Ushering in the warm weather- Warmer weather calls for lightweight pieces and in a lot of cases, brighter colors. I had to revamp my wardrobe eight years ago when I realized that a lot of my wardrobe was grays and blues. I believe that most of us that are sartorially inclined, go through this process. We build our staples as a foundation and when that is done, we ask what's next. We then see pictures of stylish people at Piti or wherever, preening in bright colors and interesting cuts, and then we identify the next road that we would like to travel. My road was similar. It took me six years to build the staples; the blue solid suit, the mid-gray suit, charcoal gray suit, pinstripe blue suit, pinstripe gray suit, the check suit, and then a cotton suit. Then in 2013, I decided I wanted to invest in some true summer pieces. This blazer falls under that path that started in 2013. This blazer is from Luciano Barbera Collezioni, made by Attolini. Beautiful shoulders, hand-made buttonholes, it's just a masterpiece. It is 100% linen and partially lined so it's a great spring/summer staple. I have worn it with white linen pants, and softer blue linen as well and it works fine. Here I pair it with these light gray slacks from Samuelsohn for work to ground it for a work setting (hint if you want to wear a loud piece into an office, gray pants will usually work best to ground it for a business casual look appropriate for the office). I also felt like playing around with colors, so I am rocking this red linen/silk tie grenadine from Seaward and Stern with the wool/linen pocket square from my local custom clothier, R Douglas. I believe that the red accents the dark burnt orange pattern in the suit. I anchor all this with the solid blue shirt from Eton, to provide a blank canvas for all the other items (akin to the function of the gray pants). To finish it off, I wore these beautiful shoes from Paul Stuarts Stuarts Choice. I believe this pair was made by Grenson. As typical of some English-made shoes, the leather is still stiff, 7 years later. But the burgundy color compliments the burgundy red tie. All in all, a louder business casual look but it still works.
