# pinstripe pants and a blazer?



## nbnguy98 (Mar 4, 2009)

I'm still new to this forum. I read that the general consenus is that pinstripes are usually reserved for business suits, however, I've noticed that stores in malls are starting to sell pinstripe trousers. Is this a faux pas in style? And if you do wear one of these pinstripe pants, does it mean you can't wear it w/ a blazer, sportcoat as it'll look like you have a suit pants on?


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## dfloyd (May 7, 2006)

*The pin stripe trouser worn with a blazer look nothing like suit pants*

I have seen grey, beige, and blue pin stripes in cotton, silk, linen, and blends of all three. The grey and beige would be appropriate for wear with a navy blazer. The blue with a grey or beige jacket. My favorite pin stripe for wear in early spring or fall is a white flannel with blue pin stripes. They are really summer trousers, but you would have to live in a northern clime to wear them in the summer. They are BB Country Club for wear with a navy blazer.


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## Matt S (Jun 15, 2006)

I don't believe in wearing pinstripes outside of a business suit, but that seems to have been forgotten. People now don't hesitate to wear pinstripe suits to weddings. I've seen odd pinstripe trousers and sports coats, but it's very fashion forward. If you want an alternative to plain trousers, try a black and white glen plaid. Those work very well with a navy blazer. Try to look at the origins of the clothes we wear and whether they came from sporting wear or military uniforms. Our business suits came from both places, but pinstripes are one of the few things that originated in business wear. I think they need to stay there.


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## tinytim (Jun 13, 2008)

Matt S said:


> I don't believe in wearing pinstripes outside of a business suit, but that seems to have been forgotten. People now don't hesitate to wear pinstripe suits to weddings. I've seen odd pinstripe trousers and sports coats, but it's very fashion forward. If you want an alternative to plain trousers, try a black and white glen plaid. Those work very well with a navy blazer. Try to look at the origins of the clothes we wear and whether they came from sporting wear or military uniforms. Our business suits came from both places, but pinstripes are one of the few things that originated in business wear. I think they need to stay there.


I agree but I'm 51. Pinstripe pants are everywhere if you're a young guy. To me they look like an orphaned pair of suit pants.


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## Alan (Jun 30, 2005)

No, no, no & no. Buisness suit only..........


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## Preu Pummel (Feb 5, 2008)

I wear black pinstripe pants all the time... when I mow the lawn.

The only way I wear pinstripes separately is when the suits/pants wear out and the clothes become work items. It makes you a well dressed mechanic/landscaper/handyman.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

If I'm not mistaken, the origin of the lounge suit did not progress in a straight line, and the term, _a suit of clothes_ originally did not necessarily equate to a jacket and trousers of the same fabric. When that finally did become most common, the odd jacket (Our sports coat.) and the complimentary, but non-matching trousers were born from parts of different suits worn together, often after one was orphaned. 

As such, striped trousers have been worn with solid color jackets, periodically, ever since the evolution of the lounge suit, and even before that when the frock coat was the custom. And I have no problem with it, as long as the trousers and jacket compliment each other, and don't encroach too closely upon the realms of formal day dress or business wear. 

There seems to be a tendency to label any stripe as a pinstripe, even when it's not. Most of the odd trousers I've seen are pencil stripes and in colors and fabrics such as those described by dfloyd, and could hardly ever be confused with the trousers from a banker's suit. I don't happen to have any striped casual trousers, but I don't know that I find anything the matter with them, the above caveats pertaining.


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

I would stop short of claiming there's a rule, but I would not wear striped pants with a blazer myself.


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## ToryBoy (Oct 13, 2008)

I have two striped trousers (pin and chalk), although do not wear them with a sportscoat often, I have done in the past and will continue too; normally wear them with a coat or with just a sweater.

Obviously wearing navy pinstripes with a navy sportscoat may look like orphan suit trousers, but with a navy blazer they would not; well in my opinion anyway.


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## ChicagoMediaMan-27 (Feb 23, 2008)

ToryBoy said:


> Obviously wearing navy pinstripes with a navy sportscoat may look like orphan suit trousers, but with a navy blazer they would not; well in my opinion anyway.


Hmm, navy pinstripe pants with a navy blazer? Did I read that right?


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## ToryBoy (Oct 13, 2008)

ChicagoMediaMan-27 said:


> Hmm, navy pinstripe pants with a navy blazer? Did I read that right?


RL have paired a navy blazer with navy trousers (different shade) before and done it well; by using striped trousers (different shade to the blazer), you are clearly not trying to make it look like a suit. Add a light plain sweater, striped shirt (white shirt, dark stripe) and a light pocket pocket square.


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## David Reeves (Dec 19, 2008)

oooh! A very tricky look. Noel Coward did it well......


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## ChicagoMediaMan-27 (Feb 23, 2008)

ToryBoy said:


> RL have paired a navy blazer with navy trousers (different shade) before and done it well; by using striped trousers (different shade to the blazer), you are clearly not trying to make it look like a suit. Add a light plain sweater, striped shirt (white shirt, dark stripe) and a light pocket pocket square.


Fair enough. Does sound very tricky, but would love to see it.


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## archduke (Nov 21, 2003)

I cannot believe that you guys have not heard that black coat, striped trousers and white shirt with starched collars, waistcoat, regimental or old school tie or a silver tie is a uniform which is very old. Have a look at Ronald Coleman wearig one in Flusser's Dressing the Man; read Funeral in Berlin to know that it is the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office uniform. It is far from the latest fad for the young man.

Wearing navy coat, or blazer is pretty adjacent to the black coat. So what is the problem?

Wearing a jacket of one colour and trousers of another predates the lounge suit by a long way.


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## Matt S (Jun 15, 2006)

archduke said:


> I cannot believe that you guys have not heard that black coat, striped trousers and white shirt with starched collars, waistcoat, regimental or old school tie or a silver tie is a uniform which is very old. Have a look at Ronald Coleman wearig one in Flusser's Dressing the Man; read Funeral in Berlin to know that it is the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office uniform. It is far from the latest fad for the young man.
> 
> Wearing navy coat, or blazer is pretty adjacent to the black coat. So what is the problem?
> 
> Wearing a jacket of one colour and trousers of another predates the lounge suit by a long way.


Those stripes are not pinstripes so they can't be compared.


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## archduke (Nov 21, 2003)

Matt S said:


> Those stripes are not pinstripes so they can't be compared.


Matt,

I know what you mean but have look at the picture of Ronald Coleman on page 94. The trouser is a pinstripe of the type that everyone is talking about. He looks completely correct.

I know that you are in the business of recreating genuine vintage clothes. Surely you must have come across this look in researches?


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## Orsini (Apr 24, 2007)

archduke said:


> Matt,
> 
> I know what you mean but have look at the picture of Ronald Coleman on page 94. The trouser is a pinstripe of the type that everyone is talking about. He looks completely correct.
> 
> I know that you are in the business of recreating genuine vintage clothes. Surely you must have come across this look in researches?


I do not currently have access to my books, but my recollection is that the photo you mention of Mr. Coleman is of what is known as "banker's stripes." The pattern currently known as "pinstripes" that is so closely associated with business in the USA are thinner and spaced more widely apart than are banker's stripes.


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## archduke (Nov 21, 2003)

Orsini said:


> I do not currently have access to my books, but my recollection is that the photo you mention of Mr. Coleman is of what is known as "banker's stripes." The pattern currently known as "pinstripes" that is so closely associated with business in the USA are thinner and spaced more widely apart than are banker's stripes.


No- have a look and see for yourself. These are pinstripes and quite wide apart. I think he wore them because they must have been 'correct'. The whole mood of the outfi he wears is of conformity and conservatism.


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## Orsini (Apr 24, 2007)

archduke said:


> No- have a look and see for yourself. These are pinstripes and quite wide apart. I think he wore them because they must have been 'correct'. The whole mood of the outfi he wears is of conformity and conservatism.


As I mentioned, I do not have access to my books right now so I am going to have to proceed based on my recollection, and that is that the stripes are approximately this close together.

[Holds up thumb and forefinger pressed tightly together]


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## gnatty8 (Nov 7, 2006)

forsbergacct2000 said:


> I would stop short of claiming there's a rule, but I would not wear striped pants with a blazer myself.


+ 1

Looks bad IMO, like you're trying to double the wear of your suit trousers.. I was in a department store yesterday prominently displaying Ed Hardy t-shirts also, but I resisted the urge to jump on that bandwagon also, lol


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## The Louche (Jan 30, 2008)

David Reeves said:


> oooh! A very tricky look. Noel Coward did it well......





ChicagoMediaMan-27 said:


> Fair enough. Does sound very tricky, but would love to see it.


I agree that this sounds tricky. The only time I can really see this concept being appropriate is in a morning suit. I, frankly, think that everyone I've seen try to do this in a buiness casual or similar setting looks like a train wreck. Wearing striped odd trousers might work with a sweater and no sports coat, however. Either way, I won't be wearing my stripes anyplace other than the office.*

*I admit to having worn a pinstriped suit to a wedding. This was because it was a wedding full of young people who didn't know better and I was drinking heavily. I don't care to drink heavily in my good suits therefore I wore one that was relatively old and tatty - it happened to be a pinstriped number...


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## JibranK (May 28, 2007)

I think some are using the word pinstripes to mean any sort of stripe in general.


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## Orsini (Apr 24, 2007)

JibranK said:


> I think some are using the word pinstripes to mean any sort of stripe in general.


Yes. Unfortunately, that is not really correct. Pinstripes are a specific width and distance apart, so, just because it is a _stripe_ does not mean it is a _pinstripe_.


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## JibranK (May 28, 2007)

Orsini said:


> Yes. Unfortunately, that is not really correct. Pinstripes are a specific width and distance apart, so, just because it is a _stripe_ does not mean it is a _pinstripe_.


I agree. I was simply pointing that out to alert to them that such is, as you say, not the case.


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## welldressedfellow (May 28, 2008)

I have been known to wear pinstripes to social occasions such as weddings, and even to the opera (when not in black tie.)



Matt S said:


> I don't believe in wearing pinstripes outside of a business suit, but that seems to have been forgotten. People now don't hesitate to wear pinstripe suits to weddings. I've seen odd pinstripe trousers and sports coats, but it's very fashion forward. If you want an alternative to plain trousers, try a black and white glen plaid. Those work very well with a navy blazer. Try to look at the origins of the clothes we wear and whether they came from sporting wear or military uniforms. Our business suits came from both places, but pinstripes are one of the few things that originated in business wear. I think they need to stay there.


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## Jim In Sunny So Calif (May 13, 2006)

They would have to put me in jail before I would wear striped trousers.

Hey, Orsini - did your other car finally tip over - the new one looks like it might be one of Reventlow's Scarabs?


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## JibranK (May 28, 2007)

Jim In Sunny So Calif said:


> They would have to put me in jail before I would wear striped trousers.
> 
> Hey, Orsini - did your other car finally tip over - the new one looks like it might be one of Reventlow's Scarabs?


Do you hate morning dress?


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## Orsini (Apr 24, 2007)

*Meister Brauser I Special*



Jim In Sunny So Calif said:


> They would have to put me in jail before I would wear striped trousers.
> 
> Hey, Orsini - did your other car finally tip over - the new one looks like it might be one of Reventlow's Scarabs?


Yes, that poor little BMW finally fell over on its side.

The new pic, titled "Orsini Skedaddlin'", is, as you said, one of the very nice Scarab Mk 1's, developed by Lance Reventlow with the chassis designed by Ken Miles. After they they cleaned up in US sports car racing, the Mk 1's were sold to make way for the development of the Scarab F-1 car, this one to Augie Pabst, which he raced successfully as the Meister Brauser I Special and still owns.

The Scarab F-1 car unfortunately languished in development and by the time it was ready, front engine F-1 cars were obsolete. I seem to recall reading that the Europeans were quite impressed with the way Chuck Daigh threw the car around at Spa while attempting to qualify. At Monaco, Stirling Moss gave it a try and knocked four seconds off the car's previous best time, but that was still not enough to make the grid.


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