Seersucker

rumblefish · Jun 22, 2008

I have a pair of blue & white RRL buckle-back seersucker trousers that I wind up wearing only one shirt with.

I'd like some opinions please;
Options and ideas for the blue & white.
Ideas for other seersucker colors.
And foot wear (no sandals).
Maybe some photos?

Thanks,
Chris M.

CharlestonBows · Jun 22, 2008

The rule I've always roughly followed is that one should treat a traditional blue and white seersucker as you would navy. It can really be worn with anything, but things with a summer twist.

Are you wanting to wear this casual or dressy? For dress shirtings, anything in a light blue spectrum will work nicely, and you might want to try something with a very subtle tonal tattersall check or twill pattern in the weave, just to give some motion and contrast to the seersucker.

Casually, you might try any number of colors in a polo shirts. A white or yellow goes great.

I love pairing a clean, crisp white cotton-linen button down collar shirt (a casual shirt, IMO) with blue/white seersucker trousers and a navy blazer in the summer time. Throw some white bucks on, or to make it more casual, some light brown driving mocs and you've got a great casual thing going.

Seersucker comes in a variety of cool - and sometimes scarey - colors these days, so really take your pick. You might pick up a khaki and white stripe, or for some fun, maybe a purple or pink. You can also get it (if you can find it) in a solid tan, which makes a killer suit.

Flitcraft · Jun 22, 2008

The seersucker trousers can look awesome with a navy blue blazer and white polo shirt- that would be my first option. You coul match that ensemble with brown and white spectator shoes- very 1930's Howard Hughes! a la The Aviator!

yachtsilverswan · Jun 23, 2008

rumblefish said:
I have a pair of blue & white RRL buckle-back seersucker trousers that I wind up wearing only one shirt with.

I'd like some opinions please;
Options and ideas for the blue & white.
Ideas for other seersucker colors.
And foot wear (no sandals).
Maybe some photos?

Thanks,
Chris M.

Well, for footwear, the classic summer shoe for seersucker is the White Buck, worn without socks if you live below the Mason Dixon Line. LL Bean used to make a great version of this shoe, but they discontinued it (Bean does still make a light khaki version - great for a khaki suit - and a brown version - great for khakis). Brooks Brothers still makes a good version of the White Buck. Make sure you get a suede brush, shoe trees, shoe bags for traveling (the white chalk will get on your other clothes in your suitcase), and a white chalk bag for cleaning and dressing the shoe after use. For a more nautical and more casual look, Sperry Topsiders in White Ice leather (no socks here either).

For the shirt, I like a white or navy polo with blue/white seersucker slacks - with or without a navy blazer (double or single breasted). A blue button down shirt works well too, as has been mentioned above.

Don't forget the gin & tonic. A Straw Boater is optional, though recommended for full effect.

Fletch · Jun 23, 2008

Always consider a white dress shirt, but not a businessy one. A buttondown would be ideal, or a long soft point collar if you can find such a thing (I have a few old ones).

One point to consider, tho: Howard Hughes would never have worn seersucker. It is so lightweight, and rumples so easily, that it was very much a "poor man's" suiting in that era. Even spectators would be a little dressy for it - best stick with the bucks.

MrBern · Jun 23, 2008

summer suiting

Fletch , do you really find seersucker easily rumpled? Its texture is crinkled, but overall, its a very resilient weave.
Even in Howard Hughes' time, wasnt seersucker the summer attire of the 'Southern Gentleman'?

MrBern · Jun 23, 2008

US SENATE

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/SeersuckerThursday.htm

Feraud · Jun 23, 2008

MrBern said:
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/SeersuckerThursday.htm

Beggars the whole lot of 'em!

I thought the nature of seersucker is to look wrinkled? Do wrinkles denote poverty? I kind of like them. It make the wear look like he is wearing the clothes and not vice versa.

Mr. Rover · Jun 23, 2008

I don't find seersucker very easy to rumple- certainly less so than plain cotton twill or linen suiting material. The crinkled nature kind of hides wrinkles.

Bern, that article says that a New Orleans clothier invented seersucker. Doesn't that sort of deviate from the Brooks Bros. story?

MrBern · Jun 23, 2008

Rover, you doubt the US SENATE????

I once heard that it was called seersucker because the wrinkled appearance had people laughing at the suckers who ordered the suits from SEARS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers

In 1870, the store (BrooksBros) was the first to sell seersucker suits in the U.S.

Perhaps the US Senate is referring to the modern 20th century suit popular in the South?

BTW Rover, when we were at BB last week, they did mention that Lincoln was assassinated in a BB suit. Wikipedia takes exception to that:

It is common mythology that Lincoln was wearing a black suit by Brooks Brothers when he was assassinated. This story, although widely touted, is not true. Lincoln was, however, wearing a Brooks Brothers overcoat when he was killed.

Mr. Rover · Jun 23, 2008

MrBern said:
Rover, you doubt the US SENATE????

I wouldn't be the first.

Now, I'm not sure who to believe! Wikipedia or the source? Although, Brooks Bros. has bragged about a lot of myths. Like taking button-down collars from Polo teams...I don't think they ever found out which team it was that Brooks Bros. plagiarized the style from

dhermann1 · Jun 23, 2008

When I was 4 years old I had a little seersucker suit, short pants and a collar less jacket. The collar of the shirt extended outside the lapels. I HATED it, because it represented having to get dressed up with my grandmother. In retrospect I have great affection for that little suit.
Anyway, I just ordered a blue seersucker suit from Jos A Bank. I've got my fingers crossed as to correct fit. I expect I'll wear a button down white oxford shirt with it, and maybe my Madras tie. Would a seersucker jacket look OK with white, or off white linen trousers? I'll try it when the suit arrives.
Isn't seersucker made with some sort of anti-wrinkle treatment nowadays?
Oh, hey, how about Bermuda shorts??? With the traditional British knee socks, and I don't know what shoes would be correct with that look. [huh]

renor27 · Jun 23, 2008

Flitcraft said:
The seersucker trousers can look awesome with a navy blue blazer and white polo shirt- that would be my first option. You could match that ensemble with brown and white spectator shoes- very 1930's Howard Hughes! The Aviator!

Just got pair of Brooks Brothers seersucker pants on E-Bay for a song.
The Lake Tahoe Gatsby High Tea is in August, a man must be dressed right for the afternoon.
Not sure if I will go with a white button down shirt and bow tie or with a white polo but will for sure have the blue blazer and brown and white shoes. Will be going for that 1930's Howard Hughes look I might kick things up a bit and like Howard go with a pitch helmet.
Of course will post photos.
David

CharlestonBows · Jun 23, 2008

dhermann1 said:
...
Isn't seersucker made with some sort of anti-wrinkle treatment nowadays?
...

If your seersucker doesn't wrinkle, take it back. It's broken.

It's light weight cotton; it's supposed to wrinkle, just like linen. It's not a proper suit, and never will be regarded as one by traditional clothiers. It's an inherently casual cloth originated in a hellish hot & humid summer climate of a former British colony.

Tomasso · Jun 23, 2008

CharlestonBows said:
If your seersucker doesn't wrinkle, take it back. It's broken.

I have two SS suits made from a Holland & Sherry cloth which hardly wrinkles. I recall it being a selling point at the time. I later tried to reorder but found that they no longer carried the fabric. I guess it didn't catch on. [huh] I like it.

CharlestonBows · Jun 23, 2008

Tomasso said:
I have two SS suits made from a Holland & Sherry cloth which hardly wrinkles. I recall it being a selling point at the time. I later tried to reorder but found that they no longer carried the fabric. I guess it didn't catch on. [huh] I like it.

The point still being, SS is still an inherently casual fabric. And the freedom of wrinkles are a part of that overall casualness. The fabric itself is rumpled looking.

Not that it should look slept in, but a SS suit that is pressed with sharp creases, as one might see on a worsted business suit, seems like a severe oxymoron to me.

Maybe it's geography.

Tomasso · Jun 23, 2008

^^^^^

Hey, it still wrinkles but not terribly so.

CharlestonBows · Jun 23, 2008

Tomasso said:
Hey, it still wrinkles but not terribly so.

Wrinkles aside, I'd love to know how you had those suits cut, though, and how it made up.

BellyTank · Jun 23, 2008

I know that the "larger"(I'm sure the suit cloth has a comparatively smaller "bubble" to it), lighter, bubbly seersucker, the type that makes shirts, blouses(red/white gingham seersucker anyone?) and table linen, is just too cushion-y to wrinkle easily and has a nice roll to it when you "fold" it over.
Hard enough to iron a crease into it.

I like the idea of a seersucker suit but maybe in khaki/white.

B
T

univibe88 · Jun 24, 2008

yachtsilverswan said:
For a more nautical and more casual look, Sperry Topsiders in White Ice leather (no socks here either).

For the shirt, I like a white or navy polo with blue/white seersucker slacks - with or without a navy blazer.

Don't forget the gin & tonic.

The above mentioned is how I wear my seersucker pants, although my Sperrys are brown.

I'm also a big fan of more colorful polo shirts - orange, pink, etc. It's a very preppy look.

I also top off the outfit with my Panama hat.

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