I’ve worn seersucker a little in the past – I had a navy-on-navy suit from Dalcuore that was featured here and is shown below. But the fit wasn’t that great and it was never worn much.
So in many ways the jacket I recently commissioned from WW Chan – the focus of today’s piece – is my first foray into seersucker. It is, of course, also the first in that traditional blue and white cotton.
There have been a few different types of seersucker released in recent years, which also makes the choice interesting. Various mills now offer seersucker in wool, in silk and with stretch, in a panoply of colours.
When I had that Dalcuore suit made, navy-on-navy had become popular because it suddenly made seersucker easier to wear, and so more accessible. Michael Browne made a beautiful one in 2013 when he was at Chittleborough & Morgan (second image below) that inspired quite a lot of people.
More recently, I’ve seen quite a few people wearing and talking about wool versions, as well as experimenting with silk. The J Mueser team have a few, such as the brown on Matt Woodruff below (third image), the cloth there being from Delfino (9274T.20.5696). The Montecarlo bunch from Drapers is another good one for wool.
I considered all these before selecting my cotton from Caccioppoli, and saw the wool in person on Jake Mueser. Wool does perform better in many ways – it wrinkles less, can be tailored more, and holds onto odour less.
But the texture isn’t quite the same (as you can see above) and more importantly, rather like woollen vs worsted flannel, you lose some of the character of seersucker this way.
Seersucker often attracts people because of its unusual texture, but the real pleasure (again, like flannel) is in the wearing – its lightness and slight crispness, which combined with the puckering keeps it away from the body.
Cottons are a varied bunch when it comes to tailoring, and I often find the best are like seersucker or corduroy, in that they have something specific to define them and narrow the choices.
I won’t go into the history of seersucker here (perhaps that’s a good one for Manish at some point) but I will mention the origin of the term, just because it pleases me. Apparently it’s from the Persian, combining the words for milk (shîr) and sugar (shakar): the grit of puckered stripes next to the smoothness of milk. I feel both cooled and sweetened thinking about it.
The other relevance of the history, I guess, is that seersucker comes with associations. It has long been more popular in the US than elsewhere and is associated with a certain southern gentility – it can be seen as traditional, preppy and a little old-fashioned.
It’s these associations that often turn people away from the traditional blue-and-white colour, and I was aware of then when I commissioned mine. I wasn’t sure if it would seem too preppy, or perhaps out of place in London.
I had an idea, however, that if worn with very simple, smart pieces elsewhere, the blue-and-white might seem quite simple and restrained.
This is what I’ve shown in the outfit above, and I think it works well. With just a white shirt, dark navy trousers and black loafers, the seersucker is smart but relatively subtle. I have sunglasses in my breast pocket as a sort of pocket-square substitute, but you could equally remove those and be simpler still.
The trousers can also be charcoal; the shoes can also be Colour-8 cordovan. I was a little unsure about mother-of-pearl buttons as they usually seem too showy to me, but I think with seersucker they actually stand out less than horn.
The other way I’ve found it pleasing to wear seersucker is with a white T-shirt and blue jeans. I wasn’t expecting this, but while the combination will never be as flattering as a collared shirt (see exploration of that here) the cotton does seem relaxed enough.
Ideally the jacket would be completely unstructured for this style, but WW Chan’s lightweight make, with no shoulder pad and only slight roping, just about works. It will also help as I wear and wear the jacket, softening and wrinkling over time. (Pressing regularly would keep it smarter.)
Popping the collar, although a more preppy/rakish look, is also nice and negates the disadvantages of the uncollared T-shirt. Alden Aberdeen-last loafers, with their slim shape but wider welt, are also a nice bridge between the jacket and jeans.
The particular seersucker is 310252, in the Cotton & Linen bunch from Caccioppoli (250g). I looked at a lot of others, including Solbiati (which would be my default) but the deciding factor was the colour of the blue stripes: some were too bright, some basically grey. This was a good midway point.
I did also buy a length of the fabric to make some trousers, but have yet to do so. I’m not sure if I’d ever wear the seersucker as a suit, or the trousers on their own. But the fabric wasn’t expensive.
As to WW Chan, they did another very good job, making a jacket in the same style as my previous tweed from them. I did fittings at Bryceland’s, and it was basically perfect after the first one. They remain one of my favourite tailors and one I would always recommend to readers.
I had the jacket half-lined, which is actually unusual for me in summer jackets. I often have them fully lined because I don’t get that hot and so coolness is less of a factor, and I do get annoyed whenever the material sticks on my bum.
So they’re both personal reasons; for a more general discussion of linings see the dedicated chapter in the Suit Style Guide.
The other clothes are:
- White linen shirt from D’Avino
- Navy worsted trousers from Luca Museo (separate article coming)
- Black-calf Piccadilly loafers from Edward Green
- Gold Reverso watch with black alligator strap
- Blue acetate sunglasses from Dunhill
Second outfit:
- White PS Tapered T-shirt
- Vintage seventies Levi’s 501s
- Color-8 cordovan, full-strap loafers from Alden
Shot outside Bryceland’s in London
