One topic I thought it would be good to cover during Dry January was giving away clothes that you found – for whatever reason – no longer worked for you. Finding good homes for good things, essentially.
A good example of this is the suede jacket that Cifonelli made for me in 2015. Although I adored the craft and the material, I found over time that I didn’t take to the style – it was a little too closely fitted, a little too stylised in its finishing and lapels – and I wore it less and less. I also put on a little weight and the already tight fit became unwearably so.
This is of course frustrating, particularly for such an expensive piece of clothing. But I think I maintain a good hit rate for commissioning clothing, and it would be much more frustrating if it was never worn by anybody.
So I thought to ask Anré if he’d like it, both because it might be more his style, and because the fit could work well – although Andre is at least a size smaller than me, closer to a 36, he also wears things a little big, a touch oversized. You can see our piece on his style here.
André himself didn’t find it that easy to slot into his wardrobe though, so I thought we could do a nice piece together – where Andre himself could also tell his story of coming to love the blazer, and giving it the home it deserved.
Here’s André.
André Larnyoh:
To be honest, I was a bit surprised when Simon asked me if I wanted this jacket. At the time, I was unsure whether the fit or the style was very me. However, I did find it a beautiful thing to look at, and what’s a wardrobe without a few unusual pieces that have stories behind them? It’s why people buy vintage.
Like Simon said, the craft and material of Cifonelli are stunning – the question for me was how to wear something like this. When do you? It’s almost too nice to be worn out all the time, but that’s also what it deserves.
The first outfit I remember wearing it with was on the day I got it, out of excitement – with a pair of taupe high-twist trousers and a denim western shirt. Very seventies film director. All I was missing was a baseball cap. That clash of the ruggedness of a denim shirt with suede usually works, but the cut of the jacket threw the whole thing off.
I did feel good in it though, which was a big plus. I was wearing something that was special and it lifted my mood accordingly. It’s one of those pieces that can change the way you walk around. Also everyone in the pub that evening wanted to stroke the jacket, which is always nice.
As the suede isn’t the lightest, however, and we were approaching the height of summer, it didn’t see much wear after that and went into storage. Every now and then I would unpack it from my suitcase, though, just to look at it and try it on with things. I couldn’t quite crack the code, but it represented a challenge.
In my mind, a suede blazer is a VERY specific item of clothing to own, one which carries many and varied connotations (remember my whole spiel about associations?) – if not Francis Ford Coppola in the seventies, then the bad side of the nineties/early aughts. It doesn’t need to be said that Cifonelli’s jacket is a long way from what I saw hanging in my uncle’s wardrobe growing up, but I was also aware that wearing it with the wrong items could say that I was off to see So Solid Crew.
This was the biggest challenge – a suede blazer is a strong piece and can easily take over an outfit, turning it into something else. But the colour of the suede was also lighter than I’m usually comfortable with. A chocolate brown would’ve been a lot easier to pair with my usual colour palette, and it made it stand out against my darker pieces.
Finally the cut of the blazer, lovely as it is, was the opposite of what I had expected. It was made more like a suit jacket than a relaxed, unstructured blazer, which would have been easier to just chuck on as well as closer to the type of tailoring I preferred.
The jacket was also quite pristine, with none of the worn-in qualities that can give a suede jacket character – sagging pockets, wrinkling on the sleeves, faded patches etc. There was a lot of wearing to be done. All of these things were proving to be a considerable block for me.
The turning point was last Christmas, when I saw Hugh Grant in a similar suede blazer in the Christmas classic Bridget Jones’s Diary. There were no style cues here – it was worn with a blue poplin shirt that summed up the nineties look I wanted to avoid – but it spurred me to try again.
This time, my main idea was simplicity: if the foundation of what I wore was simple, my thinking went, then the jacket would do all the talking yet not stand out too much.
A dark navy crewneck and a pair of matching wool trousers managed to balance the colour of the suede. The more casual combination also took away a lot of the formality that came with the cut, making the whole thing look more relaxed. I was actually surprised by how much dark colours worked with this fairly strong shade of brown.
Emboldened by the success I went on a spree of trying it with other things in my wardrobe, aiming to stick to the winning formula – and I learned a few solid points when it came to wearing the Cifonelli.
Keeping the foundational colour palette dark was better than something like earth tones. The latter was doable – I tried it with a pair of olive Studio Nicholson trousers and an ecru knit from Rubato – but it veered on too much of a look.
But, wearing knitwear underneath has proved to be a very safe bet, as opposed to a shirt. I’ve found some shirts can work – usually relaxed ones like LEJ’s Come up to The Studio shirt. But western or work shirts don’t, and neither do smarter shirts with a structured collar. The former already has enough going on with its rugged details, and smart shirts don’t sit right with the vibe that a suede blazer gives off.
It’s always a little exciting to introduce something different into your wardrobe and ultimately I’m glad that, despite the initial ups and downs, the Cifonelli jacket has managed to establish a place in mine. I’m also excited as to what other pairings present themselves over time, and how the jacket ages with really regular wear.
Thanks Simon!
Cifonelli were fully aware of this gift, the process and of the resulting coverage
André’s other clothes:
– Knit: Bryceland’s Shaggy Dog
– Trousers: Drake’s MTM
– Shoes (out of shot): Crockett & Jones Cavendish in black calf
– Glasses: Cubitts
