Recent content by Suitable

Some waistcoats nowadays are cut so that the bottom button cannot be fastened without noticeable distortion and discomfort. On those, the button must be left open. On other waistcoats, the question is one of preference. I tend to leave the bottom button open, but I have no objection to...

Fountain pens remained usual for some time to come. The earliest ballpoint pens leaked terribly. I remember how bad they were even in the 1970s.

I'm happy with my buff linen waistcoat from the British firm Pakeman Catto & Carter. It has a full back (bottle green), but it is very light. Great with morning dress (I wear it with exactly the outfit that you described), but definitely not cheap. You have a lot of flexibility about your...

Tailors end up with scraps of cloth that are too big to throw away but too small to make into another suit or even a jacket. Many of them save these scraps up and offer to make trousers from them inexpensively. At least that is true here in Canada. Typically one gets three pairs of trousers for...

Consider a tailor. It may not cost so much as you think. My tailor makes odd trousers from end-of-roll pieces of cloth for less than I could pay for off-the-rack rubbish—and, yes, he makes them with an English (fish-mouth) back, a high waist, brace buttons, and everything else that I want.

I'll put in a strident word against clip-on braces and clip-on brace buttons. Get brace buttons sewn inside or outside (as you wish) your trousers. Any seamstress will do this for a small amount of money. (If the seamstress doesn't know where the buttons belong, find another seamstress.) A...

Well, you wouldn't go there only to visit the outlet store and then head home. You'd combine that visit with a few days in Cape Breton Island or other nearby destinations. July and August are the best time to go to Nova Scotia—and you might have all the winter union suits to yourself then! (It...

Thanks for confirming my belief that pleats would be undesirable on moleskin trousers. Yes, I get my trousers made an inch or two larger in the waist. They should hang free and let the braces do their job. The ability to wear loose trousers is one of the (many) joys of wearing braces. But...

There are direct flights between London and Halifax, and then Truro is just half an hour from the airport. I'm sure they'd roll out the red carpet for you if you notified them in advance of your visit.

Well, it had to start somewhere. The general public did not suddenly begin to clamour for notch-lapel dinner jackets a few decades ago.

You're right. I should clarify: notch lapels on dinner jackets made sporadic appearances long ago but did not achieve acceptance. The current popularity of notch lapels is not an organic development from those sartorial experiments of the 1920s; it's the consequence of manufacturers'...

Yes, I know that notch lapels on dinner jackets are common (in more than one sense of the word). And you can produce a million photos of people wearing them. That doesn't mean that they're proper, never mind classic. They are a recent innovation of the mass-market prêt-à-porter industry, which...

Indeed. Peak lapels are not the only option for dinner jackets: shawl lapels are also acceptable (which is not to say advisable for every man and every situation), but that is all. Notch lapels on formal attire are a solecism. They scream "rental shop"—only now the rental shops are more likely...

That false shirt front is known as a dickey. It is still worn with a shirt; one does not wear the waistcoat and tailcoat next to one's skin. Typically the dickey is buttoned to the trousers so that it will not pop out of position. The dickey, frequently made of plastic, is a cheap substitute...

Yes, Stanfield's is a good brand. Their woollen ones and wool blends are of good quality, if a bit expensive. If you ever find yourself in Truro, Nova Scotia (admittedly an unlikely destination for most), where their headquarters and factory are located, be sure to visit their outlet store...