# Wearing suit jackets as sport coats?



## ciscostud (Jan 3, 2007)

Do you find it acceptable and/or a good practice to wear some of your suit jackets as sport coats? 

For example, if I have basic solid navy, charcoal, and black suits made, should or can I wear those jackets as sport coats with jeans and other slacks? 

How many will wear a striped or patterned suit jacket with jeans or slacks?

Now each suit I have made I was intending to get a second pair of matching pants any way as pants usually take more beating than your coat and you often may take your coat off in the car, etc.

Or should I really have different navy, charcoal, and black sport coats made in a slightly different fabric or something? I am not really a big fan of brass buttons. Those would be my top 3 colors for a sport coat any way.

Or am I beating the jacket too hard by performing double duty so that it is going to create a problem? 

I am one of those people who believes in the fewer dry cleanings, the better. Unless the suit smells or has an obvious stain that water and a cloth can't get out, I don't have them cleaned. I do have the pants pressed from time to time though professionally. The rest of the time I will just touch the pants up with an iron and a cloth. I have some suits that I have owned for years that have never seen dry cleaning.


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## well-kept (May 6, 2006)

Not DB, not chalk striped, not glen plaid etc. 

But a plain navy suit jacket can serve as a blazer. The jacket from my Fioravanti two-button navy blue suit is one of my favorite jackets to pair with odd slacks or khakis. It's cut so beautifully nothing else in my very full closet comes close.


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## bigCat (Jun 10, 2005)

Generally no.
"Orrphaned suit jacket" is not a good look. You may get away with solid navy, but then some would prefer metal buttons for a blazer.

You should order 2 pairs of pants for every suit jacket to compenstate for longevity of the jackets vs. pants.


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## rssmsvc777 (Jun 20, 2005)

Completely depends on the fabric and construction of the suit.

For example look at:


This jacket has matching pants but the cut of the sportcoat makes it a bit less formal, although you can tuck the pocket into the pocket and hide it with a pocket square.

You will also find a lot of Polo Blue Label Made in italy country suits that can be split easily.


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## ferry1950 (Jul 26, 2006)

No.
The cut and button type of a suit coat are all wrong for a sportcoat/blazer.
I use silver buttons with my mongram on the navy and black sportcoats that I got from Ben Silver.
On the patterned sportcoats, I use different color buttons (black on a gray coat) and the button enclosure (button hole) done in a contrasting color.
ghw


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

Unless you're really good (and if you're that good, you would not be posing this question), the answer is no. It will almost certainly be obvious, even with a navy suit coat.


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## LARon (Jun 19, 2006)

No. Not only is this one of my fashion pet peeves (along w/wearing button downs or satin shirts w/business suits) but it is usually pretty obvious when someone is trying to pass off a suit jacket as a sportcoat. I find it a pretty tacky.


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## lichMD (Jun 30, 2005)

*My Opinion*

No.
My blazers are all cut differently and tend to fit differently than my suit jackets.
I can usually tell when someone is trying to pull this off and don't like the look.
On the other hand we forumites are critical.
The average Joe probably couldn't tell the difference.


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## rnoldh (Apr 22, 2006)

ciscostud; I have some suits that I have owned for years that have never seen dry cleaning.[/quote said:


> In answer to your question I think it should be on a case by case basis.
> 
> Some feel they can get away with the "Orphaned suit coat look", while I feel it is tacky. Especially when it is obvious, like with a striped suit coat, or an obvious DB suit coat.
> 
> ...


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## couch (Mar 8, 2005)

forsbergacct2000 said:


> Unless you're really good (and if you're that good, you would not be posing this question), the answer is no. It will almost certainly be obvious, even with a navy suit coat.


I agree with the thrust of responses so far, but this like all rules has been broken successfully, as forsberg hints. I remember seeing photos of Agnelli wearing a suit coat with jeans, and I think there's one in _Dressing the Man_ of AJD Biddle and a tennis partner (with their wives) in which Flusser notes that one of the men has thrown a suit jacket over his white flannels, with a white terry towel as a scarf. If I were try to reason out why the odd suit coat works when it does, I'd hypothesize that it's only in situations (as in these examples) when the suit provenance of the coat is obvious but irrelevant. In other words, where its level of formality (and color/texture) contrasts dramatically with that of the trousers, so that the combination is clearly intentional and nonchalant (if not whimsical). If you simply subsitute a suit coat in a typical odd jacket/trouser combination, where both garments share the same context, as it were, it will just look like a mistake.

Even working to this hypothesis, though, the specific garments and the wearer's aspect and attitude would be crucial to success. I'd say this is definitely something for the advanced sartorialist only.


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## Rich (Jul 10, 2005)

couch said:


> I remember seeing photos of Agnelli wearing a suit coat with jeans, .


Yes indeed. I would say that the only thing you can pair an orphaned suit jacket with is a pair of jeans - but you have to be good. Here in France Serge Gainsbourg paired a pinstripe suit jacket with faded jeans 35 years ago and the look became iconic. But not many can pull it off.


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## Windsurf (Nov 27, 2006)

As I mentioned on another thread, I bought a charcoal pinstripe DB peaked lapel suit jacket for $12 last year from Marshall's. I understood it was a suit jacket when I bought it but it fit me perfectly without need of alteration. (something unheard of for me and my long arms) I wear it with a shirt without tie or with a tie, jeans and loafers. I think it looks good although it violates a number of the "rules". I could be wrong and just look weird but I enjoy these experiments more than wearing a regular suit. Of course I do not wear this when meeting someone on a business issue.


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## minimal (Dec 10, 2004)

Rich said:


> Yes indeed. I would say that the only thing you can pair an orphaned suit jacket with is a pair of jeans - but you have to be good. Here in France Serge Gainsbourg paired a pinstripe suit jacket with faded jeans 35 years ago and the look became iconic. But not many can pull it off.


+1. But this is a special case, and it's like a 8.5 on the skill difficulty, best for the young (er) set.

It works both with refined suit jackets (navy pinstripe with jeans and black chelseas) and the country, tweedy stuff (again with jeans, but more rugged brown shoes or boots).

I've never seen it work with anything but those examples, but I'd love to see counterexamples because I don't have much clothing and any ability to "cross over" is highly valuable...


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## Drag0n (Aug 24, 2006)

The best types of suit jackets to pair with jeans are from sports suits. Other than that, it is a little harder to pair nicely.


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## cglex (Oct 23, 2006)

Never on the jacket for the reasons everyone else has mentioned. Perhaps okon the pants. If the pants are a standard charcoal, khaki or perhaps navy, that would pair with a proper blazer or other odd jacket, why not? The charcoal pants I wear with my navy blazer, for example, are Brookseze pants separates. At the time, that was the best light weight grey slacks, my local BB had in stock. As for patterned pants, I do believe that patterns appropriate for odd pants are not appropriate for a suit. However, I am sure there is an exception somewhere.


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## JLibourel (Jun 13, 2004)

couch said:


> I agree with the thrust of responses so far, but this like all rules has been broken successfully, as forsberg hints. I remember seeing photos of Agnelli wearing a suit coat with jeans, and I think there's one in _Dressing the Man_ of AJD Biddle and a tennis partner (with their wives) in which Flusser notes that one of the men has thrown a suit jacket over his white flannels, with a white terry towel as a scarf. If I were try to reason out why the odd suit coat works when it does, I'd hypothesize that it's only in situations (as in these examples) when the suit provenance of the coat is obvious but irrelevant. In other words, where its level of formality (and color/texture) contrasts dramatically with that of the trousers, so that the combination is clearly intentional and nonchalant (if not whimsical). If you simply subsitute a suit coat in a typical odd jacket/trouser combination, where both garments share the same context, as it were, it will just look like a mistake.
> 
> Even working to this hypothesis, though, the specific garments and the wearer's aspect and attitude would be crucial to success. I'd say this is definitely something for the advanced sartorialist only.


I should just point out that in the '30s, even though we tend to revere them as "iconic" as far as classic menswear goes, sportswear was in its comparative infancy, and it was a common practice to use up old and tired dress attire for casual purposes. My grandfather would wear old suit trousers and frayed white dress shirts for working in the garden and such until quite late in life--well into the 1950s. Today, a lot of his "casual" apparel would look kind of bizarre, even to a traditionalist like myself.


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## couch (Mar 8, 2005)

Great points. As dedicated sportswear was in its infancy, more improvisation would be likely, though in Biddle's set if the repurposed dress attire was old and tired, that would be purely by choice, since they had no need to pinch pennies.

But the ethos of mending, furbishing, polishing, recutting, and generally keeping beautiful, comfortable, and functional objects in service rather than replacing them seasonally is quite consistent, in my mind, with the best ideals of "style" rather than fashion. So even (maybe especially) well-patinated garments could take on a casual new life, as they did for your father. This harks back to the thread on "greatest changes"--at one time the incremental cost of labor (whether servants or craftsmen) to repair, refurbish, and re-use was significantly lower than that of making a replacement. And for those whose wealth was once the income from land, there was often a kind of practical, ecological respect for the well-made thing with a long continuity of service.

It was either Paul Fussell or Lewis Lapham (both wrote books on money and class) who years ago remarked on the number of possessors of old fortunes in America who drove old domestic cars when they drove at all. For them the idea of a car as a status symbol was inconceivable. A car was merely a utilitarian object. So, unless they were automotive hobbyists, they tended to buy practical cars and drive them into the ground.


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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)

*Airplane Flights*

A good use for Orphan suit coats is on airplane trips. Its nice to wear a jacket on the plane because the pockets are useful and airplanes can often be too cold for shirtsleeves. An orphan is nice because you dont really care if it gets damaged. Anyway, the finer material of a suit coat is less bulky in a confined seat and is more comfortable for sleeping.


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