Blazers, Sport Coats and Suits Jackets - What You Need to Know

Craig of That Dapper Chap looks at the difference between Suit jackets, Blazers and Sport Coats, so we all know what's what

I’ve now lost count of the amount of times that I’ve been asked what the difference is between a blazer and a regular jacket or what makes a blazer a blazer. Add a sports coat into the mix and confusion reigns supreme. So, I’ll now hopefully dispel any fears you may have had of wearing the wrong jacket at the wrong event or heaven forbid, wearing it with the wrong thing.

The Suit Jacket

Let’s start with the regular jacket. A jacket is part of a suit. Simple as that. It is usually quite structured and well-tailored and is often made from lighter weight fabrics, although I do have a couple of heavy wool suits, modern ones tend to be made from a mix of fabrics such as wool, viscose and polyester.

As you might guess a suit jacket comes with matching trousers and sometimes a waistcoat. While I have been known to wear a suit jacket and the matching waistcoat with chinos or jeans, this is somewhat frowned upon, so if you’re unsure if it looks okay leave the jacket with its partners and wear a blazer or sports coat instead. Pockets are built in and will have either a jetted, welt or flap pocket.

Suit ny Next with matching trousers and waistcoat

The Sports Coat

A sports coat is a slightly different animal in that it is less structured and tailored than the suit jacket. As the name suggests it was traditionally worn for ‘sporting’ events, usually hunting, shooting or fishing. Traditional sports coats often had a leather patch on the shoulder where one rested ones rifle while shooting pheasants and such.

Often with patch pockets, the sports coat is a similar size and shape to the suit jacket but is usually made from a heavier fabric like tweed or corduroy. It’s seen as a more ‘casual’ jacket and doesn’t come with matching trousers. A Sport coat will sometimes have woven leather buttons and elbow patches.

A sports coat looks great with jeans or a less formal trousers like cords.

Jaeger Sport Coat £225.00 with leather buttons

In wool check fabric with elbow patches

The Blazer

Now on to the blazer.  Again a tad more on the casual side of the suit jacket it is more tailored than a sports coat, so it’s somewhere in between.  With its roots in naval soil (or water) they traditionally have brass buttons but these have been replaced these days in favour of horn or plastic buttons. Often part of a uniform, blazers are worn by various clubs and school students.

More often than not they’ll have flap pockets but patch pockets are a traditional feature too. A very versatile jacket, blazers can look great with cords, jeans, chinos or smart trousers.

The Billiard Herringbone Blazer by White Stuff £140.00

Well, I hope that's put your minds at rest and given you the information you need to impress at parties and to make sure you know what to wear and when!

Thanks for popping in, please come again.

Dashing Tweeds SS15 Ready to Wear Collection

That Dapper Chap shows us some of the range available from the Dashing Tweeds SS15 ready to wear range.

An easy wear one button jacket has become essential for summer. Brought to popularity by the Savile Row tailor Huntsman, a single button jacket with slanted pockets is always seen as elegant. The offering from Dashing Tweeds this season is tailored in Merino, linen and Japanese yarn. 

The Bryher summer jacket £610

The Bryher fabric as seen above is woven with geometric squares and alternating polychromic cotton emanates a lighthearted summer feel with references to the work of Bridget Riley.

Team it with cream flannel trousers or white cotton jeans and you are ready to venture anywhere from Serpentine gallery galas to Ibiza jockey clubs. Find it HERE

The Samson double breasted jacket £610

The Tresco relaxed evening jacket £610

Dashing Tweeds are on a mission to expand the variety of cloths available to men. The world is in the midst of a renaissance and finally more colour and texture is returning to tailored clothes.

Their ready to wear jackets, trousers and shorts are tailored in London and available in their Mayfair store now. They have three jackets each in a different cut and also offer a made to measure service, cutting any style for you in a Dashing cloth of your choice.

A colourful summer awaits.

The cloth is also for sale to take to your tailor. The guys at Dashing Tweeds can post you swatches of designs you like.

Why not pop into the store and take a look at the range and the cloth at 26 Sackville Street, London, W1S 3HE.

Find Dashing Tweeds

   

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The Woodhouse hand painted jacket

Woodhouse Clothing handpicks Stone Island one of a kind hand painted jacket as key piece for AW14

The Handpainted Jacket

Premium Menswear online retailer Woodhouse Clothing is offering something truly unique for AW14: The Stone Island Brown Tortoise Shell Raso Hand Painted Jacket.

Okay, maybe you wouldn't expect to see That dapper Chap sporting such a jacket. It doesn't have a dapper edge or a vintage look but it is a very unique and that's what fashion is all about.

Selected by the Woodhouse buying team as the key piece from the Stone Island AW14 collection, this jacket has been dyed and then faded in selected areas with a corrosive paste. These bleached parts are then hand painted with a tortoise shell camouflage inspired motive. This exceptional manual process makes each piece one of a kind and unrepeatable.

Stone Island is defined by a culture of exploration, experimentation, function and use; the brand’s aim is to establish new boundaries in the garment manufacturing world and with the Raso jacket it does just that.

This is a true statement piece, maybe at home on the back of an indie rock star or fashion conscious movie star. In keeping with the rest of Stone Island’s AW14 collection, the colours used in the jacket are inspired by the organic world. Other components which contribute to the creation of this truly premium piece include the use of satin weave cotton fabric of military origin, inclusion of the finest down to keep you warm in the colder months, a contrasting down-filled detachable inner lining and an iconic detachable compass badge.

Woodhouse.com is a global online retail destination for men's style to satisfy the modern man’s wardrobe requirements. With over 90 of the world's leading contemporary menswear designers and brands, including limited edition collections and rare labels, no man will be short of options.

The Stone Island Brown Tortoise Shell Raso Hand Painted Jacket is available to buy now for £1,295 from www.woodhouseclothing.com.

About Woodhouse:

Established since 1975, Woodhouse is one of the UKs leading premium menswear retailers.

The flagship Woodhouse Clothing store is located in Notting Hill, housing limited edition collections and rare labels, as well as an in-house gents grooming service, courtesy of in-house barbers Carter and Bond.

Woodhouse also has a global website – www.woodhouseclothing.com offering the online customer choice of over 90 desirable premium menswear brands such as; Stone Island, Armani, Boss, Barbour, CP Company, Fred Perry, Lacoste, Baracuta, New Balance, Swims, G-Star Raw, True Religion and Paul Smith.

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