The cold is the friend of the elegant man, winter is his favorite season: it allows him to express at best his tastes, to highlight his choices and even to take some risks always contained.
Benoit Aguelon(Blaise de Sébaste, tailors)
Before being the first business card of the outfit must first protect its owner from the vagaries of the weather: cold rain or snow. Good news: the cold is man’s friend elegant, and winter his favorite season: it allows him to express at the his tastes, to highlight his choices and even to take a few minutes to risks always contained. This season also allows for a rest well-deserved to the suits and summer outfits, tortured by the sun and the sweat.
In the age of widespread air conditioning, the heavy wools that once constituted the entirety of the men’s wardrobe were gradually abandoned. The frantic race of the clothiers to whom will be able to weave the finest woolly fibre: the preference of light wools is clear, so that most of the costumes manufactured today are “four-season”. If the interest of these The use of fabrics is undeniable, since they allow a quasi-annual wearing of the suit, however, they deprive the elegant man of the authentic pleasure of finding his winter suits and jackets, with warmer tones and a softer feel.
Winter wools by nature heavier have a more structured fall. They will mask some of our flaws, where the fine wool will only underline them. A higher weight is also a guarantee of longevity: more resistant, the thick fabric will be less subject to polishing and removal. Let’s think about the tweeds that accompany the elegant all throughout their lives, provided that a good tailor is able to alter the clothing according to their morphological evolutions. These tweeds also make the most beautiful hunting jackets.
Whether it is a suit for use or a more casual, mismatched outfit, the cold weather allows more audacious mixtures of materials and patterns. To the gloom of the time, we let’s answer boldness, discovery and light of winter fabrics! Beforehand, and to counter the climate argument, despite the heat in the places, the use of a winter fabric is an answer to the wearing of a down jacket under the jacket (which alters the fit of a jacket and is a nonsense in a quality wardrobe), and to some extent makes it possible to the economy of a heavy coat outside. Of course, leaving your home with your new suit, the lining on the inside allows you to wear your suit without problem of taking the rain. The heavier fabric will make you look less like a crumpled and wet dog than for any other fabric.
Winter fabrics are divided into two categories, corresponding to their use in town or country. They present a large but limited number of materials and multiple designs. “Head of the winter fabric, for the city as well as the country, the flannelle is a must. Depending on whether she is Italian or British, the weight differs from 280 to 450 / 500 grams. Originally a summer fabric, it became iconic in its navy blue version with chalk stripes, worn by the Duke of Windsor and Gordon Geccko / Michael Douglas in the film Wall Street. There is no error of taste in the choice of this material resistant, timeless and perfectly matches the philosophy of a heritage costume and the manifestation of a power. In the same way, the Prince of Wales pattern and its multiple variations offer the pleasure to consider for the most greedy a collection which can be a marker of your professional image!
We found that the choice of flannelle is a real amateur choice. The new converts, in their itinerary of elegance and discovery of the latter may prefer a in-between: the wool/cashmere blend at a proportion generally common of 90 / 10. Designs can be inspired by flannel (especially chalk stripes), while having a weight close to the “Half-season” (260 / 280 grams). The touch is silky, more soft as flannel. We are in the pleasure suit with materials nobles.
Another rare material, cashmere is the (about 18,000 tons per year). The democratization of a certain type of cashmere, by the use of short fibers and the goat’s cashmere fluff that remains after combing the long fibres of The existence of first quality cashmere does not discredit the existence of high quality cashmere. Precisely from the long fibers of the goat, which produces 100 to 150 grams per year, the processing by spinners and weavers in 2 or 3 threads makes the cashmere of certain drapers a very exclusive product, which can even be used for a complete costume!
The camelids have a wool seasonally abundant with species providing tissue quality incomparable. Among them, let’s mention the camel hair, in particular that of the camel of Bactria (Central Asia), the Andean alpaca, which is distinguished by its domestic character of the vicuña living only in the wild. Thus, the vigogne is sheared three times a year, resulting in a harvest of 21 tons of wool. That is more than 2,500 times less than the production of cashmere!
One way to compensate for the extreme scarcity of certain materials is to assemble them: for example, wool / vicuña mixtures can be used to make suits, as well as cashmere / wool, cashmere / vicuña mixtures, etc. In short, as for the gastronomy, your elegance, during the cold season can satisfy your greed of beautiful fabrics and pretty pieces!
