You may remember some time back the Young Fogey and I swapped some rags, by which I acquired an amazing Tartan suit by Pendleton. Believe me, I have been absolutely dying to trot this one out. With the alterations finally complete and a friends Christmas party last night, I finally had my chance. Get ready, it's a doozy:
Oddly enough, I find this suit wasn't as shocking to wear as I would have thought. Sure, it's pushy, but the cloth is generally dark and its well cut, so mostly it comes off as a nice suit. The thing is warm, too.
Being from the 1970's, the lapels are just a bit on the wide side. Instead of my usual button down collar and four in hand knot, I chose to balance out the width of the lapels and the thickness of the cloth with a spread collar and Windsor knot. It is a little tricky putting a tie with this number, but I think this one worked pretty good. I may be wrong, but I think the Black Watch actually has a regimental stripe similar to this. Besides, the stripes are green, white and red...Christmas-y, and Italian, a double whammy!
Down below, red wool socks (what else?) and tassel loafers. Now, if only I had a top hat with a holly sprig stuck in the band....
This one did require some surgery, so in true Giuseppe fashion I decided to spend a small bundle on the most impractical thing in the closet. The jacket skirt was a bit longer than I like to wear them, so I had it shortened by an inch, along with the sleeves. My buddy the old Vietnamese tailor really knows his craft. You'd never even know it had been worked on.Check out the curve at the edge...it's perfect.
Shortening jackets is tricky. There are a lot of little things to remember. For instance, shortening a jacket means the rear vent will also be shortened, often requiring that the vent be altered too to keep the proportions right. This suit, being from the 70's, had an especially deep vent to start with, so that wasn't a problem.
The pants had some flare to them, but I decided to perform that bit of surgery myself. I tapered the legs in an inch, starting just below the knee. I'm no expert, but I think they came out pretty good. If your going to try something like this at home, work with plaid. The grid makes it easy to get your lines straight.It will probably be a year before I wear this suit again, but that's just fine. The pants alone will work great with a cardigan or a white cable knit pullover, and that jackets gonna be swell with some grey flannels or a pair of jeans.
Thanks Young Fogey for sending this one to a loving home. I'm sure you'll agree, it would have been a crime to break this one up.
