Camel Hair Jacket Question

[Warbaby]

Today I scored a beautiful London Fog camel hair jacket at our local thrift store for five bucks (someday I'll tell you about that thrift store...). I've never had a camel hair jacket and I've got some style questions:

1. What is the appropriate season for a camel hair jacket?

2. What sort of trousers does one wear with it? Dark brown? Black?

3. Where does one wear a camel hair jacket?

TIA

 

[CharlestonBows]

Today I scored a beautiful London Fog camel hair jacket at our local thrift store for five bucks (someday I'll tell you about that thrift store...). I've never had a camel hair jacket and I've got some style questions:

1. What is the appropriate season for a camel hair jacket?

2. What sort of trousers does one wear with it? Dark brown? Black?

3. Where does one wear a camel hair jacket?

TIA

Great find! A camel hair jacket really is a workhorse of the fall/winter wardrobe, and is definitely a seasonal item. It can be dressed up, about as much as any sport coat can be anyways, especially due to it's perceived luxurious nature (I merchandise them together with our cashmere and cashmere/silk blends in the fall sport coat collection).

The great thing about a classic camel hair is that it's a 'trouser eater', meaning that it can really go with about every conceivable trouser that the average well dressed fella will have in the closet. I like it with black, chocolate browns, and jeans (of both the classic blue and 'distressed premium' varieties). Pairing it with a khaki, british tan, or any other tan variety makes it look a little too "suity" for me. Contrast is key, IMO.

Shirts and ties, corresponding with the coloration of course, and open collar dress shirts (I like classic white or ecru) work exceedingly well. To go more casual, maybe try a high neck crew or turtle neck in a dressier fabric and finish (maybe in a silk/cotton blend). Of course, this is from the perspective of a Charleston climate.

In short, in the fall and winter, I treat my camel hair jackets just like I do a blue blazer -- goes with pretty much anything, any way.

That's my pitch on them in the store, anyways! lol

 

[Warbaby]

Big-time thanks for the succinct lesson in camel hair. I'd guessed that contrast was prolly the key to a choice of trousers but beyond that I was pretty clueless.

The area we live in on mid-Vancouver Island has a very high population of retirees (40% over 65), most of whom no longer have any interest in dressing in suits and jackets - not to mention the fact that there's nowhere to go that warrents being well-dressed. Consequently our local thrift shop is well-stocked with suits and jackets that no one wants. It's a really huge thrift shop (run by a local charity) with about 2000 sq. ft. of clothing on the second floor. Rarely anything pre-war, but a lot of stuff from the 40s onward. I got a a very snappy double breasted suit a couple of weeks ago for $2.50 on half-price day. I'll post photos when it comes back from the cleaners.

I've also had several good scores there on Harris tweed jackets, for which I have a chronic weakness. I now have six (all in pristine condition and for 5 bucks or less), and it just kills me to see another dozen or so every time I go there and not buy a couple more, but six Harris tweeds is enough for anybody (or so my wife says...)

 

[cookie]

Big-time thanks for the succinct lesson in camel hair. I'd guessed that contrast was prolly the key to a choice of trousers but beyond that I was pretty clueless.

The area we live in on mid-Vancouver Island has a very high population of retirees (40% over 65), most of whom no longer have any interest in dressing in suits and jackets - not to mention the fact that there's nowhere to go that warrents being well-dressed. Consequently our local thrift shop is well-stocked with suits and jackets that no one wants. It's a really huge thrift shop (run by a local charity) with about 2000 sq. ft. of clothing on the second floor. Rarely anything pre-war, but a lot of stuff from the 40s onward. I got a a very snappy double breasted suit a couple of weeks ago for $2.50 on half-price day. I'll post photos when it comes back from the cleaners.

I've also had several good scores there on Harris tweed jackets, for which I have a chronic weakness. I now have six (all in pristine condition and for 5 bucks or less), and it just kills me to see another dozen or so every time I go there and not buy a couple more, but six Harris tweeds is enough for anybody (or so my wife says...)

This is not mere boasting this is the FL equivalent of torture! They tell me you can even surf on Vancouver Island...

 

[Warbaby]

They surf over on the other side (the west side) of the island, but here on the eastern coast the water is almost always calm and slope of the beach is so gradual that there are many beaches where you can go out a half-mile or more at high tide before the water gets up to your waist. Very strange.

There's a lot to like about VI (aside from the great thrift store). Beautiful forests and mountains, clean air, small town/rural environment, nice people.

OTOH, it's also like that Talking Heads song 'Heaven':

"Heaven is a place
where nothing ever happens"

At least it's got a great thrift store.