relevant, but a core garment for all. Barbour is doing much the same thing by cutting its wax jackets in slightly more fitted shapes. And the cult British menswear brand Albam has recently reinvented the fisherman’s jacket to become its signature piece. All of these garments work because they are sold as authentic contemporary pieces, rather than as some male attire form of fancy dress.Alongside these garments, the flat-cap suddenly makes 21st century sense. Put simply, it works. The cut is close enough to the head to minimise unnecessary decoration, its hold is snug so that it stays in place and, when rendered in tweed, it complements the male complexion. This is even more the case when you add in the modern male predilection for stubble or an unkempt beard, the mottled weave of the tweed matching the fuzz of facial hair very nicely.There are, of course, other social explanations. Shifts in working patterns have helped this new wardrobe to flourish. Hedge funds and tech industries have allowed high-earning men to ditch their suits and wear whatever they want. With casualwear being no longer confined to just the weekend, more care and attention is being paid on the pieces that make up the smart informal wardrobe.The financial crisis, too, has played its part, with flashy tailoring being replaced by clothing that is less ostentatious and more humble. If you’re out of work or down on your luck, you won’t feel like wearing a suit. Make like the cast of Summer Wine, also now out on their ear. Put on a flat cap. Lean on a wall. Reflect a while, and the trouble will soon pass.Where to get your flat cap1) Seersucker flat cap, £35, New York Hat Company, at Liberty; 020 7573 9645His slick three-piece suit may have signalled “minted”, but the clue was there that Robert Redford’s Gatsby wasn’t so great: he topped it off with the humble flat cap, albeit in pristine white. This seersucker style captures his preppy spirit.2) Scottish tweed flat cap, £45, Cordings; 020 7734 0830 For the discerning gent, it’s got to be classic tweed. To wit, see the oft-flat-capped Prince of Wales looking dapper on his country jaunts. 3) Wool flat cap, £39, Paul Smith; my-wardrobe.com
If “never brown (checks) in town” is your maxim for the flat cap, consider Paul Smith’s navy and green graphics. Sure to appease the more flamboyant urbanite. 4) Wool-mix herringbone flat cap, £30, Ted Baker; 0845 130 4278
Two traditional prints (herringbone and tartan) married in one hip hat, courtesy of a more streamlined shape. Modern day flat-cap heroes Brad Pitt and David Beckham would approve. 5) Wool flat cap, £22, kangolstore.com
Don’t do patterns? This suave slate version is the hat equivalent of the fail-safe tux, aka you can’t go wrong in it
About the Author
The Seersucker Suit by Henry Herbert Tailors
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