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What to Wear to a Summer Wedding and other Summer Social Events – Part 4
Dave: So we have a great selection of Spring/Summer fabrics that we put in the line just for this purpose of updating their Spring wardrobes. The next fabric that we’re looking at here, this is a really unique cloth. This is from Barberis again. This cloth is a wool/linen blend. I love the look of linen, but I don’t always necessarily like how it looks after I’ve worn it for four or five hours. This combines the elegance and the look of linen, but it adds the performance of all wool. The fabric will wrinkle – I’m not making claims that it won’t wrinkle – but it’s ideal for wearing to graduation parties, Summer weddings. It’s kind of what I would consider a day suit.
It’s the ideal wearing during the day when it’s sunny out and your outdoors and you have to have a suit on. I complemented this with a cotton and linen shirt with a little medallion pattern in it. And a great Summer checked tie, very nice. And here again, you know, the premium buttons and you can change the thread colors, obviously, but this is a great look.
Sean: Yes. And the nice thing about the wool/linen blend is if – a lot of guys have a hang-up about a linen suit and just think, “oh my God, it’s going to look like I just rolled out of bed”, which if you have a linen suit, it is going to look like that – and that’s what you want it to look like, and that’s what’s expected. And it does look good because that’s what it is. But for somebody that can’t overcome this extreme wrinkle, this is a good option because it won’t wrinkle anything like a 100% linen suit, and so it kind of gives you the best of both worlds, and you get a little bit of wrinkling – but it does look good. It fits, it’s Summer, it’s linen, and you will not have the extremes of a 100% linen suit, so it’s a nice option for guys that can’t handle 100% linen.
Dave: Exactly. Exactly. And I’ve done really well with this cloth. This particular collection from Barberis has been out 2 years, and I’ve done real well with this fabric, and my customers that have purchased it have been very, very happy with this cloth. Let’s move on to sport coats. Here is the same fabric – the Barberis linen/wool cloth, and I’m showing it here as a navy blazer. It’s a slightly toned down blue – it’s not a super-dark navy. It’s what I would call like, a Summer navy, and I’ve styled it with a wool and linen, muted plaid trouser, with a gray striped shirt, and then popped it off with a very interesting plaid tie. We’re starting to see more and more plaid ties, and I really like the way this looks. And I like the idea of taking and having a Summer blazer.
You know, you have a year-round weight, a hard finish, kind of tropical blazer that you can wear year-round, and then you have like a navy cashmere blazer, or something that’s a little bit heavier to wear in the Winter time. Because a navy blazer is such a foundational piece in every man’s wardrobe, I think it’s really important to have a Summer navy blazer – especially in Michigan. When I think of Michigan and that area, it’s kind of a nautical look when putting it white threads and white buttons. So I really like this look.
Sean: Yes, it’s very nice. And in Ohio, and Chicago, and all around the water, and anywhere you might be in the Summer that you really want to have that nice look with the navy blazer, but it’s got a twist to it. So you don’t look like everybody else.
Dave: Exactly. And I think the buttons are the key. The days of wearing navy blazers with metal buttons has kind of come and gone, and what’s significant about the new blazer is just different accents – whether it be the buttons, the thread, or the felt under the collar – which you can’t see. But I would probably put a nice light blue colored felt underneath the collar – not that that really matters, again. But it’s just about the details. And then styling it with a beautiful half line, and then pipe the edges of the inside to give it a nice, lightweight, unconstructed feel.
Sean: Right. Good.
Now you have another idea of what to wear to a Summer Wedding and other Summer Social Events. Please leave your comments below and any suggestions you might have. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
