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Fisherman sweaters work well across a range of wardrobes, from classic to contemporary. You can layer them under chore coats, waxed Barbours, or topcoats. They add visual interest where a plainer, smoother knit may be too dull. Proper Cloth’s are made in Italy at a 60-year-old Tuscan factory. They’re sturdy, but soft, thanks to the plush lambswool-cashmere blended yarns. Proper Cloth offers them in both crewneck and turtleneck varieties, as well as a special flecked Donegal design.
The company also has some new flannel shirting this season, which comes in soft brushed cotton and are available for made-to-measure shirts. You can wear them on their own with jeans, or use them to dress down a sport coat. If you’re looking for some new tailored jackets, Proper Cloth also has that end covered. Their new Bedford jackets are made from a soft woolen flannel, are available in both herringbone and plaid, and come with all the things people associate with Southern Italian tailoring — a soft shoulder, straight lapel, and high gorge. Prices start at just $495 for a custom order.
When Paul Winston joined his family’s tailoring business in 1961, the company already had patchwork tweed jackets, go-to-hell pants, and 30 colors of corduroy for custom orders. Paul likes to say that his family has always served a more conservative dresser — which is true, to a degree. They dressed men such as President JFK, Bobby Kennedy, and Peter Lawford in your basic three-roll-two sport coats. But they also had Andy Warhol in their tailoring shop and were known for the occasional out-there item. Thomas Watson, Jr, who served as IBM’s second president during the heydays of Ivy, got all his conservative Winston suits made with wild linings.
Chipp Neckwear is also known for its tongue-in-cheek neckties — and there’s no better time to wear a novelty tie than during the holidays. “While there are those who find some of my ‘sophisticated humor’ ties offensive, I have never seen anything but smiles in response to Mooning Santa,” Paul says. The tie is cheeky … literally. At just $49 for a tie made in New York City, it’s honestly priced for a bit of added holiday cheer. You can wear it with a sport coat in tweed, corduroy, or hopsack.
Dapper Classics has new 3-pack boxes that give customers 3 pairs of socks at a slight discount. They’ve packaged them together according to length — mid-calf with mid-calf socks, and over-the-calf with over-the-calf socks. They’re also organized in a way that allows you to get the most out of each choice. Their holiday box, for example, has football- and Christmas-tree themed socks, which are made for this time of year, along with a solid colored navy option that you can wear year-round with anything. These socks are knitted at a third-generation North Carolina based mill using Italian equipment.
“Each piece of equipment has 200 needles designed to knit fine hosiery,” says Fred Rich, the company’s president. “The higher the needle count, the finer the denier of the yarn and more detail in the pattern. Good socks also have to be made from quality yarns. We source two primary yarns: fine merino wool and Egyptian mercerized cotton. Both are colorfast, which means they hold color well. The merino wool is also superwashed and can go through a normal laundry cycle without the worry of shrinkage.”
Rowing Blazers’ FW19 collection continues with their fourth and final delivery of the season. Delivery four maintains the energy and ethos of the collection’s Post-Ivy theme —firmly rooted in American style and tradition, but with an edge of intrigue and youthfulness.
The highlight of delivery four is the Aztec Collection, which features a series of rugbies and a navy cotton blazer embroidered with intricate and colorful Aztec-themed motifs. These embroideries were inspired by the cryptic Codex Borgia, a Mesoamerican ritual and divinatory manuscript. Historians believe it was written before the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It’s also only one of twelve manuscripts that survived the Spanish conquest — most were burned or otherwise destroyed. Rowing Blazers used the art here as an homage to the people and cultures who were here in America first, but whose culture is all but gone.
They’re also introducing an Antique Blackwatch wool to their jacket collection, as well as classic Royal Stewart trousers. Their eagles’ motif, previously embroidered on super heavyweight rugbies, is now screen printed on the front and back of a burgundy nylon coach’s jacket, made in the USA. You can see the new collection at their site, as well as their NYC flagship store.
