ThatIsBeyond… Reading In betweed the lines!

I love a tweed jacket. I guess it’s partly heritage, being from the West Country, I was certainly hyper aware of this style growing up and It was also my first awareness of tailoring (weddings and funerals excluded).

There is something aspirational about a tweed design, it takes a certain kind of guy to wear it with the confidence required to pull it off! And I think nothing says country chic like a statement tweed item.

Having said that, it is a design that should be used sparingly and in the right way (otherwise it will end up looking a bit… Well… Pimpy!) I am also not sure where I stand on the mixing of tweeds, I can’t recall having seen that look ever, look good, but I am open to having my mind changed.

Currently sporting a herringbone twist on the tweed jacket, I realise how much I enjoy this playful jacket. It dresses a simple outfit up, and adds a stylish detail to it, but also adds a lot of texture in the deep and bottle green pallet of the fabric.
It’s a statement piece that says I care about how I look.

Ultimately I like to play around with texture and to do this I sometimes rock some ripped jeans or a super modern printed tee with it for definition. Some people find it constricting, and that they need to conform to rules of formality, but this is not the case. There is something inherently masculine about tweed and its strong enough to hold its own, so have a play and see what works for you.

Tailoring on a budget is never easy when you are not an off the rack size, but liking this deep green tweed as much as I did, I bought slim fit in an oversize. This decision could have gone one of two ways, it could make me look larger, or it would give me the flexibility to add layers and build textures around it. And thank goodness it was the second option.

So I say get out there and rock your country chic patterns, but add a little urban edginess to bring it into the modern age. My jacket was £30 from Primark (and I love it) but I cannot wait to get my hands on a properly fitted tweed for formalwear!

TIB