[Winhes2]

White trousers will go well with each of five summer jackets. Is there a white trouser fabric you'd recommend as going well with each of the jackets?

The jackets' fabrics:

Yellow: hopsack cloth by Chippworth.

Green: 55% wool, 45% linen by Paul Stuart (heavier than the others).

Lighter blue: 40% linen, 60% polyester from The English Sports Shop of Bermuda.

Navy: 50% linen, 50% rayon.

Tan (not shown) same as the navy's weave and also 50% linen, 50% rayon.

The jackets' weaves:


l

 

[Vecchio Vespa]

IMO those all would go well with a medium grey tropical worsted.

 

[Winhes2]

IMO those all would go well with a medium grey tropical worsted.

Thank you. I agree.

 

[Winhes2]

Here, subject to computer screens, is a medium grey tropical worsted as suggested. I like it. However, I think, for summer, I'll look for a white tropical worsted unless there are other fabrics I should also consider.

Unless the fabric would show the weave, the white would look something like the above.

 

[Winhes2]

One reason I'm leaning toward white pants is that the Apparel Arts images suggest they thought white pants go with many types of sports coats: White pants

 

[drpeter]

Indeed they do, just as white shirts go well with almost any other colour in jackets or trousers. White, like grey, is a very neutral colour. In fact it is achromatic, one end of a continuum that goes from white through various greys to black. Naturally greys are similarly versatile.

I should also think that cream would be a good colour for trousers and perhaps a tad more interesting to combine with sports jackets. I especially love the way rich, dark maroons, reds and blues pop against a cream background (ties with these colours against a cream shirt, for instance).

 

[Matt S]

Apparel Arts would have suggested white wool, which usually ends up more like a cream colour. In those days it might have been flannel. I'd suggest off-white wool gabardine, which will go with all these fabrics very well. Gabardine is usually a 240-260g weight, so it's lightweight, though it doesn't breathe so well. Tropical wool or fresco can be a great choice. Linen or a linen-cotton blend in ecru is also a great choice. Pure white can sometimes look a bit harsh.

 

[Charles Dana]

Apparel Arts would have suggested white wool, which usually ends up more like a cream colour. In those days it might have been flannel. I'd suggest off-white wool gabardine, which will go with all these fabrics very well. Gabardine is usually a 240-260g weight, so it's lightweight, though it doesn't breathe so well. Tropical wool or fresco can be a great choice. Linen or a linen-cotton blend in ecru is also a great choice. Pure white can sometimes look a bit harsh.

Winhes2, listen to Matt.

Go with cream. Or, better yet, get two pairs of trousers:

a. cream/off white and
b. light/medium grey

White isn’t versatile.

 

[Peak and Pine]

And the reason you want a single pair of pants to go with four different jackets is, I imagine, what, economy? I'm all for that. Economy of expense, economy of hanger space, economy of time spent choosing and pairing. But, if you choose white or cream, suggest you choose a fabric that is washable - - - in Peak world, everything is, but most folks are too timid to dunk wool - - - because you will want to clean the pant after every wearing.

That is not to deter you from white or cream, I wear both, sparingly, throughout the summer, but I clean them after every wearing. Part of the cost of looking Maine smooth.

Some time ago I had the chance to buy four pair of pure white cotton pants, spanky new, for like $6 a pair. I think they may have been uniform pants or some such, but worn sans sabre or bandolier they looked quit normal. I cuffed two and put guardsmen on the others. I gang wash and press all four once a year, in the winter. Unless I want to keep washing and ironing throughout the summer, and nix on that, I limit the summer wear of whites to these four pair and wear each just once.

There's also something psychological and psychedelic about preparing these four snow white pups while the real snow is falling, a sense of sweet things just around the corner of a wicked house bound Maine February.

 

[Winhes2]

And

... Maine February.

"Why?" Is an interesting question.

I think to provide a clearly summery option.

I've navy that will go with all but the navy and maybe the tan.

I've medium/dark grey flannel that may go with everything except the tan.

I've yellow/green and medium/dark grey flannel for the green.

I've light blue/purple cotton for the yellow and navy.

I've natural/khaki linen and for the navy.

That is 9 options and gives most jacket a lighter, summer, trouser.

I have nothing light colored for the light blue and tan jackets.

Off white or cream (unsure of cream with yellow and tan) would go with the tan and light blue and everything else. So, it seems to be the single pant I don't have that would most expand the summer options.

Additional benefits are the three you mentioned.

 

[Vecchio Vespa]

The notion of white pants takes me to 1966. We paired white Levi's with every imaginable lightweight sport jacket, despite risking demerits because they were actually jeans. Although they got dirty as easily as any white pants, they could be thrown in the washer, even bleached to make them extra bright.

 

[Flanderian]

I'd also like a light tan, light weight gabardine.

 

[drpeter]

"Why?" Is an interesting question.

I think to provide a clearly summery option.

I've navy that will go with all but the navy and maybe the tan.

I've medium/dark grey flannel that may go with everything except the tan.

I've yellow/green and medium/dark grey flannel for the green.

I've light blue/purple cotton for the yellow and navy.

I've natural/khaki linen and for the navy.

That is 9 options and gives most jacket a lighter, summer, trouser.

I have nothing light colored for the light blue and tan jackets.

Off white or cream (unsure of cream with yellow and tan) would go with the tan and light blue and everything else. So, it seems to be the single pant I don't have that would most expand the summer options.

Additional benefits are the three you mentioned.

@Winhes2, you haven't mentioned beige trousers in this list. That is a shade that might well go with the light blue jacket, and possibly the tan if it is a darker tan. You would simply have to try beige trousers with these two jackets and see how they look to you.

I have a personal approach to these colour matching questions. If I like a combination of shades, I simply wear that combination. I do not go by any "rules" for such things. It is the overall impression I get from an ensemble that counts, and since I dress only for myself, I am not concerned about how it might appear to others. (The remarkable thing is that I have only received compliments for my ensembles, so maybe I am doing something right for once, LOL).

The good thing about this approach, developed over the decades, is that you end up with a collection of clothes that usually go well with one another, even if you pick a couple of items randomly and combine them. A certain element of versatility is one of the good consequences of trusting one's judgments about the fabrics and patterns one likes -- they seem to have a common DNA, so almost everything goes well with everything else. Most of my tweeds, tattersalls, broadcloths, oxfords, flannels, worsteds, cords, etc., pretty much go well with one another. It is only very rarely that any combination seems to clash. And then I don't wear it!

 

[Peak and Pine]

@Winhes2, you haven't mentioned beige trousers in this list. That is a shade that might well go with the light blue jacket, and possibly the tan if it is a darker tan. You would simply have to try beige trousers with these two jackets and see how they look to you.

Nix to that.
You and others are side stepping the premise of the thread, to find a single pair that in color and texture goes with all the jackets shown. Curious why, I surmised in a post above three possible reasons. Savings in cost to buy. Savings in hanger space. Savings in time spent pondering a pairing each time a different jacket is worn. @Winhes2 has concurred. And there may be more, such as the need to ensure a good waist fit and leg length once rather than five times over.

It is the overall impression I get from an ensemble that counts, and since I dress only for myself, I am not concerned how it might appear to others.

.I don't believe that for a New York minute

 

[Peak and Pine]

^
Addendum

Yeah, I guess I could believe that. If I were reading the memoir of a NASCAR addict rather than a post from a certified raconteur, bon vivant and bouldevardier.

(Certified? Mais oui, I'm the one here licensed to hand out the French phrases.)

 

[drpeter]

^
Addendum

Yeah, I guess I could believe that. If I were reading the memoir of a NASCAR addict rather than a post from a certified raconteur, bon vivant and bouldevardier.

(Certified? Mais oui, I'm the one here licensed to hand out the French phrases.)

First, I was only responding to Winhes2's list of trousers he had included in that email, selecting different colours for the different jackets. I thought he had given up on a single trouser to go with everything. I don't think it is possible to get a single shade of trousers to go with everything.

Second, you are free to believe what you want about my caring about others' impressions about my clothes. When I was much younger I did pay attention to what others thought, but very quickly found out that it was a mug's game (as they say in my old country). You can't dress to please others, and if you try, there's no end to it. Who needs the grief? So I started dressing to please myself, and you know what? It worked for those others too. I cannot remember the last time anyone paid anything other than compliments to me about the clothes I wear, even if it is only a casual everyday outfit. I think the main thing in all of this is self-confidence. If you feel good about the way you are dressed and feel confident about the style you have developed, others will pick up on that sense of sureness and confidence.

Third, my dear dispenser of French expressions, you might want to use the French word for certified: agréé

 

[Winhes2]

The advice to go for off-white or cream rather than white will be followed. The yellow in cream may send me to the off-white. Regarding fabric, I'll see what I can find from the suggestions above. Light tan is nice and I have a linen that some would say is light tan. Light grey is nice and I may have a heavier wool suit pant in that color, to hold up to the jackets and wear if the weather is cool enough. Thanks!

 

[drpeter]

This is the converse of the topic we have been discussing, but I thought it might be of some interest -- how a cream jacket can be worn and with what sorts of trousers and shirts. It's also a bit of an encomium to cream jackets:

Permanent Style

How to wear a cream jacket

www.permanentstyle.com

 

[Peak and Pine]

You can't dress to please others, and if you try, there's no end to it. Who needs the grief? So I started dressing to please myself.

I don't doubt your sincerity. Nor do I see it quite your way, so I will leave you out of it and address others here with this. I don't believe anybody that is a member of, regularly reads, participates in or has a post count in the thousands, all in a forum dedicated to men's dress, doesn't actually give a s*** about what others think of the way they dress.

If I am wrong, then I have for many years been crashing the wrong party for I believe the main purpose of this one is, through comments, photographs, questions asked, answers given, info shared, links clicked, experience rendered, to hone how one presents himself, not on the couch in front of the tee vee, but how he presents when the front door is closed behind him and he is standing before whatever world touches his doorstep. But, again, I may be misreading the written action taking place here between real life strangers across state lines, sometimes countries, and it may all be as you seem to suggest, self absorption without regard to the eyes of those encountered. And I would be sad and would consider closing up shop here.

 

[Winhes2]

Many questions asked here evidence concern for how things look or rules. Concern with how things look implies a looker other than the wearer. Were it only the wearer with a mirror the beauty would be decided by the eye of the sole beholder. Concern with rule compliance implies a second party assessing rule compliance. Were it only the wearer, he would also be king and the rules would be created and amendable by him.

So, I agree there must be an ultimate social objective to these discussions.

Perhaps within the subjects discussed, there is usually room for individual preferences. Within these some dress to satisfy themselves and others stick with solutions recommended by experienced eyes because they are recommended by experienced eyes. Often the former will satisfy the later.

So, it is possible that you are both correct.