Odd Jackets - Sport Coats - Blazers - Men's Suit Jacket - Menswear Clothing Terminology

Odd Jackets - Sport Coats - Blazers - Men'sSuit Jacket - Menswear Clothing Terminology Hi.

Iím Antonio Centeno, the founder of RealMen Real Style.

And today I'm going to talking about sports jackets, blazers, odd jackets.

Whatís the difference? Why do we use all these different terminology and how can youput it to use in your wardrobe? Okay.

So we used these words over, I see themin the industry often used interchangeably.

But my understanding and you know, this isup for debate, you know, depending on, you know, what form youíre on, I guess what sideof the pawn youíre on and you know, what camp youíre in.

But Iím going to give youmy view.

So take it with a grain of salt but this is based on of my research, my understanding,my talking with the lot of the experts in the field.

Okay.

So the odd jacket.

The term odd jacketsimply means any jacket that is not made to have a particular pair of trousers to go withit.

So a suit is defined as a jacket in a paired trousers made from the same fabric.

Odd jackets, by the very name, do not have a matching pair of trousers.

So any jacketout there that does not have a matching pair of trousers, whether it be a blazer of sportsjacket, is technically an odd jacket.

So thatís an all encompassing word.

You donít see it used very much because itjust sounds odd.

And therefore, Iím not going to talk about odd jackets.

And thatís kindof like the overarching word.

But Iím going to talk about the two subsets of odd jackets.

And thatís the blazer and sport jackets.

And these, in my opinion are very different.

Oh Iíve seen some writers use them interchangeablyand I think that that ñ I think itís wrong.

And the reason ñ because I think the blazeris a much more structured piece, sports jackets are more general and you can even say, a blazeris a sports jacket but Iím not going to go down in that path.

Iím simply going to saythat a blazer is a blazer.

Sports jackets, I think they develop afterblazer.

I think like 40 or 50 years later.

And so I look at them as their own pieces.

And they were developed primarily for the man of sport, the man who wanted to stilllook good but was going to be playing tennis, was going to be going out hunting, and hestill wanted a jacket to wear.

So letís talk about blazers.

What makes ablazer unique? Well, one of the first things or youíre going to notice that they are almostalways blue.

Now, blazers can come in red, they can come in green, they can come in othershades of very dark, I think somber colors.

But what youíre going to see is primarily,they are navy blue.

And youíre going to see them in a blue worsted thatís consideredby many of the experts, the classic fabric for it to be made from.

But youíll see themin flannel, you go seem them in hopsack, youíll see them in other, just a regular worstedwool.

So blazers besides being navy blue, they alsohave oftentimes very unique buttons.

So youíll mother of pearl on blazers occasionally.

Youíllsee silver.

Youíll see gold buttons.

Youíll see brass buttons.

Youíll see family heirlooms.

So all types of different things used for buttons on blazers.

But the key is the blazerbuttons always stand out a bit more.

Although there were some modern men who ñ they donítwant to stand out and they particularly choose to go with a very muted button.

The other thing about the blazer is its navalhistory and its association with, I think anything nautical.

So anytime youíre on ñyou go to Anapolis or you know, out to Monterey, California thatís where a blazer -- itísgoing to have a great feel to it.

Itís going to be something that ñ it just has a verystrong and very deep history and association with bolts, supposedly from the HMS blazerswhere it gets its name.

You know, thatís up for debate on that story.

But in any case,I would say thatís what categorizes a blazer.

One other thing, blazers also can be double-breasted.

You rarely ever see that.

In fact, Iíve almost never see it in sports jacket.

But blazersare, I think by definition, a bit more formal than sports jackets.

And therefore, youíllsee them as double-breasted.

And usually when youíre wearing a blazer, you want to weara tie.

Now Iím actually wearing a sports jackethere and you may wonder, you know, a lot of it ñ well this looks like a lot like a blazerbut itís actually a sports jacket.

So thatís probably a great transition.

What makes asports jacket? Well to me a sports jacket is a general termfor pretty much anything that is not a blazer.

So sports jackets have the word sport in them.

And thatís because they were developed mostly in the 1920s and 30s, whenever men were startingto exercise, more get out and play sports and they wanted to be gentlemenís sports.

And they wanted a jacket that was made particularly for the actual sport.

So we saw this in tennis,moved over into hunting -- actually I hunting, itís been aroundÖ Öfor a long time.

There have been jacketslike the Norfolk.

And these jackets were actually developedwith their own unique style.

So you know, this jacket doesnít have it, but on the backof some of the hunting jackets, they would actually have a lot of vents.

So the jacketcould open up more so that ñ you know, a shooting jacket.

It wouldnít be a restrictedif youíre going be firing a rifle.

So these jackets enabled you to look likea gentleman and behave like a gentleman but at the same time be a ñ you know, a mobilesportsman and be able to do pretty much what ñ if you think about, what most of us weuse performance gear when weíre out.

You know doing these extreme sports or you knowthe tri-athletes, these guys are actually wearing tweet suits.

And tweet is pretty rough.

A lot of peopletheyíre very careful with their wool tweet because they spend a lot of money on it.

Butwhen it comes down to it, a lot of these sports jacket fabrics were developed to be able todo it, you know, take a rough and tumble.

Thatís why on sports jacket youíll see pocketsor shoulder ñ Iím sorry ñ elbow patches.

Well that is so that you can put the elbowdown on a rougher area and not have to worry about it.

You know, another one on shootingjackets youíll see actually a leather patch up here.

You know, all of these actually hada reason for being in existence.

So getting ñ letís get to the modern sports jacket.

The modern sports jacket, youíre going tosee a wide range of fabrics.

And in fact this is a sports jacket simply because I got acheck pattern in it.

Itís actually a glen check here.

And another thing with sports jackets is theyíregoing to be a little bit less formal.

So youíre going to see ñ I use what is it, a patchpocket on this.

You canít see my bottom but I got, let me see if I can, yeah, it probablydidnít pop out right.

But in any case, use it more ñ use all typesof styles on sports jacket.

So I love sports jacket simply because theyíre less restrictivethan suits or blazers and you can do -- have all types of fun with them.

I mean look atthis really unique lapel over here.

Itís a little bit of ñ you know, of a sporty look.

I saw this one time in a magazine, you know, from a designer that came up with this yearsago and I was like, ìHey, I want to do this on my sports jacket.

î Another thing with sports jackets besidesthe wide range of style, the wide range of fabrics, the fact that they were designedfor sport, I think sports jackets theyíre just overall going to be less formal thanblazers or any other type of you know, trying to match a suit jacket with a pair of jeans.

And so they can go with denim.

And I really like to wear sports jacket with denim, alwayssports jacket looks great a pair of odd trousers like corduroy or gray flannels or somethingto that extent.

Okay.

So hopefully that clarifies things again.

Youíve got odd jackets, youíve got blazers, youíve got sports jackets and thatís howtheyíre all sort of related.

Both blazers and sports jackets are odd jackets.

Blazersare not necessarily, you know, some people argue but I think theyíre separate becausethey came about a different time periods.

Okay.

Hopefully, I did not confuse you.

IfI did, I guess you can send me an email and Iíll either redo theÖ.

Source: Youtube

8 Secrets Of A Great Summer Sport Coat Or Blazer - Gentleman's Gazette

Welcome back! In today's video I'm going totalk about 8 secrets of a great summer sport coat.

Many many believe that as long as they feltlightweight suit jackets, they;re ready for summer but that's not true.

Basically we have8 core principles that are important for a summer sport coat.

One, start with the right weight.

Ofcourse,it's important to have a lightweight jacket because lighter fabrics insulate less andfeel cooler.

However, if your fabric is too light, you will have lots of wrinkles, itwill look bad and you have to find the right balance.

Overall, about 8 to 9 ounces or 240- 270 grams is a good start a weight because it will give you a drape.

If you go lighterthan that, you may have issues with wrinkles.

Two, remember weight is not everything, Theweave is even more important.

The weave of a jacket is extremely important because ifit's tightly woven, it will breathe less and in order to feel cool you want to have asmuch air flow as possible.

A great open weave fabric is a so called fresco fabric becausehwen you stand you can really feel every wind and it makes you feel cool.

In order to determineif your fabric is open weave or closed, one good way to do it is actually hold it againstthe light source, like a light bulb and look through it and an open weave fabric is soopen you could almost read a book through it or some text in a magazine versus a tightlywoven fabric is so that you cannot really read anything through it.

Three, Opt for texture.

Unlike suits, sportcoats are meant to be worn in a more casual environment.

In some offices, it's okay towear them but overall you want the garment to be relaxed, distinctly different from thesuit jacket.

Basically, you will be well dressed without being overdressed and texture is areally great way to help you achieve that.

In order to get texture, you want coarse weavesand yarns that are slightly irregular you get some knobs.

For example here, I'm wearinga panama weave jacket which is a wide weave that creates this waffle structure and alternatively,you can have linen where one yarn is thicker than the other so you get something irregularand more three dimensional than a regualr business suit.

Four, go with unlined jackets.

The open weaveof your fabric is not enough because you have a second layer of fabric inside your jacketwhich is the lining.

Linings are typically made from viscose, bemberg cupro or sometimesilk which are all natural fibers or based on cellulose which is a natural fiber andthey're very lightweight however, the weave is so tight that it restricts airflow.

Soeven if you have an open weave fabric but if you combine them with the lining, you willnot get the best benefits of the open fabric because the lining acts as a blocker.

Themain benefit of linings is A- to protect the outer fabric and to make everything slideand fit well.

So generally, lining are great but summer, it's more important that you feelcool.

So basically you want an unlined jacket but there are two versions of unlined jackets: One is completely unlined jackets.

It meansyour jacket literally has no lining whatsoever, not in the sleeves, not in the back, and thisis a rare version of the unlined jacket usually you only find them with bespoke garments.

Italians sometimes like it or spaniards or portuguese because they live in very warmclimates and they really want to maximiz the airflow.

Disadvantage of the completely unlinedjacket is especially in your sleeves, it sometimes catches your shirt material and so it doesn'thang well or drape well.

The second unlined option is called half lined or sometimes calledquarter lined.

What that means is that your sleeves are lined and your shoulders are linedbut your back and oftentimes the inside front are not lined and it really helps to makeyou feel cool but it also lets your sleeves drape easily so it feels comfortable.

Basically,it's the best of both worlds.

Five, select the sewn interlining also knownas canvas.

One of the most important aspects of jackets or sport coats is the interliningwhich is also known as canvas.

Basically, when you have a piece of fabric, it's twodimensional flat, in order to keep it in a certain shape, three dimensional around yourchest, you have to fixate the interlining to the outer fabric and connect them.

Youcan connect them by sewing them together or by gluing them together.

Economically, it'smuch less expensive to glue these layers together but in terms of comfort it's really bad becauseit's a fine fabric, it makes you sweat and the fabric doesn't breathe as well.

On theother hand, a sewn canvas really feels more comfortable, generally softer and it allowsyou to feel more the air and it's also known as the breathing garment.

Basically, you'llhave three levels of interlinings.

You have full canvas, half canvas and you have fuse.

Generally, only top quality garments have full canvas because it's the most expensiveway to do it and if you go to a tailor or to a high end made to measure company or rentto wear company, that;s what you really get, a full canvas jacket or sport coat.

The nextstep down would be the half canvas jacket, that means that the top oart of your sportcoat is sewn with a canvas versus the bottom part is glued.

The only reason to do thatis to save a cost without sacrificing some of the look on top of the garment where it'smore important than the bottom.

Very inexpensive sport coats and usually the ones that aremost comfortable are the ones woth fused interlining.

For summer, you definitely want to avoid itat all cost cos it's a guarantee that you overheat and sweat a lot.

That being said,not all canvasses are alike, you can have a full sewn interlining canvass that is muchstiffer or softer and ideally for summer jacket, you want as little interlining as possibleand you want it to be as soft as possible so it's really comfortable and you don't reallyfeel much.

Traditionally, horse hair blended with wool was used but for summer sport coats,it's better to go with like cotton wool because horse hair is rather stiff and it's not idealinterlining of canvas that you want for a summer sport coat.

Six, go with a bold pattern.

When you havean open weave fabric, what happens is you can see through one way but also the otherway and you don't want people to see what you're wearing on the inside or if you havea pen in your pocket.

So ideally, a bold pattern a- makes sure you look very differnt frombusiness men but also it helps to make your garment not see through.

For example, thispattern is really great but you can also try others, windowpanes, checks, seersucker stripes,madras pattern, all of these things are great for summer sport coats.

What you definitelywant to avoid is things like pinstripes or chalkstripes, they're typically associatedwith business suits because sport coats are not just a suit jacket on its own, they'reindistinctly different jacket.

seven, embrace strong colors.

Now, when youdon't want to wear a pattern or you don't have one or it doesn't suit you well, that'sokay.

You can also go with stronger typical summer colors.

What I mean by that i avoidthe typical black, grey, charcoal, blues and navys and instead go for something like lightblue or nice green and that way you really create a different, distinct, unique look.

What's also important is you never want solids, you also want slightly mottled colors.

Basically,you can be as creative as you want, maybe red or orange or something turquoise.

ALlthese colors can work and it depends on how comfortable you are and how strong they are.

When in doubt, I recommend go for something that is always a little lighter and interwovenwith white yarns like this one here because that way it softens the look even if you havea stonger, bolder color.

Eight, choose a single breasted jacket andpay attention to details.

Personally, I love double breasted jackets, I think they're reallygreat on me, they look really masculine and they're flattering.

However, when it comesto summer sport coats, single breasted is preferrable because it's simply less fabricthat is layered up in front of you so I'm more comfortable when it's hot outside.

Also,when it comes to details you want to make sure that you either have patch pockets onyour chest, on your side and you can also have details like a center pleat in the backor like shooting pleats, you can have angled pockets, maybe contrasting color or a littlecolored tab.

You definitely want to make sure that you have certain details that look distinctlydifferent from a business suit.

If you just have a regular flat pocket, two button jacketwith a notched lapel that you also wear to your office, you should always try to mixit up when you have a sport coat.

As far as accessories go, in summer sport coats, I preferto wear bow ties when it's hot cos it's just a single layer around my neck and it doesn'tdrape all the way along my body which can oftentime insulate and make you feel warmerthan you have to be.

If you want to wear a tie, I suggest you go with knit ties becausetheyhave a very open weave and they let the air go through.

For a selection of summer knit ties, checkout our selection of Fort Belvedere here.

If you enjoyed this video, please subscribeto our channel and I look forward to seeing you next time.

Thank you.

Source: Youtube

Top 10 Best-Selling Men's Sport Coats & Blazers

Top 10 Best-Selling Men's Sport Coats & Blazers#10 Tommy Hilfiger Men's Trim Fit Plaid Sport Coat#9 Aviator Men's Weekender Corduroy Blazer #8 Joseph Abboud Men's Sport Coat#7 Armani Exchange Tonal Knit Blazer #6 Diesel Men's Jelevand Jacket#5 Tommy Hilfiger Men's Trim Fit Blazer #4 Joseph Abboud Men's 2 Button Side VentCorduroy Coat #3 Tommy Hilfiger Men's Trim Fit Knit Blazer#2 Joseph Abboud Men's 2 Button Side Vent Sport Coat#1 Diesel Men's Jensaner Jacket, Black, Large.

Source: Youtube